Three half-excursions of outstanding coastal exposures

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PDF copy of the field guide available here

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Tuesday 22nd November - City of Melbourne Bay to Cottons Flat

This Neoproterozoic section records “snowball Earth” and subsequent global warming. We will view Cryogenian glacial diamictites and laminated siltstone with dropstones, overlain by Ediacaran “cap” dolostone (time permitting) and pelagic shale. The sedimentary sequence is overlain by well-preserved c. 580 Ma volcaniclastics and tholeiitic to picritic pillowed and tabular lavas.

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Wednesday 23rd November - Cape Wickham area

Pelitic schists and sandstones of the Mesoproterozoic (c. 1400-1300 Ma) Surprise Bay Formation, intruded by c. 1280 Ma amphibolites, with deformation and contact metamorphism associated with intrusion of Tonian (c. 760 Ma) granites and pegmatites; all cut by mylonite zones and intruded by dolerite dykes….. 

 

Thursday 24th November - Surprise Bay-Seal Rocks-Stokes Point

Surprise Bay Formation- andalusite-garnet schists, metamorphic tremolite-porphyries, turbidites, dolerite dykes, major and minor folds, cataclasites and mylonites adjacent to a regional shear zone…