A view of Lake Hanson (left) and Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain (1545m) in the background. Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair National Park - World Heritage Area. Tasmania.
Hansons Peak (1185m) left of centre with the walking track running up the ridge. The conifer-looking trees in the foreground are endemic Pencil Pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) along with a scattering of winter-bare Fagus (Nothofagus gunnii).
While the scenery is pretty good, what makes the image for me is the potted history of Tasmania's geological past represented in the frame.
The mountain is of Jurassic Dolerite which sits on a thin bench of Permian conglomerate - clearly visible under the eastern end. The whole shebang is then separated by the 'great unconformity' from the massive Precambrian quartzite bedrock that forms the majority of the landscape here.
The Precambrian deposit reveals some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet at ~1.4 billion years old and connects Tasmania geologically to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the US :-)
Cradle Mountain experienced both sheet and glacial erosion in the Pleistocene Age leaving Dove Lake remaining as a remnant glacial lake. Lake Hanson (some 200m higher than Dove Lake) remains as a hanging lake as does little Lake Wilks which can be seen on that bench below the western peak.
Once again, would have liked a lot more snow but it wasn't going to happen... Next time.
Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 24-200/4-6.3, 1/640th sec at f/10, ISO 200.
12 portrait frame stitch at 35mm. The low res version looked rubbish so it's full size - make it big :-)
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