YY3 - You Yangs - Granite Landforms

This information has been developed from this publication:

Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Western Region of Melbourne (1986) 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 for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Location:	You Yangs - 745970. Shire of Corio. Southern sector of the You Yangs including slopes around Flinders Peak.	You Yangs - Granite Landforms
Access:	Forest Road, Branch Road.
Ownership:	Crown land.
Site Description:	The terrain of the southern You Yangs includes two steep granite ridges separated by the deep valley of Branding Yard Gully. The ridges are a series of rocky summits with intervening saddles. Flinders Peak (347 m) on the western ridge being the highest point. Several dykes intrude the granite including one irregular mass of aplite on the slopes of the western ridge above Branding Yard Creek. The main north-south trending dyke, 3 m wide, crosses the eastern ridge near the saddle between the main peaks. The landforms are determined by the dominance of the horizontal or sheeting joints which have produced dome-shaped outcrops rather than tall or upright tors. Many examples of the development of flakes, thin sheets, and thicker slabs and wedges of granite occur, some of the thinnest flakes possibly resulting from superficial fracturing during high temperature wildfires in recent years. The bulk of the fractures, however, are primary and secondary joints due to other long-term causes. Extensive outcrop is restricted to the upper slopes, as the disintegration of the granite has resulted in the lower slopes being covered with a fan of coarse granular detritus. Branding Yard Gully is a deep and narrow gutter incised into this unconsolidated material which is also exposed in old quarries.
Significance:	Regional. The site is the major exposure of granite in the study area and a distinctive example of a bornhardt. The upper slopes have man examples of land surfaces controlled by the sheeting structures of the granite and provide an excellent opportunity to study the various processes and the results of granite weathering. Good sections of alluvial fans and other slope wash accumulation forms are displayed in Branding Yard Gully and in old quarries.
Management:	Class 3. The features of significance are robust and extensive in scale. Management of the area as a forest recreation zone is compatible with maintaining them intact. The major problem is in controlling weed infestation which threatens to obscure the middle and lower slopes of the ridges following recent fires.
References:	Baker G (1935)

Sites - YY 3 - 5

Page top