Gambier Karst Region - South Australia & Victoria

Loch Ard Gorge

Sand Speleothems

Paper on Sand Speleothems (PDF), KG Grimes, Helictite, Vol 26(1), 1998.

Selected photographs and diagrams

To view full size images, click on the displayed image.
Map of Loch Ard Gorge, on the soft-rock limestone coast of Victoria
Blue is sea, Grey is the limestone rock, yellow is the sandy floor of the cove and red are caves.
Loch Ard Gorge, seen from the entrance of Pierce Cave (3SW-2)
The limestone is Tertiary Gambier Limestone - a soft, porous marine calcarenite.
Note the "lumpy" stalactites hanging from the drip-line.
IMG00101.jpg
Flowstone with an eroded base sitting on a core of cemented sand
Pierce Cave. C9703_19.jpg
Bulbous sand "stalactites" formed by cementation of sand by percolating waters. See the PDF file listed at top of this page for more details
Scale bar is 10 cm.
C9701_07.jpg
Cemented sand shelf, with bulbous sand "stalactites" below it
Scale bar is 10 cm.
Carmichael Cave (3SW-3) - C9701_11.jpg