31 May 2011

Fossils in woolshed creek

| fgzk
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woolshed creek fossils

I chanced on Woolshed Creek at the weekend. Its on the ACT Heritage Place register. These special rocks were formed 420 million years ago during the Silurian Period when this region was a warm shallow sea. Imbedded in the grey mud stone are the fossilised remains of sedentry marine animals, mainly Brachiopods. During the Devonion and Carboniferous the rocks were pushed to near verticle and exposed for us to view today. If you haven’t found a fossil in the wild, then it is worth a visit.

The signage on site tells us that the Reverend WB Clarke, c. 1851 discovered the significance of the fossils, being that they are the first Silurian age fossils found in Australia. The old sign attached to the the road bridge dissecting the site, asks us to “preserve this historic site by leaving the outcrops intact. ”

You can see the entry track to the site from the intersection of Morshead Drive and Fairbairn Ave, Pialligo, on the left before the bridge.

I cant help but think that the history of the site has been left incomplete.

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The Frots said :

Deref said :

CHW said :

Hmmm… should stop now….

NONO! Moar pls! I love this stuff!

Agreed!!!!!

So………………….what else you got…..?

Inside the bend of the river was the main corobboree ground “Pialigo” for all the local tribes. The first white settlement was by Mr Ainslie on behalf of the Campbell’s. I would suspect that this site has other significance for some people. Some of us may just experience it as a car park while we wait for the lights to change.

Deref said :

CHW said :

Hmmm… should stop now….

NONO! Moar pls! I love this stuff!

Agreed!!!!!

So………………….what else you got…..?

CHW said :

Hmmm… should stop now….

NONO! Moar pls! I love this stuff!

I’d just like to emphasise the “leaving the outcrops intact” part. Please do not remove any fossils from this site or damage the outcrop. It is a very important site for Canberra’s geological history, world geological history and the development of the geological timescale.

Other good places for fossils in/around Canberra are the State Circle road cutting (pretty sure it’s heritage listed too so you can’t remove fossils from here either) and around Wee Jasper. If you want to collect fossils to bring home, I’d suggest that Wee Jasper is probably the best place to go. Or, the easier-but-not-as-fun method – go to one of the gem shows held about four times a year at EPIC and buy some.

If you are interested in Canberra’s geological history and are a bit of a rockhound, then I’d recommend “A Geological Guide to Canberra Region and Namadgi National Park”, available from the bookshop at Geoscience Australia in Symonston.

(disclaimer – I have no connection to the book/Geoscience Australia/ACT Division of the Geological Society of Australia/anybody who may profit from purchase of the book. I’m just a rock nerd)

ooooooo – ADORE this stuff!

Despite the risk of sounding like a total fossil tragic:

Wee Jasper!!! Go to Wee Jasper! Private fossil walking tours available; or – Carey’s Caves have fossils hanging out of the walls!

Geoscience in Symonston – fabu collection of books on the local geology!

Did you know that there are NO fossils in the Canberra region younger than those clams? We seem to have lost a couple of kilometres’ worth of topsoil somewhere along the road in the last 300 million years or so!

Did you know that Mts Painter, Ainslie and Mugga are the remnants of shield volcanoes?

Hmmm… should stop now….

🙂 Thanks for that. Fascinating stuff. Another wonderful place for Silurian (I think) fossils is the road to Ravine in the Snowy Mountains – the cutting long the side of the road is full of them.

Gungahlin Al3:34 pm 31 May 11

p1 said :

We always used to say, if you can use the term “shallow marine depositional environment” in a sentence then you can pass first year geol.

Beach.

colourful sydney racing identity2:44 pm 31 May 11

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

I’m guessing you’re single with fingernails like that.

Thanks for putting that out there – I was going to after seeing the photo and remembering the vicious attacks on ‘mulberry’ (remember her?) for having a photo with chipped nail polish.

Gender equity has hit RiotAct and all is well with the world 🙂

Beserk Keyboard Warrior2:20 pm 31 May 11

I’m guessing you’re single with fingernails like that.

We always used to say, if you can use the term “shallow marine depositional environment” in a sentence then you can pass first year geol.

fgzk said :

switch said :

Good doco on WB Clarke on Radio National a couple of weeks ago

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/hindsight/stories/2011/3220150.htm

Great radio show. Thanks switch.

And a great article – fascinating stuff!

switch said :

Good doco on WB Clarke on Radio National a couple of weeks ago

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/hindsight/stories/2011/3220150.htm

Great radio show. Thanks switch.

Good doco on WB Clarke on Radio National a couple of weeks ago

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/hindsight/stories/2011/3220150.htm

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