Pre-Ordovician Rocks of the McDonnell Ranges, Central Australia

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Abstract
During the last fifty years a number of explorers and a few trained geologists have contributed to our knowledge of the structure and lithology of the McDonnell Ranges, the inaccessibility of which has, until recently, been the obstacle limiting investigations. There has never yet been a thoroughgoing investigation of the area, and each observation has been in the nature of a brief reconnaissance in connexion with mineral resources or water-supply. All work prior to the year 1925 is mentioned in an excellent summary and discussion contributed by Dr. L. K. Ward. For further information relating to such earlier work the reader is directed to that paper. In his contribution Dr. Ward has combined and clarified the information gathered from these various sources, and he presents in excellent language a clear picture of the geology and physiography of the regions. The account also incorporates his own observations made on several occasions, when visiting the area in connexion with water-supply and mineral occurrences. There is, however, one finding that appears in this very notable contribution which, while being a reasonable inference, could not be regarded as actually proven. This is a very important question: no less than the age of some 14,000 feet of sediments (Ward's measurement) and in a portion of which, at Acacia Well east of Alice Springs, Dr. C. Chewings had long ago reported the occurrence of cryptozoan fossils. The beds unconformably overlie the crystalline complex of accepted pre-Cambrian age. Geologists had expressed diverse views on the matter. The

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