GL16 (8422) Shaving Point and floor of Lake King

This information has been developed from the publications:

Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in Central Gippsland (1981) by Neville Rosengren, M.S McRae-Williams and S.M Kraemers.
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Gippsland Lakes Catchment (1984) by Neville Rosengren.
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in East Gippsland, Victoria (1981) by Neville Rosengren, M.S McRae-Williams

Geological heritage sites, including sites of geomorphological interest and volcanic heritage sites, are under regular revision by the Geological Society of Australia, especially in the assessment of significance and values. Reference should be made to the most recent reports. See the Earth Science Heritage section of the Geological Society of Australia website for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Location:	753050 (8422). Metung.	Sites GL 10-18
Abstract:	Narrow promontory and deep hole on floor of Lake King.
Access:	Metung Road.
Ownership:	Mainly private land onshore, Crown land on Lake King.
Geomorphology:	Tertiary sediments (Jemmys Point Formation), overlain by Haunted Hill Gravels and Pleistocene sand and gravel.
	Shaving Point is a narrow peninsula projecting southwards from the marginal bluff at Metung into Lake King and hence constricting the connection between this lake and Bancroft Bay to the east. The point has the configuration of an arrow spit, built at a point of convergence of two directions of longshore drifting of beach gravel. It is surrounded by eroding sand and gravel beaches and has been extensively modified by shoreline engineering works and jetty construction. Beach nourishment programmers have been carried out on the western shoreline.
	South-east of the point, the floor of Lake King deepens rapidly to over 15 metres and comparisons of the bathymetry with that shown on maps produced in the late 19th century suggest that depths have increased here by 3 to 5 metres. This deepening has been ascribed to tidal scour produced by flood-tide currents entering Lake King from Lakes Entrance via Reeve Channel. If this assessment is correct, the erosion or deepening of the scour hole or “tidal colk” provides a further incidence of physiographic change introduced by the maintenance of a permanent opening into the Gippsland Lakes.
Significance:	Regional. The origin of Shaving Point may not be as simple as outlined above as the sandy/gravely material may lie on a drowned, truncated spur of Tertiary sediments.
Management:	Continued beach nourishment schemes are necessary if extensive erosion of the western shoreline is to be arrested.
References:	Bird (1976) Bird, E.C.F. (1978). The Geomorphology of the Gippsland Lakes Region. Publication No. 186, Environmental Studies Series, Ministry for Conservation, Victoria. King (1980a, 1980b).

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