Rugose corals from the Upper Ordovician Sholeshook Limestone of southwest Wales with an assessment of the coral affinities and biofacies

Limestone horizons of Upper Ordovician (Katian) age in southwest Wales contain diverse fossil faunas including rugose corals. The existence of Ordovician Rugosa in Wales was first reported by Murchison in the 1830s, but since then hardly any specimens have been documented systematically until this present study. Newly collected material from the area around Llanddowror (Carmarthenshire) has now confirmed the diversity of rugose corals in the Sholeshook Limestone (Katian age), an arenaceous limestone originating from the shelf edge of the palaeocontinent Avalonia. The majority of the specimens are preserved as moulds. This means that in many instances preservation of the fossils was insufficient for specific identification; nevertheless, it was possible to document a diverse rugose coral fauna, including Helicelasma, probable Grewingkia and Kenophyllum, and a potential early mucophyllid. While associated with considerable difficulties, as some diagnostic features of Rugosa are not visible in moulds, it is demonstrated here that the work with such specimens can result in faunal information which would otherwise be unobtainable. An assemblage of rugose and tabulate corals in the Sholeshook Limestone can be differentiated from a similar assemblage in the neighbouring Robeston Wathen Limestone which has a slightly different lithology. The fauna has strong similarities with other Avalonian (Irish, English, Belgian) as well as Baltic (Estonian and Norwegian) rugose coral faunas. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The shipway limestone of gower: Sedimentation on a storm-dominated early carboniferous ramp

A detailed sedimentary study of the Lower Carboniferous (Courceyan) Shipway Limestone Formation at Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula (South Wales) has shown that the bioclastic limestones represent a storm-dominated sequence that contains the storm-related sedimentary structure hummocky cross-stratification (HCS). Conformably overlying the Shipway Limestone is a cross-stratified oolitic sandbody with evidence of subaerial exposure. Six sedimentary lithofacies are identified in these two formations which record a distal to proximal, shallowing-upward trend that passes from beneath mean wave-base to above fairweather wave-base. The shallow marine facies model constructed by Wu (1982) from his study of the Lower Carboniferous limestone sequences of South Wales is re-evaluated. Modifications proposed for the model include the addition of two distal tempestite facies and a proximal oolite sand body. The Shipway Limestone and Brofiscin Oolite record the first major, basin-wide, shallowing-upward phase of the Lower Carboniferous in South Wales.     

Age and correlations of the Siluro‐Devonian strata in the Yass Basin,New South Wales

An early Ludlovian (early eβ1) to early Gedinnian (early eγ) age is assigned to the Cliftonwood Limestone—Elmside Formation strata of the Yass Basin, New South Wales. Several Australian sequences are correlated with the Yass Basin succession.     

Global geoheritage significance of Ordovician stratigraphy and sedimentology in the Cliefden Caves area,central western New South Wales

Globally significant geoheritage features of the Cliefden Caves area, in the Belubula River Valley between Orange and Cowra in central western New South Wales, comprise a richly fossiliferous shallow-water limestone succession of Late Ordovician age (the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup) overlain by deep-water laminites and allochthonous limestones of the Upper Ordovician Malongulli Formation. Key features of the Ordovician geology of the Cliefden Caves area that have been identified using the Geoheritage Toolkit as being of international significance are the abundance of unique and exceptionally diverse fossils in the Fossil Hill Limestone (forming the lower part of the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup), which supplement detailed interpretation of carbonate-dominated deposition within an Ordovician volcanic island setting. The fossiliferous limestones preserve biostromes and local small bioherms of stromatoporoids and corals, and recurrent in situ and disarticulated/imbricated Eodinobolus shell beds formed in shallow, quiet-water, dominantly muddy carbonate sediments that passed up-sequence to clay-free carbonate environments. These mud-dominated carbonate sediments are interspersed with higher-energy conditions, represented by skeletal, lithoclastic and calcrete-ooid grainstones overlying disconformities, leading to the identification of subaerial disconformities and associated diagenesis in the Fossil Hill Limestone. The Fossil Hill Limestone is succeeded by massive limestones in the middle part of the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup and then, in turn by the Vandon Limestone and the deeper-water graptolitic laminites of the Malongulli Formation—this completes a succession that is rarely preserved in the geological record, further enhancing the geoheritage significance of the Cliefden Caves area.     

