Carruthers Peak, formerly Curruthers Peak, a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
in the
Main Range of the
Great Dividing Range, is located in
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera syst ...
region in southeast
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Australia. The peak is situated between Mount Lee and
Mount Twynam within the
Kosciuszko National Park.
With an elevation of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
The ...
, Carruthers Peak is the seventh-highest peak in mainland Australia.
[
It was named after Joseph Carruthers, a ]Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_ ...
, who, while he served as Minister for Lands,[ facilitated the building of the Summit Road to ]Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko ( ; Ngarigo language, Ngarigo: , ), previously spelled Mount Kosciusko, is mainland Australia (continent), Australia's tallest mountain, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. It is located on the Main Range (Snowy M ...
. It can be easily accessed, with the Main Range walk going straight up it.
Geology
The area around it contains patches of the rare windswept feldmark ecotope. Due to a century of grazing on the Main Range, the area around it was heavily eroded. From the 1950s Soil Conservation Service undertook an extensive program of rehabilitation of the vegetation of the Carruthers Peak–Mount Twynam area using bitumen, wire netting and bales of straw.[None of these methods were very effective. However, by chance the bales of hay carried ]sheep sorrel
''Rumex acetosella'', commonly known as red sorrel, sheep's sorrel, field sorrel and sour weed, is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Native to Eurasia and the British Isles, the plant and its subspecies are commo ...
which held the soil together for the recolonisation of native plants. It lies on a vein of shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especia ...
running south-southeast through the predominant granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...
.
See also
* Australian Alps
* List of mountains in New South Wales
References
Snowy Mountains
Carruthers
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