Mount Lofty Ranges

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Mount Lofty Ranges
Mount Bryan
Elevation	936 m (3,071 ft)[1] AHD
Isolation	102.07 km (63.42 mi)[2]
Coordinates	33°25′34″S 138°58′28″E / 33.42604°S 138.97452°E / -33.42604; 138.97452[1]
Dimensions
Length	300 km (190 mi) N–S
Area	1,640 km2 (630 sq mi)
Naming
Etymology	Mount Lofty
Geography
Mount Bryan Location of the mountain range in South Australia
Country	Adelaide Rift Complex
Last eruption	March 1954
Climbing
Normal route	Heysen Trail
Access	South Eastern Freeway

The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and defines the eastern border of the Adelaide Plains.

Location and description

The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over 300 kilometres (190 mi) before petering out north of Peterborough. In the vicinity of Adelaide, they separate the Adelaide Plains from the extensive plains that surround the Murray River and stretch eastwards to Victoria.

The Heysen Trail traverses almost the entire length of the ranges, crossing westwards to the Flinders Ranges near Hallett.

The mountains have a Mediterranean climate with moderate rainfall brought by south-westerly winds, hot summers and cool winters. The southern ranges are wetter (with 900 millimetres (35 in) of rain per year) than the northern ranges (400 millimetres (16 in)).

Southern ranges

The part of the ranges south of and including the Barossa Valley are commonly known as the South Mount Lofty Ranges, and the highest part of this section is the summit of Mount Lofty (710 m or 2,330 ft). The part of the ranges nearest Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and, further north, the Barossa Range.

The ranges encompass a wide variety of land usage, including significant residential development, particularly concentrated in the foothills, suburbs of

There are many wineries in the ranges. Two wine regions in particular are world-renowned: the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Grapes are also grown in the Adelaide Hills and the Onkaparinga Valley.

Although no major mines operate in the southern ranges today, there are several large disused ones, and a myriad of small ones. An

The northern ranges include Belvidere Range, Tothill Range and the Skilly Hills.

Mining, although totally absent today, was once a major industry in the northern ranges. The copper mine at Kapunda, just north of the Barossa, operated from 1842 to 1877 and was a major boost to the infant State's economy, but was soon overshadowed by the large workings at Burra, further north. The mine here operated from 1845 to 1877 with a few minor interruptions, and was superseded by even larger workings on the Yorke Peninsula. As testament to the volume of copper at Burra, however, the mine re-opened as an open-cut in 1971, before closing again ten years later.

The Clare Valley lies in a shallow fold of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges just southwest of Burra. It is yet another world-class wine-producing area, and is a very popular weekend tourist destination for people living in Adelaide. It is also home to the only conservation park in the northern ranges, Spring Gully.

The northern end of the ranges are home to two curiosities: a tiny township by the name of Yongala, familiar to South Australians for commonly being the coldest place in the state (being a hundred kilometres inland, and on a somewhat elevated plateau as with much of the Mid North). The other curiosity is a locality near Orroroo called "Magnetic Hill". The name stems from an optical illusion that creates the impression that a car rolls uphill.

Geomorphology

The ranges are part of the

• Para Fault. This runs from
  North Adelaide
  rests.
• Eden-Burnside Fault Zone. This fault zone (composed of several different individual faults) lies at the base of the main scarp of the Adelaide Hills, separating the young Quaternary alluvium of the plains from the Proterozoic sedimentary rocks making up the ranges. It begins around One Tree Hill in the northern suburbs and extends as an escarpment of approximately 200 metres (660 ft) high in a slightly curving line for about 30 km (19 mi) before encountering the sea at Marino. This escarpment is known as the "Hills Face Zone" and is subject to special zoning restrictions; house prices are very high, as is demand for land, owing to the magnificent views, but many in the community are concerned with maintaining green hills as a background to the plains. A number of creeks cut deep notches in the scarp; one of these, Glen Osmond Creek, provides the site for the major road east out of Adelaide, now called the South Eastern Freeway; only a handful of other major roads extend up the scarp.
• Kitchener Fault. This long fault, just a little further to the east, extends from north of the Barossa Valley past the Torrens gorge to meet the Eden Fault in the vicinity of Greenhill. It is most apparent as a fault scarp around Williamstown and Kersbrook.
• Clarendon Fault. Running largely parallel to the Eden-Burnside Fault, this forms the escarpment within Belair National Park, which also runs south-east to form the eastern boundary of the southern suburbs, before ending at Old Noarlunga, where the Onkaparinga River emerges from the ranges. An escarpment also extends from the northern end of this fault to form the upper 'tier' of Mount Lofty: Measdays Hill (now carved in half by a massive cutting for the SE Freeway at Crafers West) and Mount Lofty itself are at the top of this scarp.
• Willunga Fault. This fault runs parallel to the Clarendon Fault, further south once more, and is the southernmost of the faults. The escarpment it lies at the base of is similarly dramatic, beginning in the Scott Creek Conservation Park and running southwest: Mount Bold Reservoir forms where the Onkaparinga River has been dammed in the middle of the escarpment. Further south, the townships of Kangarilla and Willunga nestle in gullies of the scarp, and the increasingly dramatic and bare face of "The Range", as it is known (properly Sellicks Hill Range) meets the sea at Sellicks Beach.
• Bremer and Palmer Fault Zones. These faults are at the eastern edge of the Mount Lofty Ranges block, and form even more dramatic escarpments than those in the west due to the general lack of the vegetation in the countryside. The latter fault zone is the eastern edge of the metamorphosed Proterozoic rocks of the Kanmantoo group; to the east lie the younger sediments of the Murray River. Towns like Palmer, Sedan, and Cambrai, lie at the foot of the scarp.

All the fault zones are still active today, along with the rest of the ranges, and minor earthquakes are relatively common. Larger quakes in the southern ranges are fairly rare: the last to hit a major centre was the 1954 Adelaide earthquake that occurred on 1 March. It measured 5.5 on the Richter scale.

A significant aspect of the geology of the Adelaide area is a number of Tertiary marine sands deposits, many of which have been extensively quarried. One of these deposits is around the outer-northern suburb of Golden Grove; another area is around McLaren Vale.

Ecology

Flora

The natural habitat of the mountainsides is woodland of

Biodiversity losses have been severe in the ranges due to the clearance of temperate woodlands.^[5] The hillsides have largely been cleared of woodland for fruit growing and other agriculture and the urban growth of Adelaide particularly on the lower slopes, leading to loss of habitat and local extinction of wildlife species including all species of bettong and quoll marsupials and birds including regent honeyeater (Xanthomyza phrygia), swift parrot (Lathamus discolor), king quail (Coturnix chinensis), brown quail (C. ypsilophora), and azure kingfisher (Alcedo azurea). Clearance and agriculture are ongoing and livestock grazing continues to cause damage to habitats while introduced cats, foxes and rabbits are a threat to habitats and wildlife. Protected areas tend to be small and fragmented.

See also

• Flinders Ranges
• McLaren Vale (wine)
• Barossa Valley (wine)

References