| Leichhardt | |
|---|---|
  Location of the Leichhardt Range in Queensland | |
| Elevation | 355 metres (1,165 ft) |
| Naming | |
| Etymology | Ludwig Leichhardt [1] |
| Geography | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Queensland |
| Range coordinates | 20°03′14″S146°55′36″E / 20.05389°S 146.92667°E Coordinates: 20°03′14″S146°55′36″E / 20.05389°S 146.92667°E |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Ordovician to Late Carboniferous |
| Type of rock | Granite |
The Leichhardt Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, is a mountain range located in North Queensland, Australia.
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest land-based range in the world. It stretches more than 3,500 kilometres (2,175 mi) from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through New South Wales, then into Victoria and turning west, before finally fading into the central plain at the Grampians in western Victoria. The width of the range varies from about 160 km (100 mi) to over 300 km (190 mi). The Greater Blue Mountains Area, Gondwana Rainforests, and Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Areas are located in the range.
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills ranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny. Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics. Mountain ranges are also found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets.
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and identity.
The range runs parallel with the coast [2] about 170 kilometres (106 mi) west of Mackay [1] and has an average elevation of 355 metres (1,165 ft). [3] It is composed of a series of rugged hills with folded granite and granodiorite. The age of the rocks vary from Ordovician (490 to 434 million years) to Late Carboniferous (325 to 298 million years). These are interspersed with areas of volcanic rhyolite of the Cambrian Period (545 to 490 million years) at the southern edge. [4]
Mackay is a city and its centre suburb in the Mackay Region on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about 970 kilometres (603 mi) north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's sugar.
Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term "granite" is used to refer to a wider range of coarse-grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar.
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.2 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Mya.
The range is named after the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. [1]
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, known as Ludwig Leichhardt, was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.
