Me4 Exford Cutting - Volcanics and Sediments

This information has been developed from the publications:

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 Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Shire of Otway (1984) by Neville Rosengren.

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	Melton - 866192. Shire of Melton. Road cutting on Greig Road 100 m east of bridge over Toolern Creek.	Me4 - Basalt (B) overlain by gravels and sands. Exford cutting.
Access	Exford Road and Greig Road.
Ownership	Crown land
Site Description	The road cutting exposes a weather augite basalt of the Exford Volcanics. Overlying the basalt is a bed of rounded gravels that is 1.5 m thick at the western end of the cutting but thins rapidly to the east. The larger clasts are of quartz and sandstone and up to 100 cm long and there are occasional rounded basalt pebbles at the base of the gravel.
	The gravels are contained in a coarse sandy/matrix. Above the gravel is a cohesive red sandy/silty alluvium containing irregular calcareous nodules. The conglomerate was deposited from a fast-flowing stream while the finer sediments are typical of the floodplain or shallow lake environment.
Significance	Regional. The site is a good example of an unconformity and shows the different fluvial regimes that have operated on areas of the plains that are now well beyond the reach of stream activity.
Management	Class 2. No action is necessary at this stage to preserve the site. Any road widening operations should be designed to maintain a steep, exposed natural face on the cutting rather than low angle or artificially stabilized batters.

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