Nelly Creek (Eocene of Australia)

Also known as Lake Eyre Basin

Where: South Australia, Australia (29.3° S, 137.3° E: paleocoordinates 52.0° S, 131.2° E)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Lower Nothofagidites asperus pollen zone, Eyre Formation, Middle Eocene (47.8 - 37.7 Ma)

• Based on palynological dating the Formation ranges in age from latest Paleocene to Middle Eocene (Alley, 1998).

•Nelly Creek palynoflora correlates with the Lower Nothofagidites asperus Zone of Stover & Partridge (1973) and with the Proteacidites pachypolus Zone of Harris (1971), and the Nelly Creek flora is correlative with the floras at Maslin Bay and Golden Grove (Hiil & Christophel, 2001).

Environment/lithology: "floodplain"; pyritic, carbonaceous sandstone and gray, carbonaceous claystone

• Locally, the formation was deposited in a meandering channel to floodplain environment and the carbonaceous (leaf-bearing) clay in backwater swamps and shallow lakes on the floodplain (Alley et al. 1996). The leaf-bearing sediments are only accessible when little or no water is present.
• The deposit consists of sands, silts and grey, carbonaceous clays forming a portion of the bed of Nelly Creek. The deposit is restricted to the stream bed and is only accessible when little or no water is found in Nelly Creek (Hiil & Christophel, 2001).

•The Eyre Formation consists largely of mature, pyritic, carbonaceous sand, that is often leached in outcrop, silt and gravel. Lignite and clay, sometimes with root horizons and leaf beds, are common. A diagnostic feature of the base of the unit is a polished gravel composed of resistant lithologies such as milky quartz, chert, jasper, agate, fossil wood and silcrete, with pebbles of basement rock in some localities (Alley, 1998).

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: adpression

Collection methods: chemical

• 16 parataxa recognised.

Primary reference: D. C. Christophel, L. J. Scriven, and D. R. Greenwood. 1992. An Eocene Megafossil Flora from Nelly Creek, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 116(2):65-76 [C. Jaramillo/C. Jaramillo]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 167541: authorized by Carlos Jaramillo, entered by Carlos Jaramillo on 21.03.2015

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
unclassified
  -
Parataxa "1 unknown", Monocot indet., Parataxa "10 unknown", Parataxa "11 unknown", Parataxa "13 unknown"
Equisetopsida
 Pinidae - Pinidae
Agathis indet.
Agathis indet. Salisbury 1807
 Coniferales - Podocarpaceae
Podocarpaceae indet., Dacrydium mucronatus n. sp.2, Dacrydium fimbriatus n. sp.2
Podocarpaceae indet. Endlicher 1847 podocarp
Dacrydium mucronatus n. sp.2 Hill and Christophel 2001 podocarp
Dacrydium fimbriatus n. sp.2 Hill and Christophel 2001 podocarp
Angiospermae
 Laurales - Lauraceae
Lauraceae indet.
Lauraceae indet. Jussieu 1789 laurel
 Mesangiosperms - Arecaceae
Arecipites sp.1
Arecipites sp.1 Nichols et al. 1973 palm
 Proteales - Proteaceae
Proteaceae "parataxa 2", Proteaceae "parataxa 7", Proteaceae "parataxa 9", Proteaceae "parataxa 12", Beaupreaidites verrucosus1, Proteacidites annularis1, Proteacidites crassus1, Proteacidites confragosus1, Banksieaeidites arcuatus1
Proteaceae "parataxa 2" de Jussieu 1789
Proteaceae "parataxa 7" de Jussieu 1789
Proteaceae "parataxa 9" de Jussieu 1789
Proteaceae "parataxa 12" de Jussieu 1789
Proteacidites annularis1
Xylomelum type
Proteacidites crassus1
?Adenanthos
Banksieaeidites arcuatus1 Stover and Partridge 1973
Dicotyledoneae
 Myrtales - Myrtaceae
Myrtaciphyllum eremeaensis n. sp.
Myrtaciphyllum eremeaensis n. sp. Christophel et al. 1992 myrtle
 Myrtales -
Myrtaceidites eucalyptoides1
Angiospermae
 Fagales - Casuarinaceae
Gymnostoma "sp. A", Gymnostoma "sp. B"
Gymnostoma "sp. A" Johnson 1980
Gymnostoma "sp. B" Johnson 1980
 Malvales - Sterculiaceae
Brachychiton indet.
Brachychiton indet. Schott and Endlicher 1832
1Alley 1998; 2Hill and Christophel 2001