The Geology of the Western Macdonnell Ranges, Central Australia

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Abstract
I. I ntroduction T he literature on the geology of Central Australia is now becoming somewhat voluminous. Owing to the vastness of this largely desert area, the sparseness of settlement, which is almost wholly confined to the neighbourhood of the overland telegraph line, and the cost and difficulty of travel in a land where waters are few and far between and petrol only available if sent out by camel, the geological work has been in the nature of rapid route reconnaissances in scattered directions. Although the chief ore deposits are in the eastern MacDonnell Ranges, very little has been done in that area, while the western ranges, though quite devoid of any mineral wealth, have received a relatively large amount of attention geologically. The reason for this is that on the western side of the telegraph line the geological structures show comparative simplicity, while to the east there has been much more complex movement, the formations occurring in jumbled hills and ranges in such confusion as only closely detailed mapping could unravel. The key to the geology of the whole area lies in the west. I first visited the western MacDonnell Ranges in company with Sir Douglas Mawson in 1927. A hurried motor journey was made to near Glen Helen Station, 90 miles west of Alice Springs, to inspect a deposit of saltpetre in limestone caves Only five days were spent in the field, three of them in travel ling, and there was little time for geological work apart from examining the

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