Australia's Fossil Heritage

Australia's Fossil Heritage

Author: Australian Heritage Council

Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0643101772

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The National Heritage List was created in January 2004 to recognize, celebrate and protect places of outstanding heritage value to the nation. One aspect of natural heritage that has been little explored is Australiaâ__s wealth of exceptional fossil sites. While a small number of fossil sites have risen to public prominence, there are many lesser-known sites that have important heritage values. The Australian Heritage Council engaged palaeontologists from state museums and the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery to compile lists of outstanding fossil sites and to document their characteristics and relative importance against a range of categories, with a view to further understanding about Australiaâ__s important fossil heritage. Sites that were listed for National or World Heritage values were not included in the places for consideration, with the focus being on lesser-known but still important sites. This book is an account of the palaeontologistsâ__ findings. Australiaâ__s Fossil Heritage provides a useful reference to the outstanding fossil sites it catalogs, and gives a clearer understanding of the heritage values of such sites. More generally, it contributes to a greater appreciation of Australiaâ__s geological and fossil diversity and enables readers to learn more about Australiaâ__s prehistory.


Quaternary History of the Coorong Coastal Plain, Southern Australia

Quaternary History of the Coorong Coastal Plain, Southern Australia

Author: Colin V. Murray-Wallace

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-04-28

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 3319893424

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This book provides an up-to-date overview of the Quaternary geological and geomorphological evolution of the Coorong Coastal Plain region and its significance in a global context for understanding long-term records of Quaternary sea-level changes. The Coorong Coastal Plain in southern Australia is a natural laboratory for examining the response of coastal barrier landscapes to relative sea-level changes. The region provides direct evidence of coastal sedimentation during successive interglacials over the past 1 million years, as well as more recent volcanism. The region has received international focus and attracted scientists from around the World, with interests in long-term coastal evolution, sea-level changes, Quaternary dating methods and geochronology, soil development, temperate carbonate sedimentation, karst geomorphology and geologically recent volcanism.


History of the Australian Vegetation

History of the Australian Vegetation

Author: Robert S. Hill

Publisher: University of Adelaide Press

Published: 2017-03-01

Total Pages: 445

ISBN-13: 1925261476

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The Australian vegetation is the end result of a remarkable history of climate change, latitudinal change, continental isolation, soil evolution, interaction with an evolving fauna, fire and most recently human impact. This book presents a detailed synopsis of the critical events that led to the evolution of the unique Australian flora and the wide variety of vegetational types contained within it. The first part of the book details the past continental relationships of Australia, its palaeoclimate, fauna and the evolution of its landforms since the rise to dominance of the angiosperms at the beginning of the Cretaceous period. A detailed summary of the palaeobotanical record is then presented. The palynological record gives an overview of the vegetation and the distribution of important taxa within it, while the complementary macrofossil record is used to trace the evolution of critical taxa. This book will interest graduate students and researchers interested in the evolution of the flora of this fascinating continent.