Ichnofossils, although small-scale geological features, can be of geoheritage significance. The Western Australian soldier crab (Mictyris occidentalis Unno 2008) presents an unusual and unique association between the crab and its ichnology because, as the species progresses through life, its behaviour becomes more complex and its traces commensurably more varied. The links between crab ichnology, life stage, behaviour, and environment are so direct that where traces are preserved they can be used to interpret fossil crab sizes, population structures, behaviour and paleo-environment. In this context the ichnofossils comprise important paleo-ecological and paleo-environmental indicators. Middle Holocene soldier crab ichnofossils occur in 5000 year-old beach rock at Port Hedland, Western Australia. The ichnofossils include rosettes, pustules, pellet-roofed tunnels, back-filled burrows and swirl lamination, air cavities and tidal-current-degraded discard pellets. They provide information on soldier crab population sizes and behaviour, and the nature of the environment along middle Holocene shores. The ichnofossils are of geoheritage significance in their own right for the paleontological and paleo-environmental information they present, however, given the rarity of their preservation, and the location of well-developed beach rock largely restricted to the arid Pilbara Coast, these ichnofossils are an uncommon and significant geological tool for use in paleo-environmental, paleo-ecological and paleoclimate reconstructions. They are of geoheritage significance because of their diagnostic signatures and rarity of occurrence. The limitations of current classifications of traces and ichnofossils, owing to restricted definition of terms, are highlighted by these ichnofossils as several ichnological products in the complex range of soldier crab traces are not possible to classify. 相似文献
AbstractTwo spectacular cliff lines occur along Australia’s south and west coasts: the Great Southern Scarp (new name) and the Zuytdorp Cliffs. Detailed measurements of their length show that they are exceptionally long and unusually continuous. The Great Southern Scarp is the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain’s Bunda Plateau; it is cut into shallow marine sediments and extends for 820?km. Once a continuous sea-cliff, local uplift has isolated two sections from the ocean, so it now comprises the Bunda Cliffs (210?km of coastal cliff, 180?km of which is uninterrupted cliff line), Hampton Range (inland; 300?km), Baxter Cliffs (160?km of coastal cliff) and Wylie Scarp (inland; 160?km). The Zuytdorp Cliffs are coastal cliffs cut into eolianite, and extend for 210?km with an uninterrupted section of 120?km. The length of the Great Southern Scarp and the Zuytdorp Cliffs results from an unusual combination of circumstances. They are both composed of poorly jointed, relatively homogenous biogenic calcarenites, presented to high-energy ocean waves by regional uplift. The carbonates are sufficiently well cemented to maintain a steep vertical cliff face, but susceptible to disintegration under direct wave attack. Cliff retreat has been fairly uniform because of the broad spatial scale of both lithology and erosion. The arid climate, absence of nearby non-karstic catchments and karstic nature of the cliffs’ hinterlands has discouraged integrated drainage development, so no significant fluvial systems dissect the cliffs; this is a key factor in cliff edge preservation. In the case of the Great Southern Scarp, these processes have formed the longest continuous cliff line in Australia and probably the world. Referenced against criteria from Australia’s National Heritage List, the cliffs have potentially international/national levels of significance for the rarity of their scale, their demonstration of landscape evolution, and their spectacular beauty.
KEY POINTS
Australia’s longest coastal cliffs, the Bunda (SA) and Zuytdorp (WA) cliffs, are equal in length (210?km, within defined confidence levels).
The Bunda Cliffs are part of the Great Southern Scarp (new name), an 820 km-long feature of the Nullarbor Plain that also includes the coastal Baxter Cliffs (160?km in length) and two paleocoastal scarps.
The unusual continuity of the cliff lines results from a landscape history specific to the Australian continent, and the Great Southern Scarp is likely to be unusual on a global scale.
The Great Southern Scarp and the Zuytdorp Cliffs have potentially national and/or international levels significance for geoheritage values in the criteria of events and processes, rarity and aesthetics.