Geological History

At this site on Knocklofty you should be able to find evidence of past life in the form of fossils. The rocks that make up Knocklofty and Mt Wellington were formed 140 to 300 million years ago during periods of geological time called the Jurassic (140-200 million years ago), the Triassic (200-250 mya) and Permian (250-300 mya). The rocks at Knocklofty are part of a large area of sedimentary and volcanic rocks called the Tasmania Basin which were formed when Tasmania and the rest of Australia were joined to form a supercontinent called Gondwana. At this time, Tasmania was near the South Pole and largely underwater. There are three main types of rock in the Tasmania basin; two sedimentary rock types called sandstone and mudstone and one volcanic rock type called dolerite. All of these rocks are on Knocklofty. You can find lots of fossils in the Permian marine mudstones because it is much easier for animals and plants that live in and around water to be fossilised than it is for those that live on land. The most common fossils are coral-like creatures called bryozoans and marine shells.