Coastal geomorphology of the Jervis Bay area

Abstract

Jervis Bay and St. Georges Basin are shallow water bodies within headlines composed predominantly of Permian sandstones. These rocks are gently folded with the axis of each embayment corresponding to the north-south trend of two separate synclines. Quartz-rich sandstones (Conjola Formation) occur as anticlinal cliffs at the entrance of Jervis Bay where there is some evidence of faulting. The sandstones are thickly bedded and vertically jointed. Softer rocks (Wandrawandian Siltstone) are found in low-lying terrain to the west of Jervis Bay and to the north of St. Georges Basin. This paper aims to provide an explanatory description of the depositional geomorphology of the Jervis Bay – St. George Basin area in the context of the bedrock-controlled landscape described above.