The Melbourne Sandbelt is a region in southeastern Melbourne, Australia, known for its sandy soil. Several significant golf courses are located in the region.
Much of Melbourne's eastern suburbs are covered by heavy clay subsoil. Around 20 million years ago, lower lying areas were flooded, which deposited sandstone material, now known as the Brighton Group.[1][2][3][4] The Sandbelt suburbs are built on remnant sand dunes from this time.[5] The sand can reach a depth of 80 metres in some places.[6] Further east and north, the clay remains, and this region is sometimes referred to as the Clay Belt by contrast to the Sandbelt.
The surface soils across the Sandbelt today are the result of the geology, topography, marine currents, climate and vegetation. The present-day coastal dune systems were formed in the last 6000 years by wave action depositing sand and silts from the bay onto its beaches. The most prominent dune systems are between Mordialloc and Frankston. This formed a coastal barrier, behind which occurs the Carrum Carrum Swamp in a section of the Port-Phillip sunkland.
Currently, the Sandbelt region has been impacted by extensive suburb growth, and there are few locations where the remnant vegetation has been preserved. Revegetation efforts by local councils are ongoing, and seek to return the land back to the remnant vegetation (prior to European settlement). To help achieve this, various vegetation communities have been identified.[7]
The following table presents the different vegetation communities of the Sandbelt, along with a list of associated species.
Vegetation communities of the Sandbelt
Attribute
Primary dune vegetation
Coastal scrub
Wetlands
Heathy woodlands
Vegetation community and soil properties
Example location: Carrum Beach Soil: Wind blown sands on beach dunes, normally with high pH.
Example location: Mentone Beach Soil: Coastal sand dunes and sandstone bluff, inland of primary dune vegetation.
Example location: Braeside Park, Braeside Soil: Variable, usually heavy, clayey soils, relatively high in nutrients with permanently and seasonally inundated areas.
Example location: Bradshaw Bushland Reserve, Mordialloc. Soil: Deep free-draining, nutrient poor sands on crests and slopes of undulating sand hills and ridges, usually slightly acidic.
Sand mining has been conducted in the Sandbelt region since the 1880s.[8] Several former sand mining sites have been used for landfill waste disposal once mining ceased.[9]
Sandy soil is particularly suitable for golf courses. It is easy to place bunkers wherever a course designer chooses, without the need to carry in sand from another location, and it is easy to ensure appropriate drainage. A feature of several Melbourne Sandbelt courses is that bunkers are cut right on the edge of a green, which is not possible in other courses with different soil types.
^Scott, Rob; Blake, Neil; Campbell, Jeannie; Evans, Doug; Williams, Nicholas (2002). Indigenous Plants of the Sandbelt: A Gardening Guide for South-eastern Melbourne. St Kilda: Earthcare. p. 1. ISBN0-9581009-0-X.
