Blackstone Formation, Australia

Blackstone Formation Stratigraphic range: Carnian-Norian ~235–206 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Unit of
Sub-units	Denmark Hill Insect Bed, Striped Bacon Seam Member
Underlies	Unconformity with and
Overlies
Thickness	200–240 m (660–790 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Shale
Other	Siltstone, coal, tuff
Location
Coordinates	27°36′S 152°48′E / 27.6°S 152.8°E / -27.6; 152.8Coordinates: 27°36′S 152°48′E / 27.6°S 152.8°E / -27.6; 152.8
Approximate paleocoordinates	58°36′S 101°00′E / 58.6°S 101.0°E / -58.6; 101.0
Region	Ipswich
Country	Australia
Type section
Named for	Blackstone, Queensland
Blackstone Formation, Australia (Australia) Blackstone Formation, Australia (Queensland) Show map of AustraliaShow map of QueenslandShow all

The Blackstone Formation is a geologic formation of the in southeastern Queensland, Australia, dating to the Carnian to Norian stages of the Late Triassic. The shales, siltstones, coal and tuffs were deposited in a lacustrine environment. The Blackstone Formation contains the Denmark Hill Insect Bed.

Fossil content[]

Vertebrates[]

Lungfish[]

Dipnoans of the Blackstone Formation
Genus	Species	State	Abundance	Notes	Images
Ceratodus	C. robustus

Invertebrates[]

Insects of the Blackstone Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
[1]	M. proavita	Ipswich			A
	M. grandis				Tettigarctid cicada
	T. dunstani
	T. prosboloides
	P. australis				Dermapterid earwig
	D. semota	Dinmore clay pit			Archipsyllid Permopsocid
	M. triareolata	Dinmore clay pit			Mesopsychid mecopteran

Ichnofossils[]

In 1964, dinosaur footprints were discovered from the Rhondda colliery (underground coal mine) 230 metres below ground along the sandstone ceiling of the Striped Bacon coal seam.^[2] These were initially described as Eubrontes, a type of predatory dinosaur (theropod) footprint. Later, these footprints were considered as evidence for the world's largest Triassic theropod, with legs towering over 2 metres tall.^[3] A 3D evaluation of the fossil indicated the footprint length was much smaller than previously reported (34 cm rather than 46 cm long) and its shape was characteristic of the trace fossil genus (ichnogenus) Evazoum.^[4] The existing hypothesis is that Evazoum were made by prosauropods, ancestral forms of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs. The bipedal dinosaur track-maker may have resembled the dinosaur Plateosaurus, and this fossil is the only evidence of this group of dinosaurs in Australia. The next evidence for sauropodomorphs in Australia comes over 50 million years later in the Jurassic.

See also[]

• List of fossil sites

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Staines, H. R. E., and J. T. Woods. 1964. Recent discovery of Triassic dinosaur footprints in Queensland. 27. 1–55.