Northern Rivers Geology

A view of the geology of the Northern Rivers of New England, New South Wales. Includes thoughts on the formation of the regions volcanoes (Mount Warning, Ebor and others), groundwater, the Clarence Moreton Basin, recent sedimentation, gas (including coal seam gas), mineralization in the eastern part of the southern New England Orogen and more. What is the geological influence in the Northern Rivers and New England areas of Australia that provide us with the beauty and diversity we see today?

Sunday, 12 January 2014

Our Clarence-Moreton Basin and Middle-Earth

Over at the European Geophysical Union Blog Between a Rock and Hard Place there is a very interesting post. It seems that a researcher from the University of Bristol has released a paper comparing the climate of Earth with that of Middle-Earth (As in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit). Yes, you read that right!

The climate model the researcher (Dr Lunt) created seems to demonstrate that the climate of Middle-Earth is best represented by the climate that we experienced in the Triassic period. That means that the Middle-Earth's climate was similar to ours while the rocks of the early Clarence-Moreton (and Ipswich) basin were being laid down. That is the time that the rocks of Evans Head, Nymboida, Chillingham and others were being formed.

For those that are interested in Tolkien's world here is a link to the paper (in English). For those obsessed with Tolkien's world here are links to the paper in Elvish and Dwarven Runic. I love the conclusions including the observation that "Mordor would have had an inhospitable climate, even ignoring the effects of Sauron"