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181. Penguin Point and Red Rocks Point - Dipping Tuff Beds

This information has been developed from one or more of these publications:

  • Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Westernport Bay Catchment (1984) by Neville Rosengren.
  • Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Western Region of Melbourne (1986) by Neville Rosengren
  • Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance on the Coast of Port Phillip Bay (1988) by Neville Rosengren.
  • Sites of Environmental Significance in the Flood Plain of the Upper Yarra Valley Region (1983) by Neville Rosengren, Douglas Frood and Kim Lowe (as part of a study of Sites of Environmental Significance by the University of Melbourne for the then Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Authority).
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.

Location:Somers – 425423. 200 m west of the car park at northern end of Red Rocks Road.
Image: Sites of Significance Westernport Bay
Dipping red tuff beds at Penguin Rocks,
Site 181
Access:Red Rocks Road.
Ownership:Crown land.
Geology:The rocks are outcrops of hard red bedded tuffs and a softer purple-brown ash bed that strike approximately north-south and dip easterly at 10o to 15o. The rocks form a coastal cliff, extend across the beach as a low ridge and form a reef offshore. Soft white waxy fragments scattered through some beds give the rocks a spotted appearance. The substance is possibly halloysite (Edwards 1945) a clay mineral derived from weathering of zeolites. Edwards (1945) suggested that the structures at Penguin Rocks and Red Rocks indicated an eruption point in the Older Volcanics.
Significance:Regional. The outcrop is a very good and accessible example of the tuffs that occur in the Older Volcanics materials.
Management:Class 2. Jetty construction or coast protection works should not be permitted if they would obscure the outcrops at the site.
References:
Edwards, A.B. (1945). The geology of Phillip Island. Ibid. 57 (1+2) 1-21.


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