Tufa deposits in Australia

These photos illustrate a range of tufa deposits from different parts of Australia. Tropical and temporate, inland and coastal.

Click on the following link to view additional photos:
Tufas of Lawn Hill Gorge, North-west Queensland (at 19 degress latitude).
Tufas of the Gregory karst, NT (16 degress latitude). See page 6 of this Poster (PDF file)

Selected photographs and diagrams

To view full size images, click on the displayed image.

Elsie Creek, Northern Territory

This creek, at the edge of the limestone belt of the Daly basin (15 degress latitude), is spring fed and has extensive tufa deposits. These photos are of a set of deep hollows in the creek bed which have vertical lobate tufa walls that are reminiscent of the stromatolites seen in the cenotes of the Gambier karst. The opinion was that the lobes formed underwater at a time when the hollows were full of water ("Lacustrine tufas" in the classification of Ford & Pedly, 1996). This raises interesting questions about past climates or spring discharges. The tufas are now quite hard and dry and inactive.

Reference

Ford TD., & Pedley, HM., 1996: A review of tufa and travertine deposits of the world. Earth-Science Reviews 41: 117-175.

Elsie Ck., Daly Karst Region, Northern Territory.
Lobate tufa wall - possibly an old pool deposit.
Stereo-pair, view cross-eyed.
File: C020803.jpg

Elsie Ck., Daly Karst Region, Northern Territory.
Closer view of the lobate tufa wall. (View is 3.5m high, 10 cm scale bar becomes visible if you zoom in!)
Stereo-pair, view cross-eyed.
File: C020805.jpg

Elsie Ck., Daly Karst Region, Northern Territory.
Detail of a broken tufa lobe. The central cavity is probably a mould around a Pandanus (screw palm) trunk.
Stereo-pair, view cross-eyed. 10 cm scale bar.
File: C020728.jpg

Elsie Ck., Daly Karst Region, Northern Territory.
Detail of tufa lobes. Note the slotted lobe surface and porous internal structure visible in the broken cross-section.
Stereo-pair, view cross-eyed. 10 cm scale bar.
File: C020731.jpg

Elsie Ck., Daly Karst Region, Northern Territory.
A Constructional cave enclosed by pool tufa. The small patch of light on left side at back of cave is a passage connecting through to the next pond
Stereo-pair, view cross-eyed. 1m scale bar.
File: C020731.jpg

Cape Bridgewater, Vic.

Cape Bridgewater, in western Victoria (38 degress latitude), has Quaternary dune limestones which overlie Pliocene basalt. Springs occur at the contact and form tufa deposits.

The Springs, Cape Bridgewater, Victoria.
Quaternary dune limestone (light brown) overlies basalt (black). Springs at the horizontal contact have formed tufa mounds and pools.
File: C981224.jpg

The Springs, Cape Bridgewater, Victoria.
Pools of spring tufa. The fretted rock in the left background is an outcrop of dune limestone (calcarenite) sculptured by phytokarst.
File: C940216.jpg

The Springs, Cape Bridgewater, Victoria.
Quaternary dune limestone (light brown) overlies basalt (black). A spring at the contact has formed a large tufa mound, with a small sea cave below. See following photos for details.
File: C981221.jpg

The Springs, Cape Bridgewater, Victoria.
Detail of stream channels on the surface of the mound shown above. These run partly on the surface and partly underground where the channels have been roofed over. 10 cm scale bar.
File: C020207.jpg

The Springs, Cape Bridgewater, Victoria.
Close-up of one of the small streams on the surface of the tufa mound.
File: C020208.jpg

Cape Leeuwin, W.A.

Cape Leeuwin, in the southwest of Western Australia (34 degress latitude), also has dune limestones, in this case overlying granite basement. Again, springs at the contact have formed tufa deposits.

Cape Leeuwin area, south-west Western Australia.
terracettes on a gently sloping tufa surface.
File: C030130.jpg

Cape Leeuwin area, south-west Western Australia.
Calcified roots in an area of spring tufas.
File: C030131.jpg

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