| LOCATION |
| Map |
Show Map
|
| Address |
407 Hynam Caves Road MOUNT LIGHT |
| Locality |
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| Accuracy |
H - high level confidence |
| Council Area |
Naracoorte Lucindale Council |
| Polygon Type |
P - parcel (from DCDB) |
| DESCRIPTION |
| Details (Known As) |
Munro Karst [Designated as a place of speleological significance] |
| Registered Name |
Munro Karst |
| Significance |
Munro Karst offers a high potential to yield new scientific information about the Hynam Range and early Pleistocene cave development and biodiversity of the South East region. Located on the Hynam Range, in the Naracoorte area of the South East region of South Australia, its location is significant as the Hynam Range is probably the oldest of a series of Pleistocene coastal ridges that extend from Naracoorte to the modern coast. These ridges have been heavily degraded by natural erosion and land use since European colonisation but preserve a record of landscape evolution, ancient sea levels, regional uplift, and glacial to interglacial climate cycles over the last two million years. Preserved within the Munro Karst is a large, mostly intact limestone cave system that is rare on the Hynam Range and is potentially older than any others in the region, including those within the World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves.
The combination of associated features preserved within the Munro Karst, such as large caves with multiple levels of passage, subaqueous speleothems, bedded calcite raft deposits, calcite and gypsum minerals, sediment deposits, solution pipe infills, and vertebrate fossil breccias is rare for the South East. Scientific investigation of the cave system would improve understanding of the natural history of South Australia, specifically its speleological, palaeontological and geological history.
STATEMENT OF DESIGNATION
Designated Place of Speleological Significance - RETAINED
Munro Karst contains multiple karst and cave features which hold high value for speleological research. Included among these are speleothems, sediments and fossils that can be dated using numerical techniques to elucidate the age of the cave system and preserved fossil faunas.
Caves at Munro Karst may represent the earliest period of development in the Naracoorte area as they are positioned on the Hynam Range, which is of uncertain age but potentially up to two million years old. Therefore, the caves and associated fossils and speleothems may yield the only early Pleistocene cave deposits in South Australia.
The intact nature of much of the Munro Karst provides a rare representative area of surface karst that is largely degraded along the Hynam Range. The caves of the site are the largest, intact caves along the range and provide high scientific value for understanding cave development and karst landscape evolution in the State.
DESIGNATION DATE: 23-AUG-2024
DESIGNATION RETENTION DATE: 10-APR-2025 |
| Subject Index |
Landscape area - Speleological Site; Landscape area - Natural Landscape; Landscape area - Geological Site; Landscape area - Palaeontological Site |
| Class |
State |
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| STATUS |
| Status Code |
REG - Confirmed as a State Heritage Place in the SA Heritage Register |
| Status Date |
10-APR-2025 |
| REFERENCE |
| LGA |
Naracoorte Lucindale |
| State Heritage ID |
26606 |
| Heritage Number |
28465 |
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| SECTION 16 INFORMATION |
| Section 16 |
c - it may yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the State's history, including its natural history
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| PLAN PARCEL & TITLE |
| As listed in the SA Heritage Register |
| Plan Parcel & Title Information |
CT 6100/748 D88823 A100,CR 5677/773 H440700 S487,CT 6100/749 D88823 A101 |