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Eastern Highlands of Australia; their uplift and erosion

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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The Eastern Highlands form a broad arch, with similar cross sections along its length, and varying altitude of its axis. At least on the western margin in Queensland and near Sydney, most of the uplift was by warping. Mesozoic sediments preserved on the summit and flanks of the highlands prove that most of the uplift was after the Early Cretaceous in Queensland, after the mid Triassic near Sydney, and after the Triassic in Tasmania. Uplift of the highlands was most likely initiated at the time of change of the sedimentation pattern and tectonics, 95 Ma ago, as suggested by Jones and Veevers, except that uplift is thought to have started in the Jurassic in Tasmania. Denudation rates vary with local relief. The Cainozoic average rate for Queensland and New South Wales is near 3 m.Ma-1, and for Victoria and Tasmania 5-7 m.Ma-1. Gravity studies show that the Eastern Highlands are on relatively weak lithosphere, so the denudation would have resulted in denudation isostatic rebound of the local area, and the total amount of tectonic uplift is given approximately by the smoothed altitude of the present highlands. In general, the amount of denudation is smaller than the total amount of tectonic uplift. The timing of the tectonic uplift is not well determined, but most is earlier than mid Cainozoic, and there is evidence that possibly one third of it was during the late Cainozoic. The early tectonic uplift is thought to be due to removal of the lower lithosphere from beneath the highlands at the time of rifting to form the Tasman and Coral Seas, leading to uplift both by crustal underplating, and by the short and long-term effects of crustal heating. Later tectonic uplift is thought to be caused by crustal underplating associated with Cainozoic basaltic volcanism.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Eastern Highlands of Australia; their uplift and erosion
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/dd37d19d-fc7a-434f-9e60-16b1760f93b7
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        140.4,
        -43.92
      ],
      [
        155.69,
        -43.92
      ],
      [
        155.69,
        -10.96
      ],
      [
        140.4,
        -10.96
      ],
      [
        140.4,
        -43.92
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Eastern Highlands of Australia; their uplift and erosion". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/eastern-highlands-of-australia-their-uplift-and-erosion