The Point Addis Marine National Park is a protected marine national park located near Anglesea on the Surf Coast region of Victoria, Australia. The park covers 4,420 hectares extending from the high water mark to three nautical miles offshore within the continental shelf. It extends along nine kilometres of coastline east of Anglesea to Bells Beach abutting the Great Otway National Park. Point Addis is a prominent headland in the middle of the park.
Australia’s southern waters are unique. Ninety per cent of the marine plants and animals are found nowhere else on earth. The system of Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries has been established to represent the diversity of Victoria’s marine environment, its habitats and associated flora and fauna. Victoria’s marine environment has been classified into five bioregions according to a nationally agreed scheme based on physical and biological attributes. Point Addis Marine National Park is one of five marine sanctuaries and two marine national parks in the Central Victoria region.
Point Addis was declared a marine sanctuary in 2002 with significant biophysical values. The shores are predominantly sandstone reefs, either as wave cut platforms or eroded reef flats. The dominant assemblage type in terms of extent of coverage is Hormosira mats. The shores are representative of all shores within the study area in both habitat structure and species assemblages. They differ from surrounding shores in that species richness is generally higher and they contain a higher proportion of locally uncommon species. The results on invertebrate species richness support the findings of Handreck and O’Hara (1994), in that Pt Addis, Pt Danger and Eagle Rock Point have higher species richness than do nearby reefs. Reefs to the west of Point Impossible were also identified here as having a species rich intertidal flora and fauna.
The Point Addis Marine Park features spectacular scenery with wide sandy beaches, crumbling limestone and sandstone cliffs, rocky platforms and copious small rocky reefs. The coastline is exposed to intense wave action from the southern ocean, a major contributor to the shaping of this rugged coastline. You will be able to explore the marine environment within this park and you can explore the limestone reefs with abundant rockpools filled with marine life. The subtidal waters are recognised as supporting a wide range of fish and algae species as well as seals, dolphins, brilliantly coloured sponge gardens and extensive rhodolith beds. Offshore, and often difficult to access due to tides and swell, Ingoldsby Reef is a particularly popular destination for divers to explore and search for such creatures.
The exploration of Point Addis has uncovered formations and beds of limestone which contains Calcarentie.
Calcarenite is a type of limestone that is composed predominantly, more than 50 percent, of detrital (transported) sand-size (0.0625 to 2 mm in diameter), carbonate grains. The grains consist of sand-size grains of either corals, shells, ooids, intraclasts, pellets, fragments of older limestones and dolomites, other carbonate grains, or some combination of these. Calcarenite is the carbonate equivalent of a sandstone. The term calcarenite was originally proposed in 1903 by Grabau as a part of his calcilutite, calcarenite and calcirudite carbonate classification system based upon the size of the detrital grains composing a limestone. Calcarenites can accumulate in a wide variety of marine and nonmarine environments. They can consist of grains of carbonate that have accumulated either as coastal sand dunes (eolianites), beaches, offshore bars and shoals, turbidites, or other depositional settings.
Calcarentie
Questions
Q1 At the posted coordinates, describe the colours and layers of the rocky shore? Do you see any caves and if so how many?
Q2 At WP2 there will is a viewing deck and information sign. Beneath the pounding ocean is a hidden world of plants and animals sheltered by what?
Q3 At WP3, describe the colours and layers of the rocky shore?
Q4 Is there any differences in the colours and rocks at the posted coordinates and WP3?
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References ~ Parks Victoria, Wikipedia