Myall Lakes National Park, the Boolambayte Sand Ridge: its Extent, Vegetation, Geomorphology and Marks of European Settlement

Abstract

The Boolambayte sand ridge (Bsr), recognized by Myerscough and Carolin (2014), is part of the Pleistocene sand barrier system mapped by Thom et al. (1992) and Hashimoto and Troedson (2008) in the valley of the Upper Myall River to the shores of Bombah Broadwater. Bsr comprises areas of sand on the south-western shore of Two-Mile Lake (the western arm of Boolambayte Lake). Features of Bsr reported in Myerscough and Carolin (2014) were based largely on interpretation of aerial photos; this study is based on observations on the ground. As a result, Bsr is defined more precisely. Freely draining sands were found to be in discontinuous patches along the lake shore. All patches were deposited before their eastern edges became the current lake shore, except one, which appeared to have formed as a lake sand bar. Evidence indicates that, until probably the last 2 - 3 m of the Holocene rise in sea level, waters of Two-Mile Lake joined Bombah Broadwater at the end of the lake bar running west from Bombah Point. Investigation of the vegetation of freely draining sites along Bsr shows that, though they carry Dry Sclerophyll Forest (DSF) of Myerscough and Carolin (1986 & 2014), the understoreys of most of them contain more wet heath plant spp. than do sites with DSF on sands in central parts of the Upper Myall River Valley, as described in Myerscough and Carolin (2014). Also described are various effects of European settlement to which the area has been subjected, particularly in its southern third.