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The discovery of Miocene vertebrates, Lake Frome area, South Australia

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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This report announces the discovery of a diverse vertebrate fauna from exposures of the Namba Formation in the southern Frome Embayment (Tarkarooloo Basin), South Australia. The fluvio-Iacustrine Namba Formation can be divided into two informal members based on regional lithological changes. The lower member bears Balcombian-Batesfordian (medial Miocene) pollen floras representing subtropical rainforest and adjacent savanna habitats. The top of the lower member yields the Pinpa Fauna of aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates including fish, turtles, crocodiles, two genera of dasyurids and seven genera of diprotodontan marsupials and a platanistid porpoise. The base of the upper member contains a similar vertebrate fauna (Ericmas Fauna) but includes a platypus and, significantly, diprotodontid marsupials which are the dominant large mammals in the contemporaneous Ngapakaldi Fauna of the Lake Eyre basin.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title The discovery of Miocene vertebrates, Lake Frome area, South Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/72c5d565-184d-4041-bb4b-bcd67ba70640
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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      ],
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    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The discovery of Miocene vertebrates, Lake Frome area, South Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-discovery-of-miocene-vertebrates-lake-frome-area-south-australia