Gambier Karst Region - South Australia & Victoria

Cenotes

Collapse dolines that reach below the water table.

Selected photographs and diagrams

To view full size images, click on the displayed image.

Cross sections of some typical cenotes in the Mt. Gambier region
Photos of Umpherstons, Little Blue Lake, and Gouldens Hole appear below.

Little Blue Lake - a cenote. Panorama view, Mt Gambier, SA
Blue-WA.jpg

Little Blue Lake - a cenote. 5L-9, Mt Gambier, SA.
B9208-21.5L9.Cenote.jpg

Town Hall sinkhole, in the centre of Mt. Gambier city, SA
C9201-07.5L5.Dc.jpg

Gouldens Waterhole, Mt. Gambier. The ramp was cut by early settlers to allow their cattle to water.
S9204-28.5L8.Cenote.jpg

Signpost for Cave Divers at Gouldens Hole
S9206-28.5L8.Sign.jpg

Stromatolites (calcareous algae growths) exposed on the walls of Goulden's Hole. These would have grown when the water table was higher in the past.
S9206-28.5L8.Stroms.jpg

Umpherstons cave - a cenote in the city of Mt. Gambier
S9509-05.5L6.Garden.jpg

The Pines cenote, 5L-61, Mt Gambier, SA
S9509-09.5L61.Cenote.jpg

Caroline sinkhole, 5L-10, Mt Gambier area, SA
S9509-20.5L10.Dc.jpg

Small water-filled doline in a new plantation of exotic pines. This may be a perched watertable, not the regional watertable.
S9509-33.You261.Dc.jpg