Tag: Deep South WA

Wikipedia description of the Porongurup Range’s geomorphology:

The Porongurup Range is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from east to west and consists of porphyritic granite^[3] peaks levelled into domes. The range is the remnant of a sizeable reservoir of molten granite that bubbled up when the Antarctic continent struck Australia in the Stenian Period of the Mesoproterozoic Era, around 1200 million (1.2 billion) years ago.^[9]

The sea levels of the late Cretaceous were around 100 metres higher than today^[10]and during this time the Porongurup Range was an island surrounded by the sea.

This post’s images show the appearance of the forest understory on the lower slopes of the Porongurups at the driest time of year, in an especially dry summer.

The local climate is “Mediterranean”, with cool wet winters, and warm dry summers.

Each photo’s “hero” dead leaf is wedged, approximately as high above the forest floor as would be the eyes of a tall human, standing there.

In such a forest (one dominated by tall eucalypts) it is perfectly normal to see the ground rendered largely invisible – “buried” beneath masses of leaf litter, bark, twigs & small branches.