Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of Palaeontology — John Shaqi
Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of PalaeontologyChapman, Frederick
Science
Australasian Fossils: A Students' Manual of Palaeontology
Chapman, Frederick
Paleontology -- Australia
[Illustration: =Fig. 39.--Travertin Limestone with Leaves of Beech
(Fagus).=
Nat. size. Pleistocene: near Hobart, Tasmania.
(_Nat. Mus. Coll._)
]
Fossil leaves frequently occur in pipe-clay beds, as at Berwick, Victoria,
and in travertine from near Hobart, Tasmania (Fig. 39). Fossil fruits are
found in abundance in the ancient river gravels at several hundreds of
feet below the surface, in the "deep leads" of Haddon, Victoria, and other
localities in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania.
[Illustration: =Fig. 40--Freshwater Limestone with Shells (Bulinus).=
About 4/5 nat. size. Mount Arapiles, Western Victoria.
(_Nat. Mus. Coll._)
]
[Illustration: =Fig. 41.--Fossiliferous Mudstone of Silurian (Yeringian)
Age.=
With Brachiopods. About 2/3 nat. size. Near Lilydale, Victoria.
(_F.C. Coll._)
]
FOSSILIFEROUS ROCKS.
Section I.--ARGILLACEOUS ROCKS.
Under this head are placed the muds, clays, mudstones, shales and slates.
MUDS are usually of a silty nature, that is, containing a variable
proportion of sand (quartz) grains. Such are the estuarine muds of
Pleistocene and Recent age, containing brackish water foraminifera and
ostracoda, and those shells of the mollusca usually found associated with
brackish conditions. Lacustrine mud can be distinguished by the included
freshwater shells, as _Limnaea_, _Coxiella_ (brackish), _Cyclas_ and
_Bulinus_, as well as the freshwater ostracoda or cyprids (Fig. 40).
CLAYS are tenacious mud deposits, having the general composition of a
hydrous silicate of alumina with some iron. When a clay deposit tends to
split into leaves or laminae, either through moderate pressure or by the
included fossil remains occupying distinct planes in the rock, they are
called SHALES.
Clays and Shales of marine origin are often crowded with the remains
of mollusca. The shells are sometimes associated with leaves and other
vegetable remains, if forming part of an alternating series of freshwater
and marine conditions. An example of this type of sediments is seen in the
Mornington beds of the Balcombian series in Victoria.
MUDSTONE is a term applied to a hardened clay deposit derived from the
alteration of an impure limestone, and is more often found in the older
series of rocks. Mudstones are frequently crowded with fossils, but
owing to chemical changes within the rock, the calcareous organisms are
as a rule represented by casts and moulds. At times these so faithfully
represent the surface and cavities of the organism that they are almost
equivalent to a well preserved fossil (Fig. 41).
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