Blackstone Formation, Australia

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Blackstone Formation
Stratigraphic range: Carnian-Norian
~235–206  Ma
Type Geological formation
Unit of Ipswich Coal Measures
Sub-units Denmark Hill Insect Bed, Striped Bacon Seam Member
UnderliesUnconformity with Raceview Formation and Aberdare Conglomerate
Overlies Tivoli Formation
Thickness200–240 m (660–790 ft)
Lithology
Primary Shale
Other Siltstone, coal, tuff
Location
Coordinates 27°36′S152°48′E / 27.6°S 152.8°E / -27.6; 152.8
Approximate paleocoordinates 58°36′S101°00′E / 58.6°S 101.0°E / -58.6; 101.0
Region Ipswich
CountryFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Type section
Named for Blackstone, Queensland
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Blackstone Formation, Australia (Australia)
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Blackstone Formation, Australia (Queensland)

The Blackstone Formation is a geologic formation of the Ipswich Coal Measures Group in southeastern Queensland, Australia, dating to the Carnian to Norian stages of the Late Triassic. The shales, siltstones, coal and tuffs were deposited in a lacustrine environment. The Blackstone Formation contains the Denmark Hill Insect Bed.

Contents

Fossil content

Vertebrates

Lungfish

Dipnoans of the Blackstone Formation
GenusSpeciesStateAbundanceNotesImages
Ceratodus C. robustus
Ceratodus.jpg

Invertebrates

Insects of the Blackstone Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages
Mesochorista [1] M. proavita Ipswich A Permochoionid
Mesochorista proavita.jpg
Mesodiphthera M. grandis Tettigarctid cicada
Tardilly T. dunstani
T. prosboloides
Phanerogramma P. australis Dermapterid earwig
Dinmopsylla D. semotaDinmore clay pitArchipsyllid Permopsocid
Mesopsyche M. triareolataDinmore clay pit Mesopsychid mecopteran

Ichnofossils

In 1964, dinosaur footprints were discovered from the Rhondda colliery (underground coal mine) 230 metres below ground along the sandstone ceiling of the Striped Bacon coal seam. [2] These were initially described as Eubrontes , a type of predatory dinosaur (theropod) footprint. Later, these footprints were considered as evidence for the world's largest Triassic theropod, with legs towering over 2 metres tall. [3] A 3D evaluation of the fossil indicated the footprint length was much smaller than previously reported (34 cm rather than 46 cm long) and its shape was characteristic of the trace fossil genus (ichnogenus) Evazoum. [4] The existing hypothesis is that Evazoum were made by prosauropods, ancestral forms of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs. The bipedal dinosaur track-maker may have resembled the dinosaur Plateosaurus , and this fossil is the only evidence of this group of dinosaurs in Australia. The next evidence for sauropodomorphs in Australia comes over 50 million years later in the Jurassic.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. E.F. Riek (1955). "A Re-examination of the Mecopteroid and Orthopteroid Fossils (Insecta) from the Triassic Beds at Denmark Hill, Queensland, with Descriptions of Further Specimens" (PDF). Australian Journal of Zoology. 4: 98–110. doi:10.1071/ZO9560098 . Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  2. Staines, H. R. E. (1964). "Recent discovery of Triassic dinosaur footprints in Queensland". Australian Journal of Science. 27: 55.
  3. Thulborn, T. (11 July 2003). "Comment on "Ascent of Dinosaurs Linked to an Iridium Anomaly at the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary"". Science. 301 (5630): 169. doi:10.1126/science.1082048. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   12855792. S2CID   13247451.
  4. Romilio, Anthony; Klein, Hendrik; Jannel, Andréas; Salisbury, Steven W. (16 October 2021). "Saurischian dinosaur tracks from the Upper Triassic of southern Queensland: possible evidence for Australia's earliest sauropodomorph trackmaker". Historical Biology. 34 (9): 1834–1843. doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.1984447. ISSN   0891-2963. S2CID   239170287.

Bibliography