Bulldog Shale
Formation located in South Australia
The Bulldog Shale is a formation of Early Cretaceous age (Aptian to Albian stages) that forms part of the Marree Subgroup of the Rolling Downs Group, located in the Eromanga Basin of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.
01Description
It is the lowermost unit in the Marree Subgroup, overlying the Cadna-owie Formation and is overlain by the Coorikiana Sandstone. The formation dates to the Aptian to Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. The Bulldog Shale is composed of finely laminated carbonaceous and pyritic mudstone and claystone beds. Weathering has caused heavy leaching and bleaching in some regions of the Bulldog Shale, including those around Coober Pedy, so that the rocks are white or multicolored. These horizons contain rich opal deposits. Horizons without this bleaching are primarily composed of organic-rich shale. Gypsum, in addition to carbonate limestone concretions rich in fossils are common in these unbleached shaly horizons.
02Fossil content
The Bulldog Shale has yielded fossils of plants, invertebrates, fish, and reptiles. The macroinvertebrate fauna of this formation includes several molluscs, such belemnites, gastropods, and bivalves. Fish are represented by chimaeras and ray-finned fish (these include teleosts) and a lungfish. Sharks are conspicuously absent in the Bulldog Shale. Many plesiosaurs are known from the formation, including leptocleidids, elasmosaurids, pliosaurids, and possible polycotylids. Ichthyosaurs are also present. Archosaur fossils from the Bulldog Shale are rare, and are represented mostly indeterminate specimens, some of which can be assigned to Dinosauria. Due to the coastal location of the Bulldog Shale, large amounts of wood have also been recovered in this formation.
Paleobiota
Archosaurs
| Archosaurs reported from the Bulldog Shale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Material | Notes | Images |
| Archosauria | Indet. | Andamooka, Coober Pedy | Various fragments, some opalized | Includes some material referable to Dinosauria (Theropoda) | |
| Kakuru | K. kujani | Andamooka | Opalized tibia | Now considered Tetanurae indet. | |
Plesiosaurs
| Plesiosaurs reported from the Bulldog Shale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Material | Notes | Images |
| Kronosaurus | K. queenslandicus | Teeth | Originally referred to cf. K. sp. | ||
| Leptocleidus | L. sp. | Reclassified as Umoonasaurus | |||
| Opallionectes | O. andamookaensis | Lunatic Hill opal field | Opalized incomplete articulated skeleton | A plesiosaur of uncertain classification | |
| Umoonasaurus | U. demoscyllus | Zorba Extension Opal Field, Andamooka opal fields, Curdimurka area, Neales River region | Opalized skulls and skeletons | A small leptocleidid plesiosaur with three crests on its head | |
| Elasmosauridae | Indet. | Andamooka | Partial skeletons and several fragments | ||
| Polycotylidae | Indet. | Hermit Hill | Fragmentary specimen | ||
Ichthyosaurs
| Ichthyosaurs reported from the Bulldog Shale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Material | Notes | Images |
| Platypterygius | P. sp. | Bopeechee Siding | Fragmentary cranial and postcranial material | The specimen SAM P14508 shows evidence of healed bite marks. | |
Chondrichthyes
| Chondrichthyans reported from the Bulldog Shale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Material | Notes | Images |
| Ptyktoptychion | P. eyrensis | Near Lake Eyre in northern South Australia | |||
Invertebrates
| Invertebratess reported from the Bulldog Shale | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Material | Notes | Images |
| Isocrinus | I. australis | Opalised calyx | |||
| Maccoyella | M. barklyi | ||||
| Pursiphonia | P. clarkei | Opalised sponge remains | |||
| Tropaeum | T. imperator | ||||
Color key
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Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited. |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Bulldog Shale”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Kronosaurus.jpg by ДиБгд at Russian Wikipedia, Public domain
- Umoonasaurus demoscyllus.png by Connor Ashbridge, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Platypterigius longmani DB.jpg by Bogdanov dmitrchel@mail.ru, CC BY 2.5
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