Evidence of evaporite deposition in the Lower Carboniferous Main Limestone Series of South Wales,U.K.

Petrographic examination of the dolomitized Main Limestone Series cropping out in the south, east and northeast corners of the South Wales Coalfield Basin shows evidence of the earlier presence of evaporite minerals. However, it is believed that lack of extensive evaporite deposits in these rocks may be due to the active diagenetic dissolution and oncoming humid coal conditions of post Main Limestone time.The evaporite minerals in the Main Limestone rocks seem to be overwhelmingly early diagenetic in origin in the light of the following observations: (1) calcite or dolomite pseudomorphs after gypsum crystals associated with a fine pelmicrite matrix; (2) association of such pseudomorphs with oolitic pelsparite; and (3) evaporite solution breccia texture.     

Nearshore to offshore facies and depositional history of the Ordovician Daylesford Limestone New South Wales

The Daylesford Limestone is the basal formation of the Ordovician Bowan Park Group of central western New South Wales. The formation contains four main limestone types and minor intercalated terrigenous beds. Limestones are: (1) grain‐stone, (2) grey skeletal wackestone and packstone, (3) dark grey burrowed wackestone and packstone, and (4) dark grey burrowed lime mudstone. Grainstone and grey skeletal wackstone and packstone are dominant in eastern sections; they are laterally equivalent to, and interfinger with, dark grey muddy limestones that dominate western sections. Lithoclasts are abundant in the grainstone but are absent from muddy sections to the west except in thin beds above disconformities. The rock types of the Daylesford Limestone also tend to occur sequentially above some disconformities; the full sequence is: grainstone (or grey skeletal wackestone and packstone) grading up into dark grey burrowed wackestone and packstone and thence into dark grey burrowed lime mudstone. Each sequence is probably trans‐gressive and reflects deepening water.

During deposition of the Daylesford Limestone, an area to the east was uplifted, providing lithoclasts to be reworked into the neighbouring depositional basin. Uplift also produced numerous regressions and subaerial disconformities. Facies patterns were essentially similar throughout the history of the formation. Grainstone accumulated in high‐energy nearshore environments adjacent to the uplifted area, and grey skeletal wackestone and packstone in low‐energy nearshore environments. Dark grey lime mudstone formed in offshore low‐energy environments to the west of the uplifted area; and dark grey wackestone and packstone in intermediate environments. In parts, burrowing organisms kept pace with sedimentation and locally mixed interbedded grainstone and muddy limestone.     

Spores from a carboniferous section in the hunter valley,New South Wales

In this initial systematic study of Carboniferous spores from New South Wales, Australia, fifteen species (all but one of them new) are formally described and are distributed among eight established genera and two new genera (Rattiganispora, a distally annulate trilete form, and Psomospora, an inaperturate or proximally hilate form). The species were selected as being the most characteristic and distinctive forms found in the Italia Road Formation at its well‐exposed type section in the Hunter Valley, east‐central New South Wales. The formation is a cyclical non‐marine unit, over 300 metres (1,000 ft) thick, consisting of lithic arenites together with carbonaceous shales, claystones, and siltstones; its age is regarded as West‐phalian‐Stephanian. The microfiora is compared with those known from sediments of similar age elsewhere and its place in the Australian Palaeozoic palynostratigraphic record is discussed.

New specific institutions are as follows: Punctatisporites lucidulus, P. sub‐tritus, Verrucosisporites aspratilis, V. italiaensis, Raistrickia accincta, R. radiosa, Reticulatisporites asperidictyus, R. magnidictyus, Foveosporites pellucidus, Rattiganispora apiculata (type species), Kraeuselisporites kuttungensis, Grandispora maculosa, Psomospora detecta (type species), and Wilsonites australiensis.     

Platform and off-platform carbonates of the Upper Cambrian of western Maryland, U.S.A.

