Springbrook National Park
On Tuesday 31 August, our Year 8 students travelled to the beautiful Springbrook National Park on the Queensland/NSW border as part of their current Science unit on the Rock Cycle.
Their first stop was the Natural Bridge where examples of water erosion were found and, oddly, a species of eel usually found in the warmer waters of tropical Queensland.
At the Best of All Lookout, students were able to wonder at a past event, 23 million years ago, where the Tweed Volcano erupted at the site of the present Mt Warning, causing the valley we see today – the Numinbah Valley, the largest known erosion caldera in the Southern Hemisphere. The town of Murwillumbah now sits at the base of the caldera, with students able to see Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay in the distance despite the hazy conditions.
The cohort's last stop took them to Purlingbrook Falls. There they saw examples of the igneous rocks Rhyolite and Basalt which form the basis of the valley. Interestingly, the valley was the site of their camp earlier in the year.
In all locations, students were able to see examples of how small features of the environment such as tree roots and mosses can cause the slow-but-sure erosion of mountains of rock and how lichen and moss rely on each other to survive. They all left the park just a little in awe of Mother Nature.
