As mentioned yesterday, the Z Bend is caused by a fault, which is clearly detailed in the left hand side of the image vanishing towards the centre.  The fault also allows for a lot of trees to get a start.

The Z Bend is a geological rarity where a river takes a 90° turn owing to a horizontal fault in the underlying rock.  The fault can be seen trailing off to the left in this image (I’ll post an up close of it tomorrow).  The fault allows water to erode out more easily the rock underneath, causing the water to take the path of least resistance and thus, a right hand turn.

Murchison Gorge, Kalbarri National Park.

The first subtle signs of spring slowly creep into the bushland around the Murchison River in Kalbarri National Park.

…aren’t all that deep in this case.

Because of the very nature of the river, carving its way down through the host rock, there tends to be a lot of material depositied in the river bed.  Running strongly for only a few months of the year, the Murchison river takes on almost a channel like appearance as it snakes its way along the valley floor.

The first stage of the Loop walk trail within Kalbarri National Park can be seen trailing off with markers to the horizon along the main ridge.

Murchison River, Kalbarri National Park.

The first inklings of the Mid West spring were starting to peak out of the ground as I explored the Murchison gorge.  Very infrequently one was lucky enough to come across a tiny beauty like this native orchid.

A broad cross section of Tumblagooda Sandstone can be seen in this image of part of a wall of the Murchison gorge.  The river, responsible for carving the gorge, can be seen in the very bottom of the image.  Over 500 million years old, the sandstone is thought to contain some of the earliest fossilised tracks of terrestrial creatures in the world.

Layers of sandstone form the walls of the Murchison gorge.