Upper Cambrian carbonates in western Maryland are comprised of platform facies (Conococheague Limestone) west of South Mountain and basin facies (Frederick Limestone) east of South Mountain. Conocheague platform carbonates contain interbedded non-cyclic and cyclic facies. Non-cyclic facies consist of cross-stratified grainstones, thrombolitic bioherms, and graded, thin-bedded dolostones. These were deposited in shallow, subtidal shelf lagoons. Cyclic facies are composed of repeated sequences of cross-stratified grainstone; ribbon-rock; wavy, prism-cracked laminite; and planar laminated dolostone. The cyclic facies are shallowing-upward cycles produced by lateral progradation of tidal flats over shallow, nearshore subtidal environments. Cyclic and non-cyclic facies are interbedded in the Conococheague in a layer cake fashion, but no higher-order cyclicity can be found. The Frederick Limestone is dominated by monotonously thick sequences of graded, thin-bedded limestones, interbedded with massive peloidal grainstones and beds of breccia up to 10 m thick in the lower Frederick. The breccias contain transported megaclasts of Epiphyton-Girvanella boundstones. The basal Frederick was deposited in a slope-to-basinal setting east of a rimmed shelf. An Epiphyton-Girvanella marginal reef along the shelf edge was the source of the blocks in the breccias. The upper Frederick Limestone formed on a carbonate ramp.     

Fission track data from the Bathurst Batholith: Evidence for rapid mid‐Cretaceous uplift and erosion within the eastern highlands of Australia

Apatite fission track thermochronology reveals that uplift and erosion occurred during the mid‐Cretaceous within the Bathurst Batholith region of the eastern highlands, New South Wales. Apatite fission track ages from samples from the eastern flank of the highlands range between ca 73 and 139 Ma. The mean lengths of confined fission tracks for these samples are > 13 μm with standard deviations of the track length distributions between 1 and 2 μm. These data suggest that rocks exposed along the eastern flank of the highlands were nearly reset as the result of being subjected to palaeotemperatures in the range of approximately 100–110°C, prior to being cooled relatively quickly through to temperatures < 50°C in the mid‐Cretaceous at ca 90 Ma. In contrast, samples from the western flank of the highlands yield apparent apatite ages as old as 235 Ma and mean track lengths < 12.5 μm, with standard deviations between 1.8 and 3 μm. These old apatite ages and relatively short track lengths suggest that the rocks were exposed to maximum palaeotemperatures between approximately 80° and 100°C prior to the regional cooling episode. This cooling is interpreted to be the result of kilometre‐scale uplift and erosion of the eastern highlands in the mid‐Cretaceous, and the similarity in timing of uplift and erosion within the highlands and initial extension along the eastern Australian passive margin prior to breakup (ca 95 Ma) strongly suggests these two occurrences are related.     

Discovery of Iapetognathus fauna from far western New South Wales: towards a more precisely defined Cambrian–Ordovician boundary in Australia

Conodont species Iapetognathus fluctivagus and Iapetonudus ibexensis are documented for the first time from Australia. The former is the primary marker internationally defining the base of the Ordovician, and the latter is also a distinctive species previously recorded only from the base of the Ordovician in North America. Both species were recovered from a single sample in the Kandie Tank Limestone of the Kayrunnera Group, located about 50 km west of White Cliffs in far western New South Wales. Other species recovered from this sample include Prooneotodus spp., Cordylodus lindstromi, Cordylodus proavus, Hirsutodontus simplex, Teridontus nakamurai and Variabiloconus sp. Recognition of the Iapetognathus fluctivagus Biozone in the Kandie Tank Limestone supports its correlation with the Green Point section (Global Stratigraphic Section and Point for the base of the Ordovician) in western Newfoundland and the Lawson Cove section of Utah (Auxiliary Stratigraphic Section and Point), as well as sections in Asia and South America. Review of other sections in Australia and elsewhere spanning the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary confirms that, in the absence of I. fluctivagus, the presence of C. lindstromi is a good proxy for this level.     

A new crinoid from the Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) of South Pembrokeshire,Wales

A new species of cladid crinoid, Hylodecrinus cymrus, is described from the Pembroke Limestone Group (Mississippian, Tournaisian, Courceyan) of West Angle Bay in south Pembrokeshire, Wales. It has a medium bowl‐shaped aboral cup, with strong ridges extending across the basals and radials forming pits at the plate corners. It is most similar to the late Tournaisian H. carinatus (Hall, 1861) of North America but differs in having less strongly cuneate brachials that are longer than wide with more subtle carinae on the aboral side. This specimen represents the first report of this genus from Europe, which most probably migrated from North America. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correlation of Devonian rocks

The Mount Black lead‐zinc deposit at Cooleman Plains, southern New South Wales, occurs in the uppermost part of the moderately folded, weakly metamorphosed, Upper Silurian Cooleman Limestone. A joint‐controlled collapse‐breccia zone interpreted as a palaeokarst structure has been partly replaced by quartz, sphalerite, galena, and a little chalcopyrite, pyrite, marcasite, tetrahedrite, arseno‐pyrite, and mackinawite. These minerals show evidence of having encrusted and replaced limestone fragments in the breccia. Oxidic Zn, Pb, Cu, and Fe minerals have formed by the near‐surface oxidation of the sulphides.

