The regional geography of Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Abstract

Kangaroo Island is a continental island with an area of 1,673 square miles which lies across the entrance of the Gulf of St. Vincent. Physically the Island had its origin in detritus from ancient land masses deposited in a great geosynclinal basin during the long time span between the Proterozoic and Ordovician time. Orogeny resulting from the collapse of this structure resulted in the erection of the ancestral Central Highlands of South Australia, in which the area now Kangaroo Island played a marginal and flanking role; the bulk of the Island has been land since this time. During Permian time a portion of southern South Australia, including the area now the eastern end of Kangaroo Island, was covered by a continental glacier which moulded and modified the sub-mature pre-Permian topography.