Jump to content

Bluff Downs fossil site: Difference between revisions

Add links
Coordinates: 19°41′S 145°33′E / 19.683°S 145.550°E / -19.683; 145.550
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Fix cite date error, removed stub tag
EddaBeck (talk | contribs)
25 edits
m Minor spelling corrections and adding some links
Line 6: Line 6:


=== Volcanic Activity and Nulla Basalt Province ===
=== Volcanic Activity and Nulla Basalt Province ===
Bluff Downs Fossil Site is located within the Nulla Basalt Province, one of four late Cenozoic basalt provinces identified in 1956.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Twidale|first=C. R.|date=December 1956|title=A physiographic reconnaissance of some Volcanic Provinces in North Queensland, Australia|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF02596610|journal=Bulletin Volcanologique|language=en|volume=18|issue=1|pages=3–23|doi=10.1007/BF02596610|issn=0258-8900}}</ref> The Nulla Basalt Province is dated to the late Pliocene (3.6 to 2.58 million years ago) or early Pleistocene (2.58 – 0.8 million years ago).<ref name=":0" /> and consists of multiple olivine basalt flows from lava flows associated with four periods of volcanic activity which occurred 4.5-4.0, 2.3, 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago (according to radiogenic argon determination methods of dating).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Mackness|first=B. S.|last2=Whitehead|first2=P. W.|last3=McNamara|first3=G. C.|date=August 2000|title=New potassium‐argon basalt date in relation to the Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, northern Australia|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1440-0952.2000.00812.x|journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences|language=en|volume=47|issue=4|pages=807–811|doi=10.1046/j.1440-0952.2000.00812.x|issn=0812-0099}}</ref> The dating of the flows matches the ordering suggested by analysis of aerial photographs.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Wyatt|first=D. H.|last2=Webb|first2=A. W.|date=November 1970|title=Potassium‐argon ages of some northern Queensland basalts and an interpretation of late Cainozoic history|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00167617008728722|journal=Journal of the Geological Society of Australia|volume=17|issue=1|pages=39–51|doi=10.1080/00167617008728722|issn=0016-7614}}</ref> These flows of olivine basalt lavas are located on the eastern flank of the Great Diving Range, and overlie Palaeozoic rock formations as well as sediments from the early Cenozoic, all of which have been partially weathered due to a humid and tropical palaeoenvironment.<ref name=":2" /> The most recent volcanic activity in the region occurred 13, 000 years ago, according to sediments underlying the youngest of flow, the Toomba Flow.<ref name=":1" /> These flows are relatively thin<ref name=":2" /> and were similar to flows which can be observed in present-day Hawai’i. The Bluff Downs Flow directly overlies the fossiliferous sediment (known as the Allingham Formation) in which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are found, and helped to protect the fossils from erosion<ref name=":1" />
Bluff Downs Fossil Site is located within the Nulla Basalt Province, one of four late [[Cenozoic]] basalt provinces identified in 1956.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Twidale|first=C. R.|date=December 1956|title=A physiographic reconnaissance of some Volcanic Provinces in North Queensland, Australia|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF02596610|journal=Bulletin Volcanologique|language=en|volume=18|issue=1|pages=3–23|doi=10.1007/BF02596610|issn=0258-8900}}</ref> The Nulla Basalt Province is dated to the late [[Pliocene]] (3.6 to 2.58 million years ago) or early Pleistocene (2.58 – 0.8 million years ago).<ref name=":0" /> and consists of multiple [[olivine]] [[basalt]] flows from [[lava flows]] associated with four periods of [[volcanic activity]] which occurred 4.5-4.0, 2.3, 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago (according to [[Radiometric dating|radiogenic argon determination]] methods of dating).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Mackness|first=B. S.|last2=Whitehead|first2=P. W.|last3=McNamara|first3=G. C.|date=August 2000|title=New potassium‐argon basalt date in relation to the Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, northern Australia|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1440-0952.2000.00812.x|journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences|language=en|volume=47|issue=4|pages=807–811|doi=10.1046/j.1440-0952.2000.00812.x|issn=0812-0099}}</ref> The dating of the flows matches the ordering suggested by analysis of [[Aerial photography|aerial photographs]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Wyatt|first=D. H.|last2=Webb|first2=A. W.|date=November 1970|title=Potassium‐argon ages of some northern Queensland basalts and an interpretation of late Cainozoic history|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00167617008728722|journal=Journal of the Geological Society of Australia|volume=17|issue=1|pages=39–51|doi=10.1080/00167617008728722|issn=0016-7614}}</ref> These flows of olivine basalt lavas are located on the eastern flank of the [[Great Dividing Range]], and overlie [[Paleozoic|Palaeozoic]] rock formations as well as sediments from the early Cenozoic, all of which have been partially weathered due to a humid and tropical [[palaeoenvironment]].<ref name=":2" /> The most recent volcanic activity in the region occurred 13, 000 years ago, according to sediments underlying the youngest of flow, the Toomba Flow.<ref name=":1" /> These flows are relatively thin<ref name=":2" /> and were similar to flows which can be observed in present-day [[Hawaiian Islands|Hawai’i]]. The Bluff Downs Flow directly overlies the [[fossiliferous]] sediment (known as the Allingham Formation) in which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are found, and helped to protect the fossils from erosion<ref name=":1" />