Petrographic and field evidence indicates that the quartz and sulphides were deposited mainly by encrustation and precipitation from saline solutions (possibly diagenetically expelled connate brines) in cavities, probably at low temperature at shallow depth. The deposit has many similarities to Mississippi Valley‐type lead‐zinc deposits.     

CaMg ratio classification of main limestones (Mississippian) in South Wales,U.K.

The highly dolomitized Main Limestones of approximately Mississippian age, which crop out in South Wales, are classified according to their $\text{Ca}\text{Mg}$ ratio values. The results based upon the $\text{Ca}\text{Mg}$ ratio determination of these rocks permitted their classification into six major categories, namely: (1) limestone; (2) slightly dolomitized limestone; (3) dolomitic limestone; (4) calcitic dolostone; (5) dolostone proper; and (6) magnesian dolostone.It is concluded that dolostone proper and calcitic dolostone tend to dominate in the Main Limestone rocks of South Wales.     

Origin of Carboniferous sandstones fringing the northern margin of the Wales‐Brabant Massif: insights from detrital zircon ages

A study of detrital zircon age populations in Namurian–Westphalian (Carboniferous) sandstones in the southern Central Pennine Basin of the UK has revealed considerable complexity in their provenance history. The Pendleian–Marsdenian Morridge Formation, which is known to have been derived from the Wales‐Brabant Massif to the south on the basis of palaeocurrent and petrographic information, is dominated by zircons ultimately derived from the Caledonian belt to the north. These zircons were recycled from sandstones of northern origin that had been previously deposited over the massif during Middle to Late Devonian times. The Morridge Formation also includes Late Neoproterozoic zircons of local Wales‐Brabant Massif origin. The south lobe of the Yeadonian Rough Rock has been previously interpreted as having a complex provenance including sediment of northern origin interbedded with sediment ascribed to a Wales‐Brabant Massif source. However, the zircon spectrum lacks a Late Neoproterozoic component that would have been diagnostic of input from the Wales‐Brabant Massif, and the provenance history of the Rough Rock south lobe therefore remains enigmatic. The Langsettian Ludgbridge Conglomerate is dominated by Late Neoproterozoic zircons of Wales‐Brabant Massif origin, but even in this evidently proximal deposit, the provenance is complex since the main zircon group (ca. 640 Ma) cannot be matched with known local Neoproterozoic basement sources. The data either indicate the presence of hitherto‐unknown magmatic rocks of this age adjacent to the South Staffordshire coalfield or indicate that the zircons were recycled from sediment with a more distal origin. Finally, the Duckmantian Top Hard Rock contains zircons that can be reconciled with a source in the Irish Caledonides, consistent with the palaeocurrent evidence, supplemented by zircons derived from the Wales‐Brabant Massif, possibly including the Monian Composite Terrane of Anglesey. The study reinforces the important message that failure to recognize the presence of recycled zircon could lead to erroneous reconstructions of sediment provenance and transport history. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geochemistry and petrology of the Main Limestone Series (Lower Carboniferous), South Wales,U.K.

