Discover the Ancient Past EarthCache
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Discover the Ancient Past
A cache by [DELETED_USER]
Hidden
:
10/25/2010
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The listed coordinates will take you to the car park of "Riversleigh D Site", it is a part of the Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park.
This cache is only accessible via dirt roads, so a 4WD or AWD is recommended. Coming from Gregory Downs the road is quite good, from Camooweal, the Riversleigh Rd is a bith rougher.
I did the trip in my little Terios - that should give you some indication ;-)
Riversleigh is a World Heritage listed area (since 1994), more precisely one of only two Australian Fossil Mammal Site World Heritage Areas.
The Riversleigh fossil deposits are amongst the richest and most extensive in the world, with some fossils dating back 25 million years.
In the limestone outcrops the fossils have been superbly preserved. Riversleigh was once a lush rainforest, with lakes and waterways; the high concentration of calcium carbonate in the water ensured that the fossils have been extremely well preserved.
When the skeletons of dead animals came into contact with the water, they were quickly covered/burried in limey mud. Chemicals in the ground water flowing through the sediment gradually altered the composition of the bones and teeth, literally turning them into stone. Millions of years later the fossilised bones have been exposed as a result of weathering by wind and rain that dissolved and removed layers of surrounding rock.
Turtles, fish, snails, crocodiles, lizards, pythons, many types of kangaroos, bats, dromornithid (flightless) birds, thylacines ("Tasmanian tiger"), diprotodontids (herbivorous marsupials), platypus, marsupial lions and palorchestes (another herbivore) and many more have been recovered from this site.
Some of the most unusual and remarkable animals in the Australian fossil record have been found here. For example the Yalkaparidon or "Thingodonta". It has a skull and teeth completely unlike any known marsupial. The "Fangaroo", a small herbivorous kangaroo with huge canine teeth. Mekosuchus, a goanna-like crocodile, which may even have climbed trees. And the Emusarius, "Emuary", part Emu and part Cassowary.
The whole area covers about 10000 hectares, D-site is the only publicly accessible part of the World Heritage Area. You will find a short (800m) self-guided, interpretive walk, were you can see some fossils up close.
For more details on the Riversleigh Site click here: (visit link)
or here:
(visit link)
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To claim a "Find" post a picture of your GPS and one of the fossils and answer the following 4 questions:
A: How many fossil specimens have been recovered from the entire Riversleigh section?
B: How many species of crocodiles are believed to have lived in the lakes and forests of Riversleigh?
C: Which two distinctive sedimentary layers are evident?
D: Phone number inscribed in the wall to the right of the entrance to the interpretive walk?
PLEASE SEND THE ANSWERS TO THE CACHE OWNER, DO NOT POST THEM IN YOUR LOG. THANKS
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