This information has been developed from the publications:
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Location: | 14-935105. Two kilometres below the Great Ocean Road bridge at Lower Gellibrand. | Levee banks, buried spurs (arrowed), backswamps and valley-side bluffs of the Gellibrand River at Lower Gellibrand. |
Access: | Lower Gellibrand-Princetown Road (River Road). | |
Ownership: | Private land and some Crown Land (River Reserve). | |
Geomorphology: | The well defined levees of the Gellibrand River have been referred to in Site 14.5. Along the confined flood plain of the river, the levees have given rise to backswamp at the edge of the flood plain against the bordering bluffs. The river channel is straight or with gentle bends that match the geometry of the meanders of the valley. This meander pattern of the channel is in contrast with the sinuous meanders that occur in the valley near Carlisle River. A partially buried, cut-off spur and two partially buried river-cut spurs from small hills on the flood plain. They are remnants of an earlier erosive phase of the river during a lower sea level phase in the Pleistocene (Baker, 1950). | |
Significance: | State. The Gellibrand is one of the major coastal rivers in Victoria and the long, confined flood plain is in many respects unique in the state. There are no major breaches in the well defined levee banks and very few cut-off meanders. The westward deflection of the valley south of Lower Gellibrand was commented on by Baker (1950) but the cause of this has not been satisfactorily explained. It therefore constitutes a site of considerable interest for studies of fluvial landforms and sediments. | |
References: | Baker, G. (1950). "Geology and physiography of the Moonlight Head district." Proc. R. Soc. Vict. 60: pp. 17-44. |