280 RECORDS OF THE AOSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



Similar cases of erosion by wiiul-blowii sand are not unconi- 

 nion where it lias acted upon the later geological formations. 

 Its action on f^i'anites and othei' plutonic and intrusive I'ocks is 

 well known. One particularly g^ood exam[)le of this occurs 

 alono' the south east coast of Africa, on the littoral of Zululand, 

 where high cliffs of Tertiaiy strata ai'e being gradually worn 

 away by blown sand weathering, leaving detrital heaps, at the 

 bottom of the cliffs, of fossils, lignitic wood and fragments of 

 foraminiferal limestones, which are present in thin beds in the 

 sections above. These cliffs present a curious aspect, showing 

 the thin protruding limestones, the mucli excavated sandy beds, 

 while the clayey deposits ai-e cut into the most wonderfully 

 fantastic shapes but often present more or less flat and fairly 

 extensive exposures foi-ming a remarkable ajid sometimes 

 grotesque feature in tlie coastal scenerj^ just as these outci-ops of 

 sand-rock form a distinctive feature in the landscape of the 

 sand-dunes, on the south coast of King Island. 



The sand-dunes themselves have not been formed in the 

 ordinary wa}', by the heaping up of wind-blown beach sand 

 but chiefly consist of sand particles resulting from the 

 trituration of the sand-rock, from tlie period of the elevation 

 of the island after the last subsidence, to the present day, no 

 doubt a.ssisted to a small extent by tlie drifting sea-shoi-e 

 sands. Although in the majoi'ity of cases the chief origin of 

 dune sand, except, perhaps on a desert coast line, is un- 

 doubtedly" blown shore sand, m some cases where there have 

 been uplifts of the coast line, the rocks of which consist of late 

 geological formations, such as Pleistocene, Tertiai-y, or even 

 Cretaceous stra.ta, the accretion to the amount of sand, and its 

 chief source after these beds had become dry land has been 

 from the wind-blown sand degradation of such exposed soft 

 deposits. Just as in this case on King Island, the present- 

 day sands of the southern coast dunes are undoubtedly to a 

 small extent composed of blown beach sands, l)ut the major 

 portion consists of the triturated sand gi-ains ertxled by the 

 wind from the hardened fossiliferous sand-rock. 



The fact tlia,t similai- bone deposits are known to occur at 

 points on both coasts of the island would lend suppin-t to the 

 conclusion that during the deposili(ni of the satid-rock, con- 

 taining the isolated specimens of fossil bones, the whole island 



