AUSTRALITES FROM THREE LOCALITIES IN SOUTH-WESTERN AUSTRALIA

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract: The morphology. weights and specific gravities of australites from three localities in southwestern Australia are described and compared. Samples from Earaheedy Station at the northern margin of occurrence of the "normal australite" chemical type are like those of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, except insofar as the quality of the sample has been affected by the circumstances of collection. Sampling from around Corrigin in the south-west of the "normal australite" area has been influenced by the natural abundance of very heavy australites up to weight 437g, the obscuring effect of vegetation. shallow burial in surface sand, and minor factors. Australites from near Hughes on the Nullarbor Plain include numerous flakes but no large specimens because of destructive use by Aborigines. The average weights of australites in the Corrigin. Eastern Goldfields and Nullarbor Plain samples are 30.03g, 1.86g and 0.55g respectively. suggesting that the average dimensions of australites in those samples are in the ratio 2.5: 1:0.67.

The natural and human factors which influence the nature of australite locality samples are briefly discussed.