Allaru Formation

Allaru Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Cretaceous (Albian)
~104–102 Ma
TypeGeological formation
Unit ofRolling Downs Group
UnderliesMackunda Formation, Normanton Formation
OverliesToolebuc Formation
Lithology
PrimaryMudstone
OtherSandstone, siltstone
Location
Coordinates24°52′02.17″S 146°14′19.85″E / 24.8672694°S 146.2388472°E / -24.8672694; 146.2388472
Approximate paleocoordinates51°00′S 133°06′E / 51.0°S 133.1°E / -51.0; 133.1
RegionQueensland
CountryAustralia
ExtentEromanga Basin
Allaru Formation is located in Australia
Allaru Formation
Allaru Formation (Australia)
Allaru Formation is located in Queensland
Allaru Formation
Allaru Formation (Queensland)

The Allaru Formation, also known as the Allaru Mudstone, and formerly known as the Allaru Member of the Wilgunya Formation, is a geological formation in Queensland, Australia, whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, alongside those of the protostegid turtle Notochelone, the ichthyosaur Platypterygius, fishes, cephalopods, the crab Torynomma and the coral Mckenziephyllia.

Geology

The Allaru Formation, a sedimentary unit, spans across the Eromanga and Carpentaria basins. It overlies the Toolebuc Formation conformably, and in turn underlies the Mackunda Formation in the Eromanga Basin, and within the Carpentaria Basin by the Normanton Formation. Alongside the Mackunda Formation in which it is overlain by, the Allaru Formation records the gradual inundation of the Eromanga Basin.

The formation consists of blue-grey mudstones, but also very fine sandstones and minute, tough interbeds of thin calcareous siltstone. which originated from volcanoes to the east. Its rocks host a variety of invertebrate macrofossils, which include ammonites, bivalves, crustaceans, and belemnites. Located near Brutus Creek on Currane Station, lying north of Dartmouth, Queensland, is one particular site that has been suggested to be an exposure of the central layers of the Allaru Formation. This site has also produced concretions in which invertebrate fossils are common, mainly hosting ammonites, belemnites and crustaceans.

Paleobiota

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon

Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text
crossed out taxa are discredited.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs of the Allaru Formation
Genus Species Clade Image
Austrosaurus A. mckillopi A somphospondylan sauropod
Reconstruction of A. mckillopi.
Kunbarrasaurus K. ieversi Ankylosauria,

Parankylosauria
Model of Minmi paravertebra, based on K. ieversi.
Muttaburrasaurus ?M. sp. Ornithopoda,

Elasmaria? incertae sedis
Reconstruction of Muttaburrasaurus.

Other reptiles

Other reptiles of the Allaru Formation
Genus Species Clade Image
Elasmosauridae indet. sp. indet. Plesiosauria,

Elasmosauridae
Notochelone N. costata Testudines,

Protostegidae
Reconstruction of N. costata.
Platypterygius P. australis (=longmani) Ichthyosauria,

Ophthalmosauridae
Life restoration of Platypterygius.

Fishes

Fishes of the Allaru Formation
Genus Species Clade Image
Cooyoo C. australis Ichthyodectiformes,

Ichthyodectidae
Restoration of C. australis.
Flindersichthys F. denmeadi Elopiformes,

incertae sedis
Pachyrhizodus P. marathonensis Crossognathiformes

Pachyrhizodontidae
Restoration of the related P. caninus.
P. grawi
Richmondichthys R. sweeti Aspidorhynchiformes,

Aspidorhynchidae
Sketch of R. sweeti holotype.

Invertebrates

Invertebrates of the Allaru Formation
Genus Species Notes Image
Aucellina A. sp. Pectinida,

Buchiidae
Beudanticeras B. sp. Ammonitida,

Desmoceratidae
Eromangateuthis E. soniae Octopodiformes,

Plesioteuthididae
Goodhallites G. goodhalli Ammonitida,

Brancoceratidae
Inoceramus I. sutherlandi Pteriida,

Inoceramidae
Fossil of the related Inoceramus cycloides.
Labeceras L. sp. Ancyloceratina,

Labeceratidae
Reconstruction of various ammonites (Labeceras in upper left).
Mckenziephyllia M. accordensis Scleractinia,

