The Triassic Marsh
The Triassic Period covers a span of time between 252 and 201 million years ago and it both begins and ends with large extinction events.
During the Triassic, Australia, Tasmania and Antarctica remained joined together, still in the southern polar regions. The long processes of continental break-up begin in the Triassic as the super-continent Pangaea started to pull apart along long cracks or rift lines in the crust.
During the Triassic, Australia, Tasmania and Antarctica remained joined together, still in the southern polar regions. The long processes of continental break-up begin in the Triassic as the super-continent Pangaea started to pull apart along long cracks or rift lines in the crust.
Golden-coloured Triassic sandstones, Tasmania. Left and centre, sea cliffs and cross-bedding structures at Conningham beach; right sandstone used as building material in the Hobart GPO.
In Tasmania, the early part of the Triassic is represented by thick layers of gold-coloured sandstone. These rocks can still be found in sea cliffs and hillsides – and in quarried blocks now used in many of Hobart’s buildings. Formed by rivers flowing across sandy plains, the sandstones contain few fossils but often show cross-bedded patterns related to shifting river channels. Sometimes there are muddy layers within the sandstone, deposited from blocked channels, lakes or flood events. These layers are where fossilised remains may be found; the most well-known being those discovered in the Knocklofty Formation on the slopes of kunanyi/Wellington itself.
