5-13 Portland Cliffs

This information has been developed from the publications:

An assessment of the Geological/Geomorphological Significance of Private Land in the Shire of Portland (1981) by N. Rosengren, J Mallen, T Shepherd.

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.

Locality:	7221-531567. Whalers Point to Anderson Point, Portland.
Access:	Road to boat moorings and breakwater off Percy Street.
Geology/Geomorphology:	Formerly active marine cliffs (now fronted by artificial walls) expose late Tertiary and Quaternary sediments and volcanics south of Dutton Way bluff. The best exposures are currently at Whalers Point and Anderson Point where the Port Campbell Limestone is unconformably overlain by the Whalers Bluff Formation. Shell horizons (e.g. oyster beds) are well displayed in the Whalers Bluff Formation. The sediments are in places overlain by deeply weathered Greenwald-Cobboboonee Basalt.
Significance:	State. These are the most accessible exposures of the later Tertiary marine sediments in the Portland area. The clear exposure of the contact between the Port Campbell Limestone and Whalers Bluff Formation, and the abundant shelly fossils in the latter, are the major features of this site.
Management:	The breakwater and seawall which have been constructed in front of the cliffs will ultimately lead to the cliff sections being obscured. Material which as previously removed by wave action is now accumulating on the cliff face. Over the time active cliff will become a soil and vegetation covered bluff, similar to the configuration of the bluff at Dutton Way. The value of the site as a research and teaching example will thus diminish rapidly. This raises the problem of possible conflict between coastal management strategies designed to halt or reduce cliff recession and the need to reserve important sections for stratigraphic study - and especially for the display of classic sequences of contact, bedding structure and fossils.
Reference:	Boutakoff, N. (1963). The Geology and Geomorphology of the Portland Area. Geological Survey of Victoria, Memoir No. 22. Douglas, J.G. and Ferguson, J.A. (Eds.) (1976). Geology of Victoria. Geological Society of Australia, Special Publication No. 5.

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