Summary:
The local landscape comprises Tertiary Basalts (Tb) that overly Permian Rangal Coal Measures, Bandanna Formation, Baralaba Coal Measures (Pwj, sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, coal, tuff, conglomerate), late Permian age Black Alley Shale (Pbs, mudstone, siltstone, tuff, sandstone), Peawaddy Formation (Pbp, mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coquinite), Cattle Creek Formation (Pbk, quartzose to sub-labile sandstone and mudstone) sloping gently (1–3%) to the floodplain of Spring Creek (Qa, comprising quaternary clay, silt and gravels). Remnants of formerly more widespread basalt flows occur extensively around Rolleston.
Geomorphic domains described refer to land system mapping (Story et al., 1967). The geomorphology is associated with erosional surfaces on fresh rock below the Tertiary weathered zone. The MDS ML traverses undulating hills and plain sequences of two land systems: (i) Oxford Undulating Lowlands, and (ii) Waterford Low Hills.