Gambier Karst Region - South Australia & Victoria

Loch Ard Gorge

The gorge is a major part of the scenic "Great Ocean Road" in the Port Campbell area of Victoria. It is a deep joint-controlled chasm that has intersected two caves which appear to have originally been karst caves, but are now somewhat modified by wave action. Smaller sea caves, arches etc also occur in the area. Of particular interest are the sand speleothems found in all the caves.

For a more detailed description of the area see Grimes 2000 - a PDF of a report in Nargun, the newsletter of the Victorian Speleological Association (VSA).

For detailed cave maps and descriptions see the three VSA Cave Report Forms (PDF images):
3SW-2, Pearce Cave.
3SW-3, Carmichael Cave.
3SW-29, The Alcove.

Sand Speleothems

The sand speleothems are best developed in SW-3 & SW-29.
These have formed by localised cementation of a loose calcareous sand that once filled the caves, followed by the removal of the surrounding uncemented sand to expose the "speleothems". See my paper on Sand Speleothems (PDF), KG Grimes, Helictite, Vol 36(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 Pearce Cave (3SW-2)
The limestone is Tertiary (Miocene) Port Campbell Limestone - a soft, porous marine calcarenite.
Note the "lumpy" stalactites (biothems) hanging from the drip-line.
C970123.Pan.jpg
Flowstone with an eroded base sitting on a core of cemented sand. Book is 20 cm high.
Pearce Cave. C9703_19.jpg
Bulbous sand "stalactites" formed by cementation of sand by percolating waters. See Grimes 1998 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