Geology of the Country aljoiit Anglesea. 51 



:a part uf the Aiivv"s Inlet tuffs, and these are, if my inferences 

 be correct, contemporaneous with part of the Spring Creek 

 lower beds or of Jan Jukian age, and to the same series must 

 be referred the beds between Airey's and Point Castries. 



Krause has marked on his map, and described in his notes 

 a division between a lower series of rocks which he calls 

 Miocene, and an overlying series which he calls Pliocene. The 

 ■■ Miocene " is n)apped only along the sea coast, with an exten- 

 sion up the valley of Spring Creek, owing to the removal of 

 the overlying " Pliocene," but I do not know on what this sub- 

 •division rests, and am unable to see any justification for it. 



Physiographically the country between Geelong and Angle- 

 sea is a coastal plain, with a mean elevation of perhaps two 

 hundred feet. From west to east across this a broad valley, five 

 or six miles Avide, has been excavated, and subsequently partly 

 flooded by a series of lava flow's of " upper volcanic " age. This 

 valley is drained mainly by Thompson's or Bream Creek. Tlie 

 lava is a tongue from the western plains, and comes down the 

 Barwon Valley from the south of Winchelsea. The River Bar- 

 won turns abruptly north near this town, but probably its old 

 ■course was along the wude, mature valley now occupied by the 

 lava flow, which enters the sea as a broad flood between the 

 mouths of the Barwon and Bream Creek. 



As this valley is excavated in sandy beds which crop out ex- 

 tensively along its margin, it is evident that a considerable 

 part of the rainfall is probably absorbed, and sinks below the 

 basalt. Tliis being the case, it seems almost certain that a line 

 of bores across the lava, stream would tap a supply of under- 

 ground water, which would l)e of value in augmenting the de- 

 ficient suninier supply of this area. As is usuall}^ the case in 

 basaltic country, what streams there are, are highly mineralised, 

 and the dissolved salts flocculate the suspended clay, and so 

 cause its precipitation, leaving the water clear, and an object 

 ■of suspicion to the traveller. The old bush maxim is justified 

 which says, of two streams choose the muddy (tno as being 

 probably better water. 



The coastal plain is sandy, and the soil is extremely poor, so 

 that the timber which grows on it to the south of .Iai\ Juc 

 iiffords only second-rate firewood, and is fit for little else. As 



