Abstract
The timing of regional deformation of the turbiditic Silurian–Devonian Hill End Trough in the northeastern Lachlan Orogen has been a contentious issue with one view ascribing the regional north–south folds and axial planar foliation to Middle Devonian basin inversion. Alternatively, it has been argued that given the low-angle discordance between Lower and Upper Devonian units on the Capertee and Molong highs, and the development of a dominant episode of folding mapped from the Hill End Trough into the adjoining highs, the major regional deformation is latest Devonian to early Carboniferous and predates intrusion of Bathurst-type granites at 358–314 Ma. We have approached the problem by analysing the gentle, upright, southeast-trending folds and deformation patterns in Devonian units of the northern Capertee High (Cudgegong area), drawing a cross-section across the Hill End Trough and reviewing the structure of two areas in the Molong High (west of Orange, and south of