ERTH3104 Virtual Field Trip to New England Orogen
Stop name: Lighthouse beach
Location: The Lighthouse beach at Port Macquarie. Right beneath the light house.
Coordinates: 31°28'24.83"S, 152°56'13.68"E
What to see: The coast of Port Macquarie provides a beautiful exposure of mafic and ultramafic rocks, including serpentinites and high-pressure assemblages. The rocks are characterised by blocks of massive serpentinites and mafic rocks surrounded by a serpentinite schist (more in the next Stop). At this location, you will mostly observe large blocks of gabbros.
A view of the light house from a distance. (Image from Internet).
Outcrops could be found right beneath the viewing area.
Click here to enter 360 view. Note that you could follow this route and “walk“ all the way down to the beach to see these rocks!
(Above) View towards the exposed rocks at Lighthouse Beach towards the north.
(Above) Serpentinited harzburgite (relict mineral layers are visible.) (Photo by Y. Chen)
(Above) Serpentinite matrix. (Photo by Y. Chen)
(Above) A serpentinite/ultramafic block (dark coloured) (Photo by Y. Chen)
(Above) A localized fault zone filled with serpentinite, faulted agaist green chert layers (lower part) (Photo by Y. Chen)
Tacking Point Gabbro cut by dolerite dykes
(Photo by S. Buckman)
Tacking Point gabbro showing evidence of magmatic mingling between coarse-grained leucocratic- and melanocratic-gabbro components
(Photo by S. Buckman)