Logging requirements
- Kellams Rock proper is notable for its large mega-grooves.(see image in Gallery) What is the compass direction (degrees) that these mega-grooves run in?
- Just a few metres to the south of the mega-grooves, there are clearly two sets of striations running in different directions.(see image in Gallery) What are the compass directions (degrees) that these striations are running in?
- Could you also offer an opinion as to why the two sets of striations that intersect, might be running in different directions.
Description
A 500 metre stroll from the parking coordinates along the shore of Lake Eppalock will have you at Kellams Rock. Kellams Rock is a glacial pavement that is a part of the most outstanding and representative of the Permian glacigene outcrops in the Eppalock area. Well over a 100 individual pavements have been documented in this area, most of them are on private land. This is part of the largest area of Permian rocks in Victoria, extending 38 kilometres from Spring Plains in the south to Toolleen in the north, and up to 8 kilometres wide in the Eppalock area. Evidence suggests that the deposit was laid down by the very large Permian Derrinal Glacier. There are also a number of glacial erratics in the area as well but that is another Earthcache in the making.
Glacial striations are usually multiple, straight, and parallel, representing the movement of the glacier using rock fragments and sand grains, embedded in the base of the glacier, as cutting tools. Large amounts of coarse gravel and boulders carried along underneath the glacier provide the abrasive power to cut trough-like glacial grooves. Finer sediments also in the base of the moving glacier further scour and polish the bedrock surface, forming a glacial pavement. Ice itself is not a hard enough material to change the shape of rock but because the ice has rock embedded in the basal surface it can effectively abrade the bedrock.
Dunns Rock is another glacial pavement nearby which was first documented in 1892 . Kellams Rock is on the same bedrock inlier as Dunns Rock and is down slope and south of it. Kellams Rock is on public land, being within the old State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC) shoreline easement, and the pavement surface extends south along the strike below full supply level (FSL) of Lake Eppalock. The portion of Kellams Rock just at and below FSL has suffered considerable damage through wave erosion, but the remainder is only exposed progressively as water level drops to unusually low levels, usually in autumn, and is in reasonably good condition. Kellams Rock proper is notable for its large mega-grooves, and three sets of crossing striae.
Kellams Rock is best accessed when the water level is at or below 82% of FSL. See note below.
Note:
If the water level is greater than 82%, then there is no point going to the coordinates for Kellams Rock as the majority of the rock will be underwater and the task will not be able to be completed.
Current water levels can be obtained from http://www.g-mwater.com.au/water-resources/storage-levels, once on the page scroll down until you locate Lake Eppalock in the Campaspe System.
There is an app called Water Storage available for free for the fruit flavoured smartphone, I don’t believe it is available for devices that use the little green robot operating system.
The usual advisory for the Australian bush setting, be careful of creepy crawlies, the first time I attempted to locate Kellams Rock was mid summer and a snake of some description was seen slithering into a rock wall.
Good solid and protective footwear is advised as you will probably be walking on a rocky surface which may be loose or wet and slippery.