Geological investigation and mapping of the Wellar Coal Measures to determine the depositional environment

In the 1978-79 field season, the Beacon Supergroup and the intruding Ferrar Dolerite were mapped at Mt Fleming and Horseshoe Mountain including three laterally related sections of the Wellar Coal Measures. The Mt Fleming area was revisited in the 1979-80 field season to complete the study of the Wellar Coal Measures. Geological mapping and sampling were carried out in the Mt Fleming, Shapeless Mountain and Horseshoe Mountain areas and further outcrops of the coal measures in the cirque basin were measured and described in detail. The data completed the detailed three dimensional coverage of the outcrops needed to determine the depositional history of the Wellar Coal Measures. Paleocurrent measurements were taken from representative samples of the coal measures to determine the direction of current flow and the sinuosity of the depositing river. The paleocurrent directions from the outcrops at Mt Fleming were compared with those from Shapeless Mountain, about 20 km away, where the coal measures are very similar. Three thin calcareous beds previously described were traced over a large area of Mt Fleming. Three very similar calcareous beds were also found in the same stratigraphic position at Shapeless Mountain and inferences were made to the depositional history.