=== The Allingham Formation ===
=== The Allingham Formation ===
The Allingham Formation, named by Archer and Wade in 1976, is the section of the Nulla Basalt Province which contains the fossils which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are attributed to.<ref name=":1" /> It consists of a mixture of sediment that originated on land and was washed away after eroding into nearby waterbodies (terrigenous sediment), clays, silts, sands (including calcareous sands), and Chara limestones (calcareous nodules that were deposited directly over the fossiliferous sediment and consequently overlain by basalt).<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Mackness|first=Brian|date=December 1995|title=Anhinga malagurala, a New Pygmy Darter from the Early Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, North-eastern Queensland|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/mu9950265|journal=Emu - Austral Ornithology|volume=95|issue=4|pages=265–271|doi=10.1071/mu9950265|issn=0158-4197}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> These sediments were formed in lakes and rivers (i.e. are lacustrine and fluviatile), indicating the presence of various water bodies such as lakes, rivers and streams in the palaeoenvironment at the time of deposition. There were several different depositional events<ref name=":3" /> and analysis of the sediments suggests that during the early Pliocene, a stream widened to form a shallow lake.<ref name=":4">Archer, M, & Wade, M, 1976. ‘Results of the Ray E. Lemley Expeditions. I. The Allingham Formation and a New Pliocene Vertebrate Fauna from Northern Queensland’. ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum'', vol.17, no. 3, pp. 379-97.</ref>
The Allingham Formation, named by Archer and Wade in 1976, is the section of the Nulla Basalt Province which contains the fossils which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are attributed to.<ref name=":1" /> It consists of a mixture of sediment that originated on land and was washed away after eroding into nearby waterbodies ([[Terrigenous sediment|terrigenous]] sediment), clays, silts, sands (including calcareous sands), and Chara limestones ([[calcareous]] [[Nodule (geology)|nodules]] that were deposited directly over the fossiliferous sediment and consequently overlain by basalt).<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Mackness|first=Brian|date=December 1995|title=Anhinga malagurala, a New Pygmy Darter from the Early Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, North-eastern Queensland|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/mu9950265|journal=Emu - Austral Ornithology|volume=95|issue=4|pages=265–271|doi=10.1071/mu9950265|issn=0158-4197}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> These sediments were formed in lakes and rivers (i.e. are [[lacustrine]] and [[fluviatile]]), indicating the presence of various water bodies such as lakes, rivers and streams in the palaeoenvironment at the time of [[Deposition (geology)|deposition]]. There were several different depositional events<ref name=":3" /> and analysis of the sediments suggests that during the early [[Pliocene]], a stream widened to form a shallow lake.<ref name=":4">Archer, M, & Wade, M, 1976. ‘Results of the Ray E. Lemley Expeditions. I. The Allingham Formation and a New Pliocene Vertebrate Fauna from Northern Queensland’. ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum'', vol.17, no. 3, pp. 379-97.</ref>


