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98. Heath Hill - Baxter Formation

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:

Catani - 865662. Five hundred metres east of the Western Port Road at Heath Hill.

Access:

Western Port Road.

Ownership:

Private land.

Geology:

A quarry provides exposures of heavily ferruginised cross-bedded sands and gravels with carbonised fragments and large clay pellets and lumps. Jenkin (1962) mapped these as sub-basaltic and overlying the Mesozoic, but they were re-interpreted by Thompson (1974) as Baxter Formation and therefore post-dating the Older Volcanic.

Significance:

Regional. The site provides a major exposure of the sediments with a substantial vertical and horizontal section being exposed in several of the quarry faces.

Management:

Class 3. As the upper quarry faces are easily and safely accessible, the general principles of quarry management outlined, apply to this site.
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