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The nature and origin of beach ridges, western Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

Created 20/01/2026

Updated 20/01/2026

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Two sets of beach ridges are known from the western side of Cape York Peninsula. The older set are thought to be late Pleistocene. They rest on a basement of older fan deposits and are regarded as a regressive sequence of barrier islands. The younger ridges represent a progradational sequence post-dating the Holocene transgression. The earliest formed ridge, which is poorly developed, formed as a chenier. It was followed by a barrier island complex whose development lasted until about 3000 years B.P. Subsequently, there was rapid progradation and the development of two sets of chenier-type beach ridges, the younger of which is locally discordant to the ridges of the barrier island complex. These ridges rest on a marine sand and mud unit which appears continuous with a similar unit mapped offshore. The Pleistocene ridges consist of quartzose sand, with negligible carbonate, while the Holocene ridges consist of quartzose sand, shell sand and shells. They show a progressive leaching with age.

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Title The nature and origin of beach ridges, western Cape York Peninsula, Queensland
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/094c95bb-c743-4be6-b58f-d202d93d7dc6
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        141.4,
        -14.3
      ],
      [
        142.0,
        -14.3
      ],
      [
        142.0,
        -13.2
      ],
      [
        141.4,
        -13.2
      ],
      [
        141.4,
        -14.3
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Data.gov.au