== Fossils ==
== Fossils ==
Many vertebrate fossils have been found in the terrigenous sediments of Bluff Downs Fossil Site, including both broken and complete bones and skulls, though articulated skeletons (that is, with the bones in the same position as upon the organism’s death) are rare.<ref name=":4" /> The Bluff Downs Local Fauna is derived from the vertebrate species found in these fossils.
Many vertebrate fossils have been found in the terrigenous sediments of Bluff Downs Fossil Site, including both broken and complete bones and skulls, though articulated skeletons (that is, with the bones in the same position as upon the organism’s death) are rare.<ref name=":4" /> The Bluff Downs Local Fauna is derived from the [[vertebrate]] species found in these fossils.


=== Dating ===
=== Dating ===
Precise dating of vertebrate fossil sites in Australia is rare, and many cenozoic-age sediments remain undated.<ref name=":1" /> Unusually, the Bluff Downs Local Fauna have been specifically dated. This is because a basalt layer (the Bluff Downs Flow) directly overlies the fossiliferous deposit, allowing a minimum age to be calculated. This basalt flow has been dated to 3.62 ±0.5 million years old;<ref name=":1" /> the fossils having been deposited between 5.2 and 2.6 million years ago, during the late Pliocene period.<ref name=":1" /> The Allingham Formation has been radiometrically dated to no less than 4 ±0.12 million years old, placing it in the early Pliocene.<ref>Beck, R, Archer, M, Godthelp, H, Mackness, BS, Hand, SJ, & Muirhead, J, 2008, ‘A Bizarre New Family of Marsupialia (Incertae sedis) from the Early Pliocene of Northeastern Australia: Implications for the Phylogeny of Bunodont Marsupials’ ''Journal of Paleontology'', vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 749–762, doi: 10.1666/06-124.1.</ref>
Precise dating of vertebrate fossil sites in Australia is rare, and many Cenozoic-age sediments remain undated.<ref name=":1" /> Unusually, the Bluff Downs Local Fauna have been specifically dated. This is because a basalt layer (the Bluff Downs Flow) directly overlies the fossiliferous deposit, allowing a minimum age to be calculated. This basalt flow has been dated to 3.62 ±0.5 million years old;<ref name=":1" /> the fossils having been deposited between 5.2 and 2.6 million years ago, during the late Pliocene period.<ref name=":1" /> The Allingham Formation has been [[Radiometrically dated|radiometrically]] dated to no less than 4 ±0.12 million years old, placing it in the early Pliocene.<ref>Beck, R, Archer, M, Godthelp, H, Mackness, BS, Hand, SJ, & Muirhead, J, 2008, ‘A Bizarre New Family of Marsupialia (Incertae sedis) from the Early Pliocene of Northeastern Australia: Implications for the Phylogeny of Bunodont Marsupials’ ''Journal of Paleontology'', vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 749–762, doi: 10.1666/06-124.1.</ref>


== Bluff Downs Local Fauna ==
== Bluff Downs Local Fauna ==
The Bluff Downs Local Fauna, named and described by Archer in 1976, includes numerous vertebrate species found at the Bluff Downs Fossil Site,<ref name=":1" /> many of which are similar to but slightly older than the Chinchilla fauna (associated with Chinchilla Fossil Site, also in Queensland), according to more ancestral physical features.<ref name=":4" /> This collection of vertebrate species was noted to be considerably biodiverse by Archer,<ref name=":4" /> and features many ancestors of the species we now recognise as uniquely Australian, as well as unusual extinct species of megafauna, such as Diprotodonts and Thylacoleonids.
The Bluff Downs Local Fauna, named and described by [[Mike Archer (paleontologist)|Archer]] in 1976, includes numerous vertebrate species found at the Bluff Downs Fossil Site,<ref name=":1" /> many of which are similar to but slightly older than the Chinchilla fauna (associated with Chinchilla Fossil Site, also in Queensland), according to more ancestral physical features.<ref name=":4" /> This collection of vertebrate species was noted to be considerably biodiverse by Archer,<ref name=":4" /> and features many ancestors of the species we now recognise as uniquely Australian, as well as unusual extinct species of megafauna, such as [[Diprotodontidae|Diprotodonts]] and [[Thylacoleonidae|Thylacoleonids]].


