Melbourne Sandbelt

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Melbourne Sandbelt
Victoria
Melbourne Sandbelt is located in Melbourne
Melbourne Sandbelt
Melbourne Sandbelt
Coordinates37°58′26″S 145°7′6″E / 37.97389°S 145.11833°E / -37.97389; 145.11833Coordinates: 37°58′26″S 145°7′6″E / 37.97389°S 145.11833°E / -37.97389; 145.11833

The Melbourne Sandbelt is a region to the southeast of Melbourne, Australia, known for its sandy soil. Several significant golf courses are located in the region.

Location[]

The Melbourne Sandbelt is a rough triangle extending from Brighton south along the coast of Port Phillip Bay to Frankston and to the east as far as Heatherton, Clayton and Oakleigh.

Geology[]

Main article: Geography of Melbourne

Much of Melbourne's eastern suburbs are covered by heavy clay subsoil. Around 20 million years ago, lower lying areas were flooded, which deposited sandstone material, now known as the Brighton Group.[1][2][3][4] The Sandbelt suburbs are built on remnant sand dunes from this time.[5] The sand can reach a depth of 80 metres in some places.[6] Further east and north, the clay remains, and this region is sometimes referred to as the Clay Belt by contrast to the Sandbelt.

Flora of the Sandbelt[]

The surface soils across the Sandbelt today are the result of the geology, topography, marine currents, climate and vegetation. The present-day coastal dune systems were formed in the last 6000 years by wave action depositing sand and silts from the bay onto its beaches. The most prominent dune systems are between Mordialloc and Frankston. This formed a coastal barrier, behind which occurs the Carrum Carrum Swamp in a section of the Port-Phillip sunkland.

Currently, the Sandbelt region has been impacted by extensive suburb growth, and there are few locations where the remnant vegetation has been preserved. Revegetation efforts by local councils are ongoing, and seek to return the land back to the remnant vegetation (prior to European settlement). To help achieve this, various vegetation communities have been identified.[7]

The following table presents the different vegetation communities of the Sandbelt, along with a list of associated species.

Vegetation communities of the Sandbelt
Attribute Primary dune vegetation Coastal scrub Wetlands Heathy woodlands
Vegetation community and soil properties Primary dune vegetation at Carrum Beach.jpg
Example location: Carrum Beach
Soil: Wind blown sands on beach dunes, normally with high pH.		 Coastal Shrub at Parkdale Beach.jpg
Example location: Mentone Beach
Soil: Coastal sand dunes and sandstone bluff, inland of primary dune vegetation.		 Braeside Park.jpg
Example location: Braeside Park, Braeside
Soil: Variable, usually heavy, clayey soils, relatively high in nutrients with permanently and seasonally inundated areas.		 Heathy woodland at Bradshaw.jpg
Example location: Bradshaw Bushland Reserve, Mordialloc.
Soil: Deep free-draining, nutrient poor sands on crests and slopes of undulating sand hills and ridges, usually slightly acidic.
Ground layer
Climbers
Shrubs
Trees None

Sand mining[]

Sand mining has been conducted in the Sandbelt region since the 1880s.[8] Several former sand mining sites have been used for landfill waste disposal once mining ceased.[9]

Golf courses[]

Sandy soil is particularly suitable for golf courses. It is easy to place bunkers wherever a course designer chooses, without the need to carry in sand from another location, and it is easy to ensure appropriate drainage. A feature of several Melbourne Sandbelt courses is that bunkers are cut right on the edge of a green, which is not possible in other courses with different soil types.

There are several major championship courses in the Melbourne Sandbelt which are regularly listed among the world's best. Notable courses include Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Victoria Golf Club, Kingston Heath Golf Club, Huntingdale Golf Club, and Metropolitan Golf Club. Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath both feature in the Golf Digest top 20 courses in the world.[10]

Major championship courses[]

Private courses[]

Public courses[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Australian Stratigraphic Units Database - Stratigraphic Unit Details (Brighton Group)". asud.ga.gov.au.
  2. ^ "Melbourne - Geology". emelbourne.net.au.
  3. ^ Bird, Eric (1990). Structure and Surface - The Geology and Geomorphology of the Sandringham District (PDF). Sandringham, Victoria, Australia: City of Sandringham. p. Fig 1. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Australian Stratigraphic Units Database - Stratigraphic Unit Details (Red Bluff Sandstone)". asud.ga.gov.au.
  5. ^ "Geology of Melbourne". greenlivingpedia.org.
  6. ^ Bouazza, A., Kodikara, J., and Parker, R., "On the Use of Sand Washing Slimes for Waste Containment" Geotechnics of High Water Content Materials ASTM STP 1374, T.B. Edil and P.J. Fox, Eds., American Society For Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA, USA, 2000 https://books.google.com/books?id=iQhDe5OdyXkC&pg=PA293&lpg=PA293&dq=clayton+sand+mining+landfill&source=bl&ots=M-h4Rkqlom&sig=vHr43_r-aTciZMEkhx_paZjLK0w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=873XUuGUE86fkgWY44GoAg&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=clayton%20sand%20mining%20landfill&f=false
  7. ^ Scott, Rob; Blake, Neil; Campbell, Jeannie; Evans, Doug; Williams, Nicholas (2002). Indigenous Plants of the Sandbelt: A Gardening Guide for South-eastern Melbourne. St Kilda: Earthcare. p. 1. ISBN 0-9581009-0-X.
  8. ^ "Sand Mining | Kingston Local History".
  9. ^ "Geotechnics of Land Disposal of Waste" in Geoenvironmental Engineering Contaminated Ground: Fate of Pollutants and Remediation, ed. R. Yong and H.R. Thomas, 1997 p.301 https://books.google.com/books?id=WaU0igJ5a0wC&lpg=PA301&ots=pUgeEB_NXb&dq=clayton%20sand%20mining%20landfill&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q=clayton%20sand%20mining%20landfill&f=false
  10. ^ "World's 100 Greatest Courses: The Top 20".

External links[]

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