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6A
Investigation 2 How were the Blue Mountains formed? See the film
The Blue Mountains are a mostly sandstone monocline or plateau, part of
the Sydney Basin which was laid down in the Permian and Triassic geological
periods, between 280 and 180 million years ago. The Sydney Basin extends
from north of the Hunter Valley to the Bateman’s Bay district in the south.
Erosion by water and wind have created the rugged surface. The range was
named the Blue Mountains because, viewed from Sydney, they appeared to be
that colour — the result of a mist of eucalyptus oil refracting light and creating a
haze that looks blue from a distance.
‘virtual visit’
from 00:00 to 02:20
© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2012. This product is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Australia Licence http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/3.0/au/legalcode
JW Pickett and JD Adler, Layers of Time: The Blue Mountains and their Geology,
NSW Department of Mineral Resources, Sydney, 1997, p. 4
Environment New South Wales
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Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains