Abstract
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Amino acid racemization and radiocarbon dating of fossil molluscs from a composite estuarine valley fill, Narrawallee Inlet, New South Wales, indicates that the sequence formed in response to two glacio-eustatic sea-level highstands. The lower portion of the valley fill is of last interglacial age (oxygen isotope substage 5e) and is disconformably overlain by Holocene sediments. Both units were deposited under estuarine conditions. The results add to the limited body of geochronological evidence for Pleistocene marginal marine deposits in southern southeast Australia and extend the known occurrence of Late Pleistocene remnants. The sequence also permits an assessment of the preservation potential of some estuarine facies and provides stratigraphic information that may be used to account for the variety of estuary infill states along the New South Wales south coast. �� 1992, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.