Flinders Ranges Geology

The Flinders Ranges and Outback offers a genuine glimpse of a timeless land.

The Central Flinders Ranges is one of the oldest landscapes on earth. Discover 600 million years of Earth's history including the formation of the Flinders Ranges and the evolution of early life-forms as you experience the 20 kilometre self-guided Brachina Gorge geological trail. It is best travelled from east to west commencing at the Brachina Gorge/Binman Road junction.

Microscopic, single-celled animals evolved three billion years ago, but complex life in the form of large multicellular animals only began around 600 million years ago. These first animals were mostly round, disc-shaped forms similar to jellyfish, but some resembled worms and arthropods. These strange animals are cultural icons. The Ediacaran Period - a new 'time slice' of earth history is formally recognised by the golden spike, a global reference point that can be found in Brachina Gorge.

The first modern animals - complex active organisms like crabs, starfish and worms - evolved about 30 million years after the Ediacaran, during the Cambrian Explosion. These are the kinds of animals we see on the sea floor today. In the Flinders Ranges we find fossils of the first of these advanced animals.

120 million years ago, most of Australia was underwater, covered by a vast shallow inland sea which stretched from the Gulf of Carpentaria, across Queensland, northern New South Wales, northern South Australia and up into northwestern Western Australia. Coober Pedy was on the southern edge of this sea and close to the shore.

The climate at the time was not warm but in fact freezing with water temperatures as low as -1˚C. Icebergs would have been present and the area endured months of polar darkness each year. Animals of the time included dinosaurs, pterosaurs (pterodactyls) and giant marine lizards.  Skeletons of these creatures are often found around Coober Pedy and occasionally occur on the surface.

As Coober Pedy was underwater the fossils of this region are commonly of marine animals including clams (bivalves), snails and giant marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs or 'fish lizards' up to 7 metres long and plesiosaurs which were long-necked aquatic predators looking something like the famous Loch Ness monster. Many of the marine reptiles found at Coober Pedy are babies, suggesting this area may have once been a breeding ground.

South Australian Museum
You can visit the Origin Energy Fossil Gallery in Adelaide at the South Australian Museum located on North Terrace. The gallery provides an informative insight into the oldest landscape on earth.