Binalong Balancing Boulder. EarthCache

As this is an Earthcache there is no physical cache to find.

Please read through the information and  enjoy visiting the Binalong Balancing Boulder earthcache.

The Bay of Fires on Tasmania's north eastern coast spans approximately 28.5 kilometres from Binalong Bay in the south to Eddystone Point in the north.

This region is comprised of Devonian igneous geology with a remarkable diversity of granite, granodiorite and adamellite which represent part of the Blue Tier Batholith, a large body of granite rocks and boulders which formed in several phases of magma intrusions between around 395 and 368 million years ago, during a massive geological upheaval and mountain building.

During  the Devonian period there were also some small intrusions of dolerite.

The Binalong Bay of Fires boulders are encrusted with a fiery orange hue (the colour of which is actually produced by lichen).

Blue Tier Batholith: is a composite granitoid mass of 1,8000 square kilometres in an area in north eastern Tasmania.

Batholith: are large, deep seated intrsuions (sometimes called Plutons) that form as thick, viscous magma  slowly making it's way toward the surface, but seldom makes it.

Intrusion: is an igneous rock body that forms from crystallized magma under the earth's surface.

Magma: is a mixture of high temperature molten or semi molten rock, which may also contain suspended crystals, disolved gas and sometimes gas bubbles.

Temperatures of magmas range from 700 degrees C to 900 degrees C. Magma often collects in magma chambers that may feed a volcano or solidify underground to form an intrusion.

Magma is capable of intrusions into adjacent rocks (forming igneous dikes or sills. (Dikes are a relatively narrow tabular discordant body, often nearly vertical).

Devonian Period: is a geological period system which occured from 416 million to 358 million years ago. It was the fourth period of the Paleozoic Era.