Everard Ranges
Encyclopedia
The Everard Ranges are ranges of low rounded granite
hills, of Palaeocene origin between 20 and 60 million years ago, in Central Australia
and located 80 km west of Mintabie. Rising into domes above a Tertiary
peneplain
, which is here about 550 metres above sea level, they were named by Ernest Giles
after a cattle station called "Everard Park", and consist of monolith
s or bornhardt
s, rich in caves and overhangs with Aboriginal
rock painting galleries. The ranges are similar to Ayers Rock and the Olgas.
"Arriving at the first hills of the Everard, I found they were all very peculiar, bare, red, granite mounds, being the most extraordinary ranges one could possibly imagine, if indeed any one could imagine such a scene. They have thousands of acres of bare rock, piled up into mountainous shapes and lay in isolated masses, forming something like a broken circle, all round a central and higher mass. They have valleys filled with scrubs between each section. Numerous rocky glens and gorges were seen, having various kinds of shrubs and low trees growing in the interstices of the rocks. Every thing and every place was parched, bare, and dry. We searched in many places for water without success." Ernest Giles
- Australia Twice Traversed
Tourism in the area has been taken under the wing of the Mimili community, lying about 22 km north-east.
There is an extensive radiation
of camaenid
land snail
s in the region, with many species appearing endemic to the Everard Ranges, including Pleuroxia
everardensis, P. carmeena, Sinumelon
pumilio, Tatemelon everardensis, Semotrachia
minuta, S. illbilleeana, Dirutrachia ponderi.
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
hills, of Palaeocene origin between 20 and 60 million years ago, in Central Australia
Central Australia
Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...
and located 80 km west of Mintabie. Rising into domes above a Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
peneplain
Peneplain
A peneplain is a low-relief plain representing the final stage of fluvial erosion during times of extended tectonic stability. The existence of peneplains, and peneplanation as a geomorphological process, is not without controversy, due to a lack of contemporary examples and uncertainty in...
, which is here about 550 metres above sea level, they were named by Ernest Giles
Ernest Giles
William Ernest Powell Giles , best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led three major expeditions in central Australia.- Early life :...
after a cattle station called "Everard Park", and consist of monolith
Monolith
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
s or bornhardt
Bornhardt
A bornhardt is a dome-shaped, steep-sided, bald rock outcropping at least in height and several hundred meters in width. A type of inselberg, bornhardts are typically composed of granites or gneisses, though occasionally formed in other rock types such as dacite, norite, limestone, sandstone and...
s, rich in caves and overhangs with Aboriginal
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
rock painting galleries. The ranges are similar to Ayers Rock and the Olgas.
"Arriving at the first hills of the Everard, I found they were all very peculiar, bare, red, granite mounds, being the most extraordinary ranges one could possibly imagine, if indeed any one could imagine such a scene. They have thousands of acres of bare rock, piled up into mountainous shapes and lay in isolated masses, forming something like a broken circle, all round a central and higher mass. They have valleys filled with scrubs between each section. Numerous rocky glens and gorges were seen, having various kinds of shrubs and low trees growing in the interstices of the rocks. Every thing and every place was parched, bare, and dry. We searched in many places for water without success." Ernest Giles
Ernest Giles
William Ernest Powell Giles , best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led three major expeditions in central Australia.- Early life :...
- Australia Twice Traversed
Tourism in the area has been taken under the wing of the Mimili community, lying about 22 km north-east.
There is an extensive radiation
Evolutionary radiation
An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomic diversity or morphological disparity, due to adaptive change or the opening of ecospace. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid or gradual; where they are rapid, and driven by a single lineage's adaptation to their environment,...
of camaenid
Camaenidae
Camaenidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.This is one of the most diverse families in the clade Stylommatophora....
land snail
Land snail
A land snail is any of the many species of snail that live on land, as opposed to those that live in salt water and fresh water. Land snails are terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells, It is not always an easy matter to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less...
s in the region, with many species appearing endemic to the Everard Ranges, including Pleuroxia
Pleuroxia
Pleuroxia is a genus of gastropod in the Camaenidae family.It contains the following species:* Pleuroxia arcigerens Tate, 1894* Pleuroxia hinsbyi Gude, 1916* Pleuroxia italowiana Solem, 1992...
everardensis, P. carmeena, Sinumelon
Sinumelon
Sinumelon is a genus of gastropod in the Camaenidae family.Sinumelon is the type genus of the subfamily Sinumeloninae....
pumilio, Tatemelon everardensis, Semotrachia
Semotrachia
Semotrachia is a genus of gastropod in the Camaenidae family.It contains the following species:* Semotrachia euzyga* Semotrachia sublevata* Semotrachia winneckeana...
minuta, S. illbilleeana, Dirutrachia ponderi.