Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

—EXPLORATIOX OF AUSTE.ILIA. 357The explorations carried out iu recent years by the ChaUengcr and other vesselshave determined with tolerable accuracy the submarine bed on wbich Australia stands,and which may be geologically regarded as forming with the mainland a jjartlyujiheavedcontinental mass. Inthe north New Guinea, with theclusters and chains of adjacentislands, such as the Louisiadesand Aru, all rest on the commonpedestal, being united withAustralia by the reefs dottedover Torres Strait and neighbouringwaters. The Gulf ofCarpentaria and the northwesternseas nearly as far asTimor belong to the same submarinebank, which in the soulhstretches far seawards, and inthe south-east develops a longsubmerged peninsula, abovewhich rises Tasmania, andwhich advances over 900 milesinto deep water.On the east side tbe NewSouth Wales seaboard is washedby abysses of over 2,000 fathoms,'¥ig. 154.23MacDoUALl's iTINEEAKIEa.Scale 1 : G.OOO.WO.lljuly July. .;_ V'-'' ^ '^J""'J.. V) ;' 20 maywhile the north-east coast isfringed by the Great BarrierReef, which is connected by asill less than 1,000 fathoms deepwitb Norfolk Island and thenortb-west peninsula of NewZealand.This connecting linebetween the continent and itsmost remote geological dependenciesis disposed towards thesouth-east in the same directionas New Caledonia, the Loyalty,and New Hebrides groups, andother upraised lands in tbissection of the South Sea.It is noteworthy that in thisvast aggregate of Australasian6EasbcFGrlands the continent itself presents the least diversity of relief. Even the loftiestAustralian ranges are of secondary importance compared with the New Guinea and