Palaeozoics of NE Queensland: Broken River region

11 - 17 July 2002

Post-Meeting Field Excursion 5 of the First International Palaeontological Congress 2002

led by John A. Talent, Ruth Mawson, Andrew J. Simpson & Glenn A. Brock

Macquarie University

Photos copyrighted 2002 by Don Chesnut, unless otherwise indicated

Day One (July 11)

• Keelbottom Creek, lunch stop on road to Greenvale from Townsville
• Keelbottom Creek, view from bridge. One can see the effects from heavy floods during the wet season.
• Bluewater Springs Roadhouse on way to Greenvale
• Bluewater Springs Roadhouse
• Thatch Creek: looking for Georgetown "lost" carbonates
• Thatch Creek: Karla Hubbard and termite mound

Day Two (July 12)

• Sausage Tree (Kigelia pinnata) at Three Rivers Hotel in Greenvale. This is an introduced tree from South Africa and one of only four specimens in Australia.
• olitholiths in Wairuna Formation. These outcrops represent transported masses (olistoliths) of limestone that slid downslope during the Paleozoic.
• view from the same area as above
• Outcrop at bridge over dry creek.
• same locality, dry creek bed
• same locality, cutbank on left, point bar on right
• cyclical rhythmites of silstone and shale (and in some places, debris-flow diamictites) suggestive of tidal influence. The thickening and thinning beds (cyclical rhythmites) represent tidal cycles. Same locality as above.
• lunch stop, shaded stop at ponded creek
• afternoon stop 1
• afternoon stop 2
• group of emus in the distance at dusk
• group of emus in the distance at dusk, starting to disperse

Day Three (July 13)

• stop at Chinaman's Creek Limestone
• camp at Jack Hills Gorge
• another view of camp
• yet another view of camp
• Broken River at Jack Hills Gorge
• Jack Formation at the Gorge
• Jack Fm.
• small lizard, unknown type
• large cockroach (blattoid) exoskeleton, dorsal view
• same as above, dorsal view
• same as above, ventral view
• Coral Gardens, Jack Fm. at the Gorge
• The Gorge
• rock wallabee, rapidly bounding
• same rock wallabee at the Gorge
• scalloped weathering of limestone at the Gorge, small size of scallops indicates rapid flow
• The Gorge, looking back, walking on sand bar
• Jack Formation at Jack Hills Gorge
• The Gorge, another view
• an artist's view of the Gorge

Day Four (July 14)

• Black-headed python
• Black-headed python, same snake as above
• Drought Master cattle, special hybrid developed for this part of Australia to tolerate drought conditions and tick infestations
• Drought Masters, half Brahma hybrid, other half unknown to me
• Drought Masters
• Lomandra Creek exposure transition from the Bracteata Formation to the Lomandra Formation (information from Paul Mayer)
• Stringocephalus brachiopods, brachs are in the Bracteata Formation, Lomandra Creek exposure (information from Paul Mayer)
• Stringocephalus brachiopods, as above (information from Paul Mayer)
• Stringocephalus brachiopods, as above (information from Paul Mayer)
• another creek exposure, which limestone?
• view across fieldtrip area
• close examination of the rock

Day Five (July 15)

• Storm Dam reservoir
• unknown tree at Storm Dam
• lunch stop at Storm Dam
• lunch stop at Storm Dam
• lunch stop at Storm Dam
• difficult gully crossing
• difficult gully crossing
• afternoon field stop looking for atrypid brachiopods
• Leclercqia sp., a small protolepidodendron plant
• Leclercqia sp.
• Leclercqia sp.
• back at camp
• Boab tree near camp and first stop of morning
• First stop of the morning
• creek exposures, second stop
• debris flow deposit, same locality
• debris flow deposits, as above

Day Six (July 16)

• placoderm plate (armored/armoured fish) at Fish Hill
• placoderm plate, Fish Hill. The plate is black against the gray limestone marix. The corrugated weathering pattern is called Rillenkarren, typical of limestone in this region.
• spiny echidna encountered on way to Greenvale; it's trying to burrow
• same echidna, burrowing; hammer for scale
• same echidna walking away, bewildered
• same echidna, dusty nose
• sunset at Charters Towers
• sunset at Charters Towers
• sunset at Charters Towers
• sunset at Charters Towers
• sunset at Charters Towers

References

Information is from the field trip leaders and from the following guidebook:

Talent, J.A., Mawson, R., Simpson A.J. & Brock, G.A., 2002, Palaeozoics of NE Queensland: Broken River Region: Ordovician--Carboniferous of the Townsville hinterland: Broken River and Camel Creek regions, Burdekin and Clarke River basins. International Palaeontological Congress 2002 (IPC2002) Field Excursion Guidebook, Macquarie University Centre for Ecostratigraphy and Palaeobiology Special Publication No. 1, Sydney, 82 pp.

All misinformation can be entirely attributed to me and I welcome corrections. Thank you. Don Chesnut

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