Triassic Park EarthCache

At the Bacchus Marsh Council Trench Reserve you can view the only known Triassic age (about 205 to 250 Million years ago) sedimentary rock in Victoria.

280 Million years ago in the Permian age the area around this part of Victoria was covered by vast glaciers.
Australia was joined to Antarctica at this time in a continent called Gondwana. 70 Million years ago in what was then the Triassic age a river ran through this very spot. It helped to deposit the sandstone and then siltstone layers which are exposed along the trench.

If you look carefully in the siltstone layer you may see plant fossils. The sandstone has a distinctive swirl pattern running through it which was caused by the river currents disturbing the sediment as it flowed along.
The layers of rock you can see here are the Conglomerate layer which consists of small rocks and pebbles (the top layer as you stand in the trench), then a small siltstone layer directly underneath, and finally the beautifully patterned yellow sandstone layer.

You may log this cache before you receive confirmation from me, however if we do not receive you email we will be obliged to delete your log.
To log this cache please email me the answers to the following questions.

1. During the Triassic period many types of Flora grew in this area. Namely Horsetail, Liverwort, Fern, Cycad, Ginkgo and Conifer(Pine). Please tell me what the dominant flora species was at this time. (Hint- it is now extinct)
2. Why are the swirls in the sandstone vertical instead of horizontal?
3. Include in your log a photo of you with your GPSr in front of some of the Triassic rock, and write something interesting that you have learned from the area while you were there.