Places I've been: Eric the Red, Otway Basin, Victoria

 

The anchor of Eric the Red, a ship that sank in 1880. The local council periodically cements the anchor back down as the erosive action of the waves on the shore platform  frees it.

The anchor is located near the Eric the Crawfish dinosaur dig site. The dig is organised by Museum Victoria. It operates for one month in Summer and typically consists of 12-18 volunteers and Museum staff. This dig is the partner to the Dinosaur Dreaming dig on Flat Rocks, Inverloch. The sediments here are 120 million year old feldspathic sandstone with scour structures that are filled with mudstone ripup clasts and coal deposits. The depositional environment was a broad river that took advantage of the emerging East-West rift valley as Australia and Antartica started to break apart. Many notable dinosaur fossils have been found at these sites.