The Bluff Downs Local Fauna includes several large reptilian predators, such as crocodiles and a giant varanid (monitor lizard), which has long puzzled palaeontologists as no large predatory terrestrial mammals have been found at the site.
The Bluff Downs Local Fauna includes several large reptilian predators, such as crocodiles and a giant varanid (monitor lizard), which has long puzzled palaeontologists as no large predatory terrestrial mammals have been found at the site.
Line 33: Line 33:
There may have also been a river-based, or riparian, rainforest<ref name=":3" /> as species including a land snail and ringtail possum suggest that there were at least patches of closed forests present.<ref name=":5">Boles, WE and Mackness B, 1994. ‘Birds from the bluff downs local fauna, Allingham formation, Queensland’. ''Records of the South Australian Museum'', ''27'', pp.139-149.</ref>
There may have also been a river-based, or riparian, rainforest<ref name=":3" /> as species including a land snail and ringtail possum suggest that there were at least patches of closed forests present.<ref name=":5">Boles, WE and Mackness B, 1994. ‘Birds from the bluff downs local fauna, Allingham formation, Queensland’. ''Records of the South Australian Museum'', ''27'', pp.139-149.</ref>


The palaeoenvironment as a whole has been compared to present-day Kakadu,<ref name=":5" /> with permanent water bodies, patches of forest and an overall high level of precipitation and humidity, features central to Kakadu’s geography, and the species found at the site mirror this.
The palaeoenvironment as a whole has been compared to present-day [[Kakadu National Park|Kakadu]],<ref name=":5" /> with permanent water bodies, patches of forest and an overall high level of precipitation and humidity, features central to Kakadu’s geography, and the species found at the site mirror this.


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 00:27, 25 May 2021

The Bluff Downs fossil site is a paleontological site of Pliocene age in northern Queensland, Australia, and is the most significant fossil site of the Pliocene age in Australia. The fossil site lies on the banks of Allingham Creek on the pastoral property of Bluff Downs Station.[1]

Geology

Volcanic Activity and Nulla Basalt Province

Bluff Downs Fossil Site is located within the Nulla Basalt Province, one of four late Cenozoic basalt provinces identified in 1956.[2] The Nulla Basalt Province is dated to the late Pliocene (3.6 to 2.58 million years ago) or early Pleistocene (2.58 – 0.8 million years ago).[2] and consists of multiple olivine basalt flows from lava flows associated with four periods of volcanic activity which occurred 4.5-4.0, 2.3, 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago (according to radiogenic argon determination methods of dating).[3] The dating of the flows matches the ordering suggested by analysis of aerial photographs.[4] These flows of olivine basalt lavas are located on the eastern flank of the Great Dividing Range, and overlie Palaeozoic rock formations as well as sediments from the early Cenozoic, all of which have been partially weathered due to a humid and tropical palaeoenvironment.[4] The most recent volcanic activity in the region occurred 13, 000 years ago, according to sediments underlying the youngest of flow, the Toomba Flow.[3] These flows are relatively thin[4] and were similar to flows which can be observed in present-day Hawai’i. The Bluff Downs Flow directly overlies the fossiliferous sediment (known as the Allingham Formation) in which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are found, and helped to protect the fossils from erosion[3]

The Allingham Formation

The Allingham Formation, named by Archer and Wade in 1976, is the section of the Nulla Basalt Province which contains the fossils which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are attributed to.[3] It consists of a mixture of sediment that originated on land and was washed away after eroding into nearby waterbodies (terrigenous sediment), clays, silts, sands (including calcareous sands), and Chara limestones (calcareous nodules that were deposited directly over the fossiliferous sediment and consequently overlain by basalt).[5][3] These sediments were formed in lakes and rivers (i.e. are lacustrine and fluviatile), indicating the presence of various water bodies such as lakes, rivers and streams in the palaeoenvironment at the time of deposition. There were several different depositional events[5] and analysis of the sediments suggests that during the early Pliocene, a stream widened to form a shallow lake.[6]

