Merlinleigh Station, breakaway east of homestead: Lutetian, Australia
collected by T.A. Darragh, G.W. Kendrick, K.J. McNamara 1979

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Cephalopoda - Nautilida - Aturiidae
Aturia clarkei Teichert 1944
Gastropoda - Turbinidae
Turbo (Euninella) cf. hamiltonensis (Harris 1897)
Gastropoda - Neogastropoda - Buccinidae
? Zelandiella sp. Finlay 1926
Bivalvia - Arcida - Glycymerididae
Glycymeris cf. cainozoica (Tenison Woods 1877)
Bivalvia - Cardiida - Chamidae
Chama sp. Linnaeus 1758
Bivalvia - Cardiida - Veneridae
Dosinia (Kereia) numerosissima Darragh and Kendrick 2010
Periglypta weegeeree n. sp. Darragh and Kendrick 2010
Bivalvia - Carditida - Carditidae
Venericardia capricornis n. sp. Darragh and Kendrick 2010
see common names

Geography
Country:Australia State/province:Western Australia
Coordinates: 24.3° South, 115.2° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:47.9° South, 100.6° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Paleogene Epoch:Eocene
Stage:Lutetian 10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 2
Key time interval:Lutetian
Age range of interval:47.80000 - 41.30000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Merlinleigh Sandstone
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: 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).
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: poorly lithified cherty/siliceous sandstone
Lithology description: Poorly cemented, silicified quartz sandstone with subordinate siltstone and conglomerate
Environment:shoreface
Geology comments: Plant debris in the Merlinleigh Sandstone includes araucarian cones, proteaceous leaves, wood, a Banksia fructescence and other material (McLoughlin and Hill 1996). This, in close association with an assortment of marine fossils dominated by disarticulated bivalves from a shallow sandy infaunal habitat, poorly sorted coarse sandstone and conglomerate, and localised concentrations of plant material, including teredine-bored wood indicates a depositional environment featuring "local rivers in flood, depositing the poorly sorted sands and the plant material close to a marine sand bar" (McNamara and Scott 1983: pp. 186–187). The presence of rare very worn and damaged specimens of a turbinid gastropod and limpet are indications of transport of specimens from some distant rocky or hard ground habitat. The Aturia specimens suggest strandings on a shallow beach exposed to the open ocean; the extensive damage to almost all the specimens, particularly to the body chamber, suggests some kind of predation at sea involving large fish or cetaceans.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,replaced with silica
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:WAM
Collectors:T.A. Darragh, G.W. Kendrick, K.J. McNamara Collection dates:1979
Collection method comments: Repository: some specimens at Museum Victoria (NMV)
Metadata
Database number:179830
Authorizer:M. Clapham Enterer:M. Clapham
Modifier:M. Clapham Research group:marine invertebrate
Created:2016-07-02 16:02:51 Last modified:2019-09-01 16:53:44
Access level:the public Released:2016-07-02 16:02:51
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

59652. 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]