Mussidae
Myloceras M. sp. Ancyloceratina,

Labeceratidae
Torynomma T. quadrata Decapoda,

Torynommidae

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Brosnan, Luke; Poropat, Stephen F.; Rickard, William D.A.; Elliott, David A.; Grice, Kliti (2024-09-04). "Biomarker analysis of invertebrate fossils preserved in concretions from the Lower Cretaceous Allaru Mudstone of Queensland, Australia". Lethaia. 57 (3): 1–13. doi:10.18261/let.57.3.4. ISSN 0024-1164.
  2. ↑ Vine, R.R.; Day, R.W., (1965). Nomenclature of the Rolling Downs Group, Northern Eromanga Basin, Queensland. Queensland Government Mining Journal. 66(767), 416-421.
  3. 1 2 Poropat, Stephen F.; Nair, Jay P.; Syme, Caitlin E.; Mannion, Philip D.; Upchurch, Paul; Hocknull, Scott A.; Cook, Alex G.; Tischler, Travis R.; Holland, Timothy (2017-10-02). "Reappraisal of Austrosaurus mckillopi Longman, 1933 from the Allaru Mudstone of Queensland, Australia's first named Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 41 (4). Taylor & Francis: 543–580. doi:10.1080/03115518.2017.1334826. ISSN 0311-5518.
  4. 1 2 Lucy G. Leahey; Ralph E. Molnar; Kenneth Carpenter; Lawrence M. Witmer; Steven W. Salisbury (2015). "Cranial osteology of the ankylosaurian dinosaur formerly known as Minmi sp. (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Lower Cretaceous Allaru Mudstone of Richmond, Queensland, Australia". PeerJ. 3 e1475. doi:10.7717/peerj.1475. PMC 4675105. PMID 26664806.
  5. 1 2 Molnar, Ralph E. (1996). "Observations on the Australian ornithopod dinosaur, Muttaburrasaurus"". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 39 (3): 639–652.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Kear, Benjamin P. (2003). "Cretaceous marine reptiles of Australia: a review of taxonomy and distribution". Cretaceous Research. 24 (3): 277–303. doi:10.1016/S0195-6671(03)00046-6. ISSN 0195-6671.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Cook, Alex G. (2012-03-01). "Cretaceous faunas and events, northern Eromanga Basin, Queensland". Episodes Journal of International Geoscience. 35 (1). International Union of Geological Sciences: 153–159. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2012/v35i1/014.
  8. 1 2 Vine, R.R.; Day, R.W., (1965). Nomenclature of the Rolling Downs Group, Northern Eromanga Basin, Queensland. Queensland Government Mining Journal. 66(767), 416-421.
  9. ↑ McHenry, Colin R.; Cook, Alex. G.; Wroe, Stephen (2005-10-07). "Bottom-Feeding Plesiosaurs". Science. 310 (5745). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 75–75. doi:10.1126/science.1117241.
  10. ↑ Bartholomai, A. (1987). "Study of a Lower Cretaceous actinopterygian (class Pisces) Cooyoo australis from Queensland, Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 25: 177––192.
  11. ↑ Bartholomai, A. (2010). "Revision of Flindersichthys denmeadi Longman 1932, a marine teleost from the Lower Cretaceous of the Great Artesian Basin, Queensland". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 55 (1): 43––68.
  12. ↑ Bartholomai, A. (17 February 2012). "The pachyrhizodontid teleosts from the marine Lower Cretaceous (latest mid to late Albian) sediments of the Eromanga Basin, Queensland, Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Nature. 56 (1): 119–148.
  13. ↑ Bartholomai, A. (2004). "The large aspidorhynchid fish, Richmondichthys sweeti (Etheridge Jnr and Smith Woodward, 1891) from Albian Marine deposits of Queensland, Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 49 (2): 521––536.
  14. ↑ Vine, R.R.; Day, R.W., (1965). Nomenclature of the Rolling Downs Group, Northern Eromanga Basin, Queensland. Queensland Government Mining Journal. 66(767), 416-421.
  15. ↑ Vine, R.R.; Day, R.W., (1965). Nomenclature of the Rolling Downs Group, Northern Eromanga Basin, Queensland. Queensland Government Mining Journal. 66(767), 416-421.
  16. ↑ Fuchs, Dirk (2019). "Eromangateuthis N. Gen., a New Genus for a Late Albian Gladius-Bearing Giant Octobrachian (Cephalopoda: Coleoidea)". Paleontological Contributions. 2019 (21): 1–3. doi:10.17161/1808.29619. hdl:1808/29619. ISSN 1946-0279. S2CID 204976334.
  17. ↑ R.A. Henderson; W.J. Kennedy (2002). "Occurrence of the ammonite Goodhallites goodhalli (J. Sowerby) in the Eromanga Basin, Queensland: an index species for the late Albian (Cretaceous)". Alcheringa. 26 (2): 233–247. Bibcode:2002Alch...26..233H. doi:10.1080/03115510208619254. S2CID 130589426 – via ResearchGate.
  18. ↑ Patrick Mark Smith; Timothy Holland (July 2016). "Cretaceous time capsules: remarkable preservation of fish and crustaceans inside the bivalve Inoceramus sutherlandi McCoy, 1865 from the Allaru Mudstone (late Albian), Eromanga Basin, Queensland". ResearchGate. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.2264.9842.
  19. ↑ John S. Jell; Alex G. Cook; Peter A. Jell (2010). "Australian Cretaceous Cnidaria and Porifera". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 35 (2): 241–284. doi:10.1080/03115518.2011.532322. S2CID 129707733.

Bibliography