Sutton Salt Lake

This is classic schist tor country. The schist foliation dip is quite shallow. The tors are aligned in lines parallel to the quartz rodding (stretching) lineation. When full, the lake is about 340 x 150 m in size, only 40-50 cm deep; its water has a pH of 9 and salinity 1/4 to 1/3 that of seawater. When dry, white encrustations of halite (NaCl) with trace amounts of gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) form on the mud.

Sometimes Sutton Salt Lake is full of water, sometimes it is a dessicated grey mudflat. There are good views of the Rock and Pillar Range to the west and north (high point Summit Rock (1450m, 16 km at 358 deg). The scarp edge of Taieri Ridge) is seen in prominent profile on the NE horizon (high point 708 m, 12 km at 047 deg). Taieri Ridge is uplifted along a fault on its east (right) side and backtilted to the west (left) - like the Rock and Pillar Range itself, and most of the Otago Schist ranges.