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The Environment

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The Jervis Bay environment has:

· a rich and diverse natural vegetation with variations from relict littoral rainforests to eucalypt forests, together with heathland, dune, saltmarsh and mangroves;
· a varied coastline with white beaches, towering cliffs, headlands, rocky platforms and sand dunes;
· a varied terrestrial and marine fauna arising from the mosaic of habitats;
· rocky reefs, seagrasses, estuaries, mangroves and sea habitats; and,
· clear, clean marine waters of the bay.  (Cho, Georges & Stoutjesdijk;1995)   

Geology

Rocks and soil in the area have been identified by Taylor, Abell and Paterson in Cho, Georges & Stoutjesdijk;1995: 42

Age Map symbol Unit Characteristics and depositional environment
Presently active & Holocene (6-0 thousand years before present (BP)) Qha Alluvial deposits Alluvial sands and muds
Qhs Dune fields Aeolian sand sheets and dunes
Qhbs Beaches Marginal marine sands
Pleistocene (6 thousand years -1 .8 Million years BP) Qps High-level aeolianite Aeolian white to grey sands
Tertiary (1.8-65 Million years BP) & older Tg q Ferruginous quartz gravels
Permian (270-250 Million years BP) Pss Snapper Point Formation Quartz sandstone and pebbly sandstone, minor siltstone and conglomerate; shallow marine

These are shown in the amended map of the geology from Taylor, Abell and Paterson in Cho, Georges & Stoutjesdijk;1995.

geology_hb.JPG (26562 bytes)
Qhbs.JPG (2679 bytes) Sand
Qhs.JPG (2505 bytes) Sand Dunefields
Qha.JPG (2487 bytes) Sand/Mud
Qps.JPG (2759 bytes) Sand/minor aeolianite
Tg.JPG (3042 bytes) Tertiary ferruginous quartz gravel
Pss.JPG (3255 bytes) Snapper Point Formation Quartz, pebbly gravel and minor conglomerate

Catchments and lagoons

There are no large freshwater flows into Jervis Bay which means that the water in the bay is very clear. Greenfields and Duck Gully are the largest in the area with a smaller outlet at Hyams Beach. On Seamans Beach, below the toilets is an outlet which has this year, eroded the front dune. Another small outlet is approximately one kilometre south of this. And at HMAS Cresswel, there is another larger outlet. There is one perched swamp behind the Navigation Marker on the 'Seamans Beach'.

Vegetation

Vegetation complexes include:

  • coastal scrub dominated by Banksia integrifolia and the coastal tea-tree Leptospermuin laevigatum

  • Coastal lowland eucalypt forests with trees of blackbutt Eucalyptus pilularis, red bloodwood Eucalyptus gummifera and bangalay Eucalyptus botryoides

  • Hinterland forest and heaths on sandy soils around the bay including tall heaths dominated by Bariksia ericifolia,

These complexes are listed in Vegetation abstract

 

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