Fossils

Many vertebrate fossils have been found in the terrigenous sediments of Bluff Downs Fossil Site, including both broken and complete bones and skulls, though articulated skeletons (that is, with the bones in the same position as upon the organism’s death) are rare.[6] The Bluff Downs Local Fauna is derived from the vertebrate species found in these fossils.

Dating

Precise dating of vertebrate fossil sites in Australia is rare, and many Cenozoic-age sediments remain undated.[3] Unusually, the Bluff Downs Local Fauna have been specifically dated. This is because a basalt layer (the Bluff Downs Flow) directly overlies the fossiliferous deposit, allowing a minimum age to be calculated. This basalt flow has been dated to 3.62 ±0.5 million years old;[3] the fossils having been deposited between 5.2 and 2.6 million years ago, during the late Pliocene period.[3] The Allingham Formation has been radiometrically dated to no less than 4 ±0.12 million years old, placing it in the early Pliocene.[7]

Bluff Downs Local Fauna

The Bluff Downs Local Fauna, named and described by Archer in 1976, includes numerous vertebrate species found at the Bluff Downs Fossil Site,[3] many of which are similar to but slightly older than the Chinchilla fauna (associated with Chinchilla Fossil Site, also in Queensland), according to more ancestral physical features.[6] This collection of vertebrate species was noted to be considerably biodiverse by Archer,[6] and features many ancestors of the species we now recognise as uniquely Australian, as well as unusual extinct species of megafauna, such as Diprotodonts and Thylacoleonids.

The Bluff Downs Local Fauna includes several large reptilian predators, such as crocodiles and a giant varanid (monitor lizard), which has long puzzled palaeontologists as no large predatory terrestrial mammals have been found at the site.

The fauna include species such as the:

Palaeoenvironment

The palaeoenvironment of Bluff Downs during the Pliocene featured large bodies of water. This is inferred from the presence of fluviatile and lacustrine sedimentary deposits, as well as the presence of certain species from the site including pygmy geese and darters, short-necked turtles and long-necked tortoises, which suggest shallow, turbid lagoons were a feature of the prehistoric landscape.[5] The presence of crocodiles and tortoises indicates that these water bodies were at the very least seasonal, as these animals migrate for water.[6] The current understanding is that many of these water bodies were permanent features.[5]

There may have also been a river-based, or riparian, rainforest[5] as species including a land snail and ringtail possum suggest that there were at least patches of closed forests present.[8]

The palaeoenvironment as a whole has been compared to present-day Kakadu,[8] with permanent water bodies, patches of forest and an overall high level of precipitation and humidity, features central to Kakadu’s geography, and the species found at the site mirror this.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Australian Museum
  2. ^ a b Twidale, C. R. (December 1956). "A physiographic reconnaissance of some Volcanic Provinces in North Queensland, Australia". Bulletin Volcanologique. 18 (1): 3–23. doi:10.1007/BF02596610. ISSN 0258-8900.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mackness, B. S.; Whitehead, P. W.; McNamara, G. C. (August 2000). "New potassium‐argon basalt date in relation to the Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, northern Australia". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 47 (4): 807–811. doi:10.1046/j.1440-0952.2000.00812.x. ISSN 0812-0099.
  4. ^ a b c Wyatt, D. H.; Webb, A. W. (November 1970). "Potassium‐argon ages of some northern Queensland basalts and an interpretation of late Cainozoic history". Journal of the Geological Society of Australia. 17 (1): 39–51. doi:10.1080/00167617008728722. ISSN 0016-7614.
  5. ^ a b c d e Mackness, Brian (December 1995). "Anhinga malagurala, a New Pygmy Darter from the Early Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, North-eastern Queensland". Emu - Austral Ornithology. 95 (4): 265–271. doi:10.1071/mu9950265. ISSN 0158-4197.
  6. ^ a b c d e Archer, M, & Wade, M, 1976. ‘Results of the Ray E. Lemley Expeditions. I. The Allingham Formation and a New Pliocene Vertebrate Fauna from Northern Queensland’. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, vol.17, no. 3, pp. 379-97.
  7. ^ Beck, R, Archer, M, Godthelp, H, Mackness, BS, Hand, SJ, & Muirhead, J, 2008, ‘A Bizarre New Family of Marsupialia (Incertae sedis) from the Early Pliocene of Northeastern Australia: Implications for the Phylogeny of Bunodont Marsupials’ Journal of Paleontology, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 749–762, doi: 10.1666/06-124.1.
  8. ^ a b Boles, WE and Mackness B, 1994. ‘Birds from the bluff downs local fauna, Allingham formation, Queensland’. Records of the South Australian Museum, 27, pp.139-149.

