Australia's oldest earthcache

4 billion year old fossil eggs found at Encounter Bay

A DISCOVERY on Encounter Bay beach has been heralded by palaeontologists as the earthscience find of the epoch.

In 2019, Dr F.R.E.D. Frog reported the discovery of a group of fossil eggs belonging to what is the largest amphibian to ever live, the Amphibiousrealbigimus. Dating from the Archean Eon the amphibian is estimated to have been over 50m long from head to tail.

As this type of fossil is quite rare in Australia, the discovery has baffled Prof H.O. Ax from the Australian National University palaeontology department. “We typically don’t see anything this ‘out of place’ in Australia. A fossil display like this is very, very uncommon,” said Prof Ax. “Speaking from a strictly scientific point of view, the eggs of the Amphibiousrealbigimus have no business being here.”

Our reporter spoke to a local geologist, Mr G.E.T. Real, "Boulders found on the beach are erratics deposited from a glacier." Mr Real said "These rocks have been broken away and picked up from other areas.  The boulders give us an idea as to the direction the glacier travelled from. By matching the rocks with areas showing the same formations allows us to figure their origins. Erratics are picked up and carried within the glacier or pushed along in front of them as they move. Unlike water, ice as a solid, has the strength to hold larger rocks and carry them for long distances."

Local sources revealed the listed location is a great site to view the fossil eggs. Or are they erratic rocks believed to have come from the area of Granite Island some 4km to the south-east? Prof Ax and Dr Frog say the boulders are fossil eggs. Mr Real said they are geological oddities transported by ice.

Please examine the boulders on the beach and provide answers for the following questions. Send your answers to the cache owner by email or message.

4 billion year old Amphibiousrealbigimus fossil eggs found at Encounter Bay.
Is this statement correct?
 

Erratics are geological oddities transported by ice from Granite Island.
Is this statement correct?
 

Describe the size of the boulders.
How are they different from the local rocks?

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