Great Western Tiers

The Great Western Tiers (Palawa kani: Kooparoona Niara) are a collection of mountain bluffs that form the northern edge of the Central Highlands plateau in Tasmania, Australia. The bluffs are contained within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.

The bluffs stretch northwest to southeast over Template:Convert from the Template:Convert Western Bluff near the town of Mole Creek to the Template:Convert Millers Bluff, approximately Template:Convert west of Campbell Town.<ref name=lloyd1>Lloyd, p.1</ref> During the late 19th century the Tiers were known as the Great Western Range.<ref>Whitworth, p.91</ref>

Features

The Central Highlands, or Tasmanian central plateau, was uplifted from the lower Meander Valley, most probably in the Eocene epoch though possibly earlier, forming the Tiers' escarpment.<ref>Fish and Yaxley, p.253</ref> The plateau's north-east boundary, which ranges from Template:Convert–Template:Convert, originated in extensive Tertiary faulting.<ref>Fish and Yaxley, p.293</ref>

This escarpment divides the high, rocky, sparsely inhabited central plateau from the fertile lower land of the Meander Valley and the northern midlands. The edge of the tiers have prominent cliffs and columns of Jurassic dolerite. The highest peak in the tiers is the Template:Convert Ironstone Mountain.<ref name=pb/> Unlike most of the bluffs this mountain is not visible from the Meander Valley, but is south of the escarpment.<ref name=lloyd1/> The escarpment has a distinct concave profile. Cliffs and scree slopes are common features.<ref>Fish and Yaxley, p.294</ref> The dolerite is so prominent as the older rocks that overlay them are softer and have been eroded away. In places dolerite columns have collapsed into scree slopes.<ref>Lloyd, p.5</ref>

The face of the tiers has been eroded and retreated approximately Template:Convert since their formation, leaving the mountain Quamby Bluff as a solitary outlier. The central plateau's landform has been changed by glaciation. Valleys under the tiers are filled with talus, mostly bounders with a 25% mix of soil formed from boulder weathering.<ref>Fish and Yaxley, p.12</ref>

Peaks

The peaks and bluffs of the Great Western Tiers include:

• Brady's lookout, at Template:Convert. Named after the bushranger Matthew Brady.<ref>Whitworth, p.22</ref>
• Billop Bluff
• Dry's Bluff at Template:Convert. Origin of the Liffey River.<ref>Whitworth, p.61</ref>
• Ironstone Mountain, at Template:Convert<ref name=pb/>
• Millers Bluff, at Template:Convert<ref>Whitworth, p.135</ref>
• Mother Cummings Peak, at Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite peakbagger</ref>
• Mount Blackwood
• Mount Parmeener
• Neals Bluff
• Panorama Hill
• Projection Bluff
• Quamby Bluff, at Template:Convert<ref>Forestry Commission of Tasmania, p.9</ref>
• Western Bluff, at Template:Convert<ref name=lloyd1 />

Gallery

Panorama from Chudleigh towards the Great Western Tiers

See also

• List of highest mountains of Tasmania

Bibliography

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