Merlinleigh Station, erosion slope NNE of homestead (Eocene of Australia)

Where: Western Australia, Australia (24.3° S, 115.2° E: paleocoordinates 47.9° S, 100.6° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Merlinleigh Sandstone Formation, Lutetian (47.8 - 41.3 Ma)

• From the presence of foraminifers Maslinella chapmani Glaessner and Wade, Operculina sp., Crespinina kingscotensis Wade and Rotalia sp., Cockbain (1981) confirmed a Late Eocene age for the Merlinleigh Sandstone, correlated in part with the Late Eocene Giralia Calcarenite of the Carnarvon Basin. Giralia Calcarenite later assigned Middle Eocene (Lutetian) age, Zone P12 of Berggren & Miller (1988).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: shoreface; poorly lithified sandstone

• Poorly cemented, silicified quartz sandstone with subordinate siltstone and conglomerate

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression, replaced with silica

Collected by T.A. Darragh, G.W. Kendrick, K. Ayyasami in 1996; reposited in the WAM

• Repository: other specimens at Museum Victoria (NMV)

Primary reference: T. A. Darragh and G. W. Kendrick. 2010. Eocene molluscs from the Merlinleigh Sandstone, Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 26:23-41 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 179836: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 02.07.2016

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Bivalvia
 Carditida - Carditidae
Venericardia capricornis Darragh and Kendrick 2010 clam
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Dosinia (Kereia) numerosissima Darragh and Kendrick 2010 venus clam
 Arcida - Cucullaeidae
 Arcida - Glycymerididae
Glycymeris cf. cainozoica Tenison Woods 1877 clam