8423-3 Oriental Claims

This information has been developed from the publications:

Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in Central Gippsland (1981) by Neville Rosengren, M.S McRae-Williams and S.M Kraemers.
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Gippsland Lakes Catchment (1984) by Neville Rosengren.
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in East Gippsland, Victoria (1981) by Neville Rosengren, M.S McRae-Williams

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 for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Location:	508925. 2 kilometres south-west of Omeo.	Oriental Claims. Alluvial terrace (a), with abandoned sluicing works.
Abstract:	High level alluvial terrace deposits.
Access:	Walk from Alpine Road.
Ownership:	Crown land.
Geomorphology:	Alluvial terraces situated at heights up to 45 m above the channels of Livingstone Creek and Dry Hill Creek occur in this area. Livingstone Creek and tributaries have been rejuvenated, down cutting to new base levels through their old flood plain. This rejuvenation may have been related to movements along the Livingstone Fault. Cliffs in the terrace produced by river incision and also by past gold sluicing operations, expose deposits of gravels, sands, and silty sands. Gravels are prominent and consist of quartz and metamorphic rock clasts lightly cemented by iron stained wilts and fine sands. Rare opalized wood is also recorded from these gravels. In addition, cross bedding, graded bedding and channel scour features are well developed in the cliff sections. The cliffs have been over steepened in the areas of past gold mining operations and consequently gully erosion and mass wasting features are common.
Significance:	Regional. High alluvial terraces are common in the Omeo region. The Oriental Claims terrace is easily accessible and is representative of the terraces occurring in the area. It is of added importance for its historical features which relate to the gold mining operations.
Management:	Cliff face erosion and mass wasting will eventually obscure the lithological and structural features displayed and will thus upgrade the geological/geomorphological significance of the site. Limited quarrying or sluicing for gold would maintain the cliff sections. However, large scale operations which may result in total destruction of the terrace form would substantially degrade the quality of the site from both a scientific and historical perspective.

Sites 8423 1-3

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