Drainage patterns in an Appalachian Fold Mountain Belt: Flinders Ranges, south Australia

Abstract

The streams and rivers draining the Flinders Ranges are largely concordant with structure but all major elements and many other channels include sectors that cut across local structure in anomalous or transverse streams. These anomalous sectors can plausibly be explained in various ways: by capture involving headward erosion, or stream and valley impression made possible by the deep erosion of folds, or by underprinting. The possibility of referral is broached, as is the significance of catchment characteristics in relation to piracy. The impression mechanism raises the possibility that some transverse sectors are of great antiquity. But the origin of many structurally discordant elements remains ambiguous, for they are susceptible of explanation by more than one process or mechanism.