Geology and Soils of Foxes Lair
Foxes Lair is remarkably variable for a for a small reserve, but is essentially a gravelly plateau adjoining Williams Road bounded by breakaways then an east-west valley and then a high east-west ridge with rock outcrops, plateau, and variable soils. The dramatic changes in slope, soils and vegetation are due to geology and the local plants.
Narrogin and Foxes Lair is underlain by an ancient rift in the underlying granite called the Binneringie Dyke, from which, welled mafic (black iron-rich rocks that form red clay soil) and felsic magma (whitish silica-rich rocks that form sandy soils). Today's mosaic of mesas, breakaways, rock outcrops and vegetation types reflect laterite and soil formation from these rocks and cycles of erosion and deposition. See also |