Pritchard's quarry, Mount Gambier (Oligocene of Australia)

Where: South Australia, Australia (37.8° S, 140.6° E: paleocoordinates 52.6° S, 137.4° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Camelback Member (Gambier Limestone Formation), Chattian (28.1 - 23.0 Ma)

• Camelback Member, Janjukian, planktonic foram zones P21-P22 according to Fitzgerald 2004. Overall, the formation ranges in age from top P20 to no older than at least basal N5 planktonic zones (White 1995) but the Camelback member is late Oligocene (Li et al. 2000).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: deep subtidal shelf; poorly lithified, shelly/skeletal, white packstone

• A high abundance of cibicidiids and other middle to outer shelf foraminifers suggests that the Gambier carbonates largely accumulated at 50–150 m (Li et al. 2000). Environment interpreted to be inner and middle shelf by White (1995), so deep subtidal environment is consistent.
• Limestone is generally soft to friable bryozoan rudstone to grainstone to packstone to wackestone with layers and pockets rich in large bryozoans and echinoids or bivalves, brachiopods and gastropods. Muddy and sandy sediments are crudely layered on a scale of 20 to 30 cm. Lenses of diverse fossils are generally porous and from 20 to 30 cm high and 50 to 100 cm long. "Slightly lithified" according to James & Bone (1989).

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Primary reference: T. S. Hall. 1911. On the systematic position of the species of Squalodon and Zeuglodon described from Australia and New Zealand. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 23(2):257-265 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 50070: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 05.05.2005, edited by Austin Hendy, Amanda Doyle and Pete Wagner

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Gastropoda
 Sorbeoconcha - Cypraeidae
Zoila gigas1
Zoila gigas1 McCoy 1867 cowry
Cephalopoda
 Nautilida - Aturiidae
"Aturia australis" = Aturia cubaensis3
"Aturia australis" = Aturia cubaensis3 Lea 1841
Echinoidea
 Spatangoida - Brissidae
Cyclaster archeri5
Cyclaster archeri5 heart urchin
 Spatangoida - Hemiasteridae
Hemiaster (Bolbaster) subidus4
Hemiaster (Bolbaster) subidus4 McNamara 1987 heart urchin
Aves
 Sphenisciformes - Spheniscidae
Spheniscidae indet.2
Spheniscidae indet.2 Bonaparte 1831 penguin
Mammalia
 Cetacea - Prosqualodontidae
Prosqualodontidae indet.2
Prosqualodontidae indet.2 Fordyce and de Muizon 2001 toothed whale
 Cetacea -
Mysticeti indet.2
Mysticeti indet.2 Cope 1891 whale
 Cetacea - Kekenodontidae
Squalodon gambierensis n. sp.3
Squalodon gambierensis n. sp.3 Glaessner 1955 whale
Chondrichthyes
 Lamniformes - Otodontidae
"Carcharodon angustidens" = Otodus (Carcharocles) angustidens2
"Carcharodon angustidens" = Otodus (Carcharocles) angustidens2 Agassiz 1835 mackerel shark
1Darragh 2011; 2Fitzgerald 2004; 3Glaessner 1955; 4McNamara 1987; 5McNamara et al. 2008