Dolomitized Main Limestone rocks of the Lower Carboniferous crop out in a narrow band of about three fourths of a mile along the south, east and northeast rims of the South Wales Coalfield Basin which encompasses the general regions of Miskin, Taffs Well and the Clydach, respectively. The thickness of these rocks varies from a maximum of 2,750 feet to nothing.The Ca/Mg ratio in the Main Limestone in general ranged from 1.7 : 1 to over 100 : 1 with less than 2 : 1 to 3.5 : 1 being the commonest. Magnesium content ranged from less than 5% to over 60% (mole percent MgCO₃), with 40–50 mole percent p.f. MgCO₃ being the commoner.Petrographic study of the Main Limestone led to recognition of six major microfacies. They are: (1) biosparite; (2) dolobiomicrite; (3) quartz-dolomicrite; (4) dolomicrite; (5) oosparite; and (6) dolorudite. In terms of their geographic distribution, dolobiomicrite predominates in the Taffs Well region, while quartz-dolobiomicrite is common in the Clydach region. In terms of their distribution in time, biosparite is common in the basal part (Lower ZC₁ zone), dolobiomicrites (including the quartz-bearing variety) in the middle part (ZC₁ and C₂S₁ zone) of the Taffs Well region and its corresponding Calcite-Mudstone Group in the Clydach region.The bulk of dolomitization in these rocks occurred in the Caninia-Seminula zone or the Calcite-Mudstone Group. In this study, it marks geochemical stage B: the sea-connected lagoonal phase similar to one observed today in South Australia. It is suggested that such a sea-connected Lagoon in the Main Limestone Sea formed largely in response to a reef barrier (or a ridge) - a remnant of which is found today between Miskin and the Taffs Well region where the transition from lime to dolomite facies occurs. The Miskin area represented the deeper-water reef flank towards the open sea whereas the Taffs Well region marked the shallow-water reef flank landward.It is concluded that the Main Limestone Series contains predominantly diagenetic dolostones whilst the syngenetic and epigenetic dolostones are restricted in time and space. The diagenetic dolostone dominates in the Taffs Well and Clydach regions.     

Ordovician strata in the Cliefden Caves area,New South Wales: a case study in the preservation of a globally significant paleontological site

The Cliefden Caves area in central-western New South Wales includes the scientifically most important and irreplaceable examples of fossiliferous Ordovician rocks in the State. Exposures of the stratigraphically lower parts of the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup on the aptly named Fossil Hill are world-famous among paleontologists and internationally significant for preserving the earliest in situ shell beds documented in the literature. They also contain some of the oldest known rugose corals, and an exceptional example of one of the oldest coralline biostromes, as well as many examples of invertebrate fossils and cyanobacterial mat structures that either are unique to this locality or were first described from here. Other stratigraphic levels throughout the total 363?m-thick Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup are similarly endowed with highly significant fossils, such as a globally unique in situ shell bank with rare examples of the trimerellide brachiopod Belubula spectacula, a wealth of shelly fossils and trilobites on Dunhill Bluff (adjacent to Fossil Hill to the east), and the appropriately named Trilobite Hill. Less well known to the general public, but of international importance to paleontologists, is the unique deep-water sponge fauna of the overlying Malongulli Formation that occurs at several levels in limestone lenses within this unit. Fossils from the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup and the Malongulli Formation have been documented in more than 60 scientific papers and monographs since paleontological investigations into the site were first published in 1895. Despite concerted scientific endeavour in the region over the past 50?years, much more study needs to be done to fully document the paleontological riches of the Cliefden Caves area. These sites are interpreted as the remains of a tropical island, fringed by limestone and flanked by deep-water environments in which the Malongulli Formation was deposited. Preservation of such islands is exceptionally rare in the geological record. It is therefore vital for the area to remain accessible to scientific researchers to continue their studies. Flooding of the Belubula Valley by a proposed dam downstream from the Cliefden Caves area would hinder future research work on this unique geoheritage resource. Fortunately, a successful public campaign has led to listing of the site on the State Heritage Register that will provide essential protection of the caves from inundation while ensuring continued access to researchers.     

Cenozoic temperate and sub‐tropical carbonate sedimentation on an oceanic volcano – Chatham Islands,New Zealand

The Chatham Islands, at the eastern end of the Chatham Rise in the South‐west Pacific, are the emergent part of a Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic stratovolcano complex that is variably covered with limestones and fossiliferous tuffs. Most of these deposits accumulated in relatively shallow, high‐energy, tide‐influenced palaeoenvironments with deposition punctuated by periods of deeper‐water pelagic accumulation. Carbonate components in these neritic deposits are biogenic and dominated by molluscs and bryozoans – a heterozoan assemblage. The widespread Middle to Late Eocene Matanginui Limestone contains local photozoan elements such as large benthonic foraminifera (especially Asterocyclina) and calcareous green algae, reflecting the general Palaeogene sub‐tropical oceanographic setting. More localized Late Eocene to Oligocene deposits (Te One Limestone) as well as Pliocene carbonates (Onoua Limestone) are, however, wholly heterozoan and confirm a generally cooler‐water oceanographic setting, similar to today. Early sea floor diagenesis is interpreted to have removed most aragonite components (infaunal bivalves and epifaunal gastropods). Lack of aragonite resulted in the absence of intergranular calcite cementation during subaerial exposure, such that most carbonates are friable or unlithified. Cementation is, however, present at nodular hardground–firmground caps to metre‐scale cycles. Such cements are microcrystalline or micrometre‐thick isopachous circumgranular rinds with insufficient definitive attributes to pinpoint their environment of formation. The overall palaeoenvironment of deposition is interpreted as mesotrophic, resulting in part from upwelling about the Chatham volcanic massif and in part from nutrient element delivery from the adjacent volcanic terrane and coeval volcanism. Biotic diversity in tuffs is two to three times that in limestones, supporting the notion of especially high nutrient availability during periods of volcanism. These mid‐latitude deposits are strikingly different from their low‐latitude, tropical, photozoan counterparts in the volcanic island–coral reef ecosystem. Ground water seepage and fluvial runoff attenuate coral growth and promote microbial carbonate precipitation in these warm‐water settings. In contrast, nutrients from the same sources feed the system in the Chatham Islands cool‐water setting, promoting active heterozoan carbonate sedimentation.     

