5-17 Cliff top dunes - Cape Nelson

This information has been developed from the publications:

An assessment of the Geological/Geomorphological Significance of Private Land in the Shire of Portland (1981) by N. Rosengren, J Mallen, T Shepherd.

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 (external link) for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Locality:	7221-474512. Five kilometres north of the Cape Nelson.
Access:	Track off Cape Nelson Road.
Ownership:	Private/Public land on the western side.
Geomorphology:	A series of cliff top dunes overly Bridgewater Formation dune ridges. Three series of newer dunes can be identified. The first comprises a set of generally stabilised parabolic dunes, the axes of which are oriented east-north-east. The second series are much smaller, and overly the first series. Their average orientation is east-south-east. To the west a transgressive dune sheet with parabolic extensions is actively advancing to the east-north-east. The dunes extend from sea level to an elevation of 100 metres, indicating a substantial vertical movement of dune sediments over a now-buried Pleistocene cliff.
Significance:	State. With the Cape Bridgewater dune sequence these dunes comprise the best example of cliff top dunes in Victoria. The Cape Nelson dunes display a wide range of stabilised and active dune forms and are important in evaluating the mechanism of cliff top dune movement.
Management:	Because of the area covered by the site, the value of the significant geomorphological features is unlikely to be diminished by localised land disturbance, e.g. limited quarrying or road construction.

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