22.2 Lion Headland to Slippery Point

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 (external site) section of the Geological Society of Australia website for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Location:	22-015078 to 055073. Coastal sector three kilometres west of Johanna.	Lion Headland - high marine cliffs and hanging valley at mouth of Paynton Creek. Arrow indicates sea cave.
Access:	Hider Road off Great Ocean Road or coastal walk from Johanna Beach.
Ownership:	Crown land (Otway National Park) and private land.
Geology/Geomorphology:	The principal features of this section are broadly similar to those described at Sites 21.3 and 22.1. Otway Group sediments outcrop with southerly dip as high cliffs at Lion Headland with Paynton Creek as a hanging valley possibly aligned along a fault. Steep cliffs occur at the mount of Knowledge Creek which has incised down to sea level although the small stream immediately to the east is suspended four metres above the shore platform. As in the previous sector, this site has large landslip amphitheatres and landslip debris has accumulated as slabby boulder beaches.	Small hanging valley at mouth of Knowledge Creek.
	Depositional and deformational structures are clearly displayed and include bedding features, ripple marks, breccia beds and numerous small concretions. Shore platforms are narrow, irregular and deeply indented. Of particular interest are several sea caves. The most accessible of these is at the mouth of Knowledge Creek where the cavern occurs along bedding planes due to the collapse and wave removal of several siltstone beds. The cave has several conspicuous speleothems at the entrances and smaller ones on the roof inside. Other small caves are cut along vertical joint planes. The small cove 800 metres east of Knowledge Creek is of the "Lulworth Cove" type where a bay has been excavated in softer rocks behind a breached cliff of harder sandstones.	Cross-bedded arkose at Knowledge Creek.
	Just east of Lion Headland, a preliminary survey by the National Museum of Victoria revealed a very good specimen of dinosaur footprint over 10 cms long.
Significance:	International. The site is rated equally with sites 21.3 and 22.1 and reference should be made to the significance statement for those sites. Of particular importance here is the dinosaur footprint, one of only two known in Victoria and one of the best specimens yet recovered in Australia. The number of sea caves which occur in close proximity are of special interest because they display several modes of formation. The speleothems at the Knowledge Creek locality are in good condition and await more detailed mineralogical study.
Cave in dipping siltstone and arkose at Knowledge Creek.		Speleothems at the entrance to Knowledge Creek cave.

Site 22.2

Lion Headland to Slipper Point

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