Description

Seaham Quarry is significant to the history of Australian geology and its associations with the famous Australian geologist, Professor Edgeworth David who first recognised the glacigene origin of the Carboniferous sediments in the Seaham area in 1914. The inscription for the notice board was provided by Professor Edgeworth Davis. Professor Edgeworth David discovered the quarry whilst undertaking a survey for coal deposits in the Hunter Valley in 1884. The rocks are of glacial origin, with an estimated age of between 90 and 120 million years old. The material of the rock is streaky in appearance, the result of the forces of moving ice overriding the sediments forming in glacial lakes. Each pair of streaks in the rock represents the annual winter and summer deposits. The quarry also exposes arching layers in places, which is due to the dragging force of glacier ice or icebergs. In 1925 a Pan-Pacific Geology Congress brought geologists from all over the world to Australia, and to Seaham to inspect its unique formation. At the time when Professor David discovered them, such formations - known as varve shales - were not known to exist in Australia. One other occurance was later discovered at Bondi.