Alcoota Fossil Beds
| Location | |
|---|---|
| NT Portion 4075, about 105km northeast of Alice Springs. | 
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| Gazettal Date | |
| 8 February 1995. Northern Territory Government Gazette No. G6. |
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| Description | |
| The Alcoota Fossil Beds are one of only three known vertebrate fossil sites in the Northern Territory. The others are the Bullock Creek Fossil Site on Camfield Station and the Kangaroo Well Site on Deep Well Station. The Alcoota fauna has a rich concentration of vertebrate fossils dating to the late Miocene period (about 8 million years old) and contains an abundance of aquatic and stream-bank species. The fossil deposit consists of a series of bone-bearing lenses on a single horizon. The individual lenses are only about 1 metre across but extended for about 170 metres. Fossils from a wide range of marsupials, birds and crocodiles are present including anatids (duck), pheonicopterid (flamingo), diprotodontids (wombat-like marsupials), dasyurids, varanids (large goanna-like reptiles), thylacinid (thylacine-like animal) and crocodylids. |
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| Statement of Heritage Value | |
| The Alcoota Fossil Beds are of particular importance in providing evidence for the evolution of the Northern Territory's fauna and climate. They are a unique occurrence of well-preserved, often rare, Tertiary vertebrate fossils, the study of which will furnish a better understanding of the modern Australian fauna. The Alcoota Fossil Beds are also significant as a research and teaching site for palaeantology students and for containing the type locality of the Waite Formation. | |
| Further Reading | |
| Murray, P and Megiran, D. 1992. Continuity and Contrast in middle and late Miocene vertebrate communities from the Northern Territory. The Beagle 9 (1):195-218. Newsome, AE and Rochow, KA. 1964. Vertebrate fossils from Tertiary sediments in Central Australia. Australian Journal of Science 26:352. Woodburne, M.O. 1967. The Alcoota Fauna, Central Australia. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Australia, Bulletin 87. |
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