Sources

  • Rich, T.H.; Archer, M.; Plane, M.; Flannery, T.F.; Pledge, N.S.; Hand, S. & Rich, P.V. (1982). Australian Tertiary mammal localities. In: "The Fossil Vertebrate Record of Australasia", (ed P.V. Rich & E.M. Thompson). Melbourne: Monash University. pp. 525–572. ISBN 0-86746-153-5.
  • "Bluff Downs". Fossil sites of Australia. Australian Museum. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  • Archer, M, & Wade, M, 1976. ‘Results of the Ray E. Lemley Expeditions. I. The Allingham Formation and a New Pliocene Vertebrate Fauna from Northern Queensland’. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, vol.17, no. 3, pp. 379–97.
  • Beck, R, Archer, M, Godthelp, H, Mackness, BS, Hand, SJ, & Muirhead, J, 2008, ‘A Bizarre New Family of Marsupialia (Incertae sedis) from the Early Pliocene of Northeastern Australia: Implications for the Phylogeny of Bunodont Marsupials’ Journal of Paleontology, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 749–762, doi: 10.1666/06-124.1.
  • Boles, WE and Mackness B, 1994. ‘Birds from the bluff downs local fauna, Allingham formation, Queensland’. Records of the South Australian Museum, 27, pp. 139–149.
  • Hand, SJ, Archer, M, Gilkeson, CF, Godthelp, H, & Cifelli, R, 1992, ‘Earliest known Australian Tertiary mammal fauna’, Nature (London), vol. 356, no. 6369, pp. 514–516, doi: 10.1038/356514a0.
  • Mackness, BS, Whitehead, PW, & McNamara, GC, 2000, ‘New potassium-argon basalt date in relation to the Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, northern Australia’, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 807–811, doi: 10.1046/j.1440-0952.2000.00812.x.
  • Mackness, BS, Wroe, S, Muirhead, J, Wilkinson, C & Wilkinson, D, 2000. ‘First Fossil Bandicoots from the Pliocene’, Australian Mammalogy, vol. 22, no.2, pp. 133–136.
  • Scanlon, JD & Mackness, BS 2001, ‘A new giant python from the Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna of northeastern Queensland’, Alcheringa (Sydney), vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 425–437, doi: 10.1080/03115510108619232.
  • Thomson, S and Mackness, B, 1999. ‘Fossil turtles from the early Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna, with a description of a new species of Elseya’, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 123, no. 3, pp. 101–105.
  • Twidale, CR, 1956, ‘A physiographic reconnaissance of some Volcanic Provinces in North Queensland, Australia’, Bulletin of Volcanology, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 3–23, doi: 10.1007/BF02596610.
  • Wyatt, DH & Webb, AW, 1970. ‘Potassium‐argon ages of some northern Queensland basalts and an interpretation of late Cainozoic history’, Journal of the Geological Society of Australia, 17(1), pp. 39–51.

19°41′S 145°33′E / 19.683°S 145.550°E / -19.683; 145.550

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Bluff_Downs_fossil_site&oldid=1024966378"