Eocene Strata of the Bellarine Peninsula. 17 



All instance of a high dip in older tertiary strata is however 

 recently quoted by Mr. T. S. Hart* as occurring on the cliff- 

 section near Mentone, and is given as S. 20° E. at 30°, with 

 fractures and slight faulting. The rest of the section shows a very 

 low dip, this high angle being noted in one fold only. 



The high dip, contortion and the changed character of the 

 small area of polyzoal rock exposed, point to subsequent volcanic 

 disturbance, though no trace of igneous rock overlying the fossil- 

 iferous strata was found. Possibly no great discharge of solid 

 material took place, but heated gases caused the slight meta- 

 morphism of the limestones. 



The Clifton Mineral Springs, plentifully charged with carbonic 

 acid gas, possibly represent the dying, or solfatara stage, of this 

 outburst. 



To the westward of the Curlewis section, the Bellarine Hills 

 rapidly drop to the level of the plain, that separates them from 

 the Geelong Hills, and the eocenes disappear from view. The upper 

 tertiary beds are very thick and apparently form the greater part 

 of the cliffs about the west end of the section, as the gully 

 exposures gave no indication of the existence of any of the older 

 beds, but showed mottled clays sands and conglomerates, and 

 were, as far as we saw, unfossiliferous. 



As almost the whole of the visible portion of the eocene beds 

 of this section is exposed only between tide marks, advantage 

 must be taken of low-tides to thoroughly examine the deposit, 

 and this materially shortens the time available for work ; besides 

 which, only small portions of shells are visible above the surface 

 as the pebbles and pyrites nodules soon destroy the projecting 

 portions of the fossils. The clay beds, as at Mornington, are 

 inhabited by great numbers of Barnea australasiae and B. similis. 

 One peculiar feature of the beach is the manner in which the sea- 

 weed and shells are consolidated into a peaty mass, the pieces of 

 wood enclosed looking like lignite. 



A note on the \ sheet (23 S.W.) states that a shaft to the east 

 of Fen wick's Gully showed 61 feet of ferruginous sands and clays 

 overlying seven feet of black sandy clay with nodules of pyrites and 

 fragments of lignite. This latter is called ' miocene,' presumably 



» Vict. Nat., vol. i.x., p. 157. 