Mud-Dominated Storm Deposits From A Lower Carboniferous Ramp

The Lower Carboniferous Pen-y-Holt Limestone of South Wales comprises about 300m of interbedded wackestones and lime mudstones. The wackestones are interpreted as relatively distal ‘turbidite-like’ storm-generated deposits and the lime mudstones as background deposits. The storms had a periodicity of about one per 9000–18000 years. They were deposited in a deep-ramp carbonate environment at least 20–30km from the ancient shoreline and in about 100m water depth, and therefore probably below wave base. The ramp is estimated to have had an average slope angle of 0·5–1·0 degree. Unlike other previously described carbonate or siliciclastic storm deposits, the Pen-y-Holt Limestone storm deposits are totaly mud-supported and generally lack internal sedimentary structures, yet contain large bioclasts such as crinoid ossicles. The simultaneous deposition of lime mud and crinoid ossicles from a storm-generated turbidity current is hydrodynamically untenable. Thin-section evidence however, suggests that the lime mud may have originally been deposited as peloids which have since been largely destroyed during diagenesis. Peloids and crinoid ossicles, it is suggested, could have been transported by the same current.     

New Insights into the Evolution of an Intervalley Prehistoric Irrigation Canal System,North Coastal Peru

We present the results of combined AMS‐¹⁴C and single‐grain luminescence dating of pre‐Columbian irrigation canals that are part of the Racarumi Intervalley Canal System (RICS) in northern Peru. Archaeological and archival evidence suggest that the RICS was constructed during Middle Sicán (A.D. 900–1100) rule and continued to operate during Chimú and Inka conquests in the A.D. 1300s and 1400s, respectively, until finally succumbing to Spanish control of the area in the early A.D. 1500s. Detrital charcoal (AMS‐¹⁴C) and sand grains (OSL and IRSL) were collected from active, post‐abandonment, and clean out deposits in six earthen canals located within three separate alignments of the RICS. Resulting ages confirm operation during Middle Sicán, Late Sicán, Chimú, and Inka control, and possibly into the early part of the Spanish period. Placed within their hydroclimatological context, RICS canal deposits document recurrent El Niño flooding ∼A.D. 1300–1600 but indicate that damage to the system was repaired and the canals continued to operate despite periodic disruptions. This study demonstrates that single‐grain luminescence analysis conducted within a framework of geomorphology and formation processes has significant potential for detailed and accurate dating of ancient water‐control systems.     

Tertiary evolution of the coastal lowlands and the Clyde River palaeovalley in southeast New South Wales

Fluvial sediments, here assigned to the Bergalia Formation, adjacent to the middle reaches of the Clyde River near Batemans Bay on the New South Wales south coast were deposited prior to a basalt valley flow with K–Ar ages averaging 27.7 ± 0.3 Ma. Similar Bergalia Formation sediments are preserved near Mogo, south of Batemans Bay, and suggest that the Clyde River flowed south through the Mogo area prior to diversion to the east. The diversion resulted from local‐scale neotectonic movements or sea‐level changes after the mid‐Oligocene. The previously undescribed deposits at these two locations provide evidence that relief comparable to or greater than the present existed in the Clyde River valley by this time. The basalt and sediments in the Clyde River valley indicate that the coastal lowlands in southeast New South Wales were developed prior to the mid‐Tertiary period.