W5 Werribee South - Werribee River Delta 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 Access Ownership	Werribee - 000970. Shire of Werribee. Coastal sector extending 200 m south of Cunninghams Road, Werribee South. Cunninghams Road. Crown land.	W5 - Silt and sands of the Werribee delta, Werribee South.
Site Description	The coastal cliffs are earth cliffs cut into the sediments of the Werribee River Delta. This formation is a very distinctive delta-shaped sedimentary body, with the apex located several kilometres upstream from the Werribee and the distal ends located on the coastline extending from south of Point Cook to the mouth of Little River.
	It is not a true sub-aqueous delta as it consists dominantly of red brown clay loam without obvious bedding and lacks marine fossils. It is most likely to have originated as a floodplain crossed by distributary streams, traces of which can be seen at other localities. At Cunninghams Road, the cliffs are 4 to 5 m high, but the lower 2 m are still well exposed, and the prismatic structure of the clay loam soils and a thin overlying sand bed can be clearly seen.
Significance	Regional. The site is a clear exposure of this important and unusual sedimentary body. As most of the area of the delta is utilised for intensive farming, this is one of the few places where a section of the upper parts of the formation may be examined with easy road access.
Management	Class 2. There should be no future reclamation of the upper part of the cliff exposure at the site. Extension of boating or fishing facilities that involve structures that obscured the cliff face should not be permitted.
References	Condon, M.A. (1951). The Geology of The Lower Werribee River, Victoria. Proc. R. Soc. Vict. 63:1-24.

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