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Nullarbor Plain

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science17 days ago•63 min saved

Australian Trenches Exposed as Surface Scars of Deep Cave Collapses

Researchers have identified that mysterious linear trenches across Australia's Nullarbor Plain are not river channels but surface expressions of deep, collapsing cave systems. Led by Matej Lipar, the study utilized electrical resistivity tomography and digital modeling to prove these shallow depressions sit atop extensive underground cavities. The findings challenge previous hydrological assumptions and provide a diagnostic method for identifying similar hidden structures on Mars and other planets.

via Yahoo|

#cave-systems #geophysics #karst-geology

science17 days ago•5 min saved

Hidden Cavern Networks Revealed Under the Nullarbor Plain

Geophysicists mapping trenches on Australia's Nullarbor Plain found that surface depressions are shallow expressions of extensive, deep underground cave networks formed by ancient groundwater dissolution; some caves extend 50–150 meters below the surface and connect across hundreds of meters. Electrical resistivity tomography and passive seismic data reveal broad, under-surface zones of sediment-filled and fractured rock, a collapse doline at Clay Dam Cave, and surface trenches like Koonalda and Yangoonabie marking these concealed cavities. The study suggests these caves serve as natural archives for past climates and environments and may offer Mars analogs for subsurface caves that could host life or future exploration.

via ScienceAlert|

#cave-systems #caves #electrical-resistivity-tomography

science-tech8 months ago•12 min saved

Cosmic clocks in zircon reveal Australia’s ancient landscape history

Scientists read a “cosmic clock” in tiny zircon crystals to trace Australia’s ancient surface changes. By measuring cosmogenic krypton trapped in zircon from buried beach sands near the Nullarbor Plain, they estimate extremely slow erosion about 40 million years ago, revealing a long-stable landscape and explaining zircon-rich deposits. The approach provides a new long-term clock for Earth’s surface history and could illuminate landscape responses to major events like the rise of land plants, with implications for mineral wealth as well.

via The Conversation|

#cosmogenic-krypton #erosion-rate #landscape-evolution