THE INFLUENCE OF DEEP WEATHERING ON COASTAL LANDSCAPE AND LANDFORM DEVELOPMENT IN THE MONSOONAL TROPICS OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

The role of sub-aerial processes in the development of coastal configu rations and related rock landforms in tropical regions has in the past been largely ignored. Formation of the Darwin coast and environs in t he seasonally dry tropics of northern Australia has been strongly infl uenced by deep weathering processes. Substantial lengths of this coast have derived their present configurations as a result of the style of land surface lowering and weathering processes operating here. Indivi dual landforms such as shore platforms and offshore rocky reefs also o we their origins largely to the same cause. While marine processes can not be overlooked, the origin of rocky coasts and their landforms in t ropical cratons with highly weatherable substrates is best sought in t he landscape evolution of the coastal hinterland. A previously unrecog nized style of etchplanation, here called land surface refraction, inv olves subsurface structural and lithological controls that influence s urface topography and explains the development of many coastal landfor ms.