The Glaciation of the King Valley, Western Tasmania

That a glacier once flowed down the King Valley is shown by glacial deposits in t,his valley and in the adjacent Nelson, Comstock and Linda Valleys. East of Mt. Lyell iL was at least 1,000 feet thick, but south of this point it decreased rapidly in thiekness due to widening of the valley and to loss of ice to the distributary glaciers in the Linda and Nelson Valleys. During a brief maximum phase the glacier reached the Crotty Plains six miles south of the Lyell Highway and may have just crossed the West Coast Hange at Gormanston Gap. A series of retreat stages is represented by moraines in each valley. A study of aerial photographs indicates that the King Glacier resulted from the conjunetion of major glaciers flowing in the North Eldon and South Eldon Valleys. These were fed from the east side of the Tyndall Range and from the :t<:acton Range respectively. Evidence of one glacial phase was found and it is that the glaciation temporaneous with that at Lake radio-carbon dating of problematical indicates an approximately Wisconsin age for the sint;le advance and retreat.