Fossils in the riverland area?

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Joined
Jul 27, 2014
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Location
, SA
Hello, I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any fossil locations in the riverland. From my understanding we were under water over here a long time ago, as there is a quarry that contains corral fossils, not aloud to take stuff there though.

Thanks
 
G'day Stirfx,

boy are lucky living in such a great spot -you are in one of the most prolific areas in SA for fossils which can be found in the limestone pretty much anywhere along the river. I recently collected near Renmark and scored over 250 teeth in an afternoon. Mainly shark but there were also parrot fish plates, stingray barbs and whale bone found. There are lots of echinoids & spines of many different varieties as well as gastropods and bi-valves all which can be found by looking.
There are lots of buildings that have been built from the limestone from the area that are full of fossils. Bit hard to collect from these but they will give you an idea what can be found.

The Riverland Gem & Mineral Club with their Clubrooms in the old Glossop Hall is worth a visit. President Dennis and the members will soon give you some direction.

Be persistent and get out there to enjoy the river & what ever fossils you find.
 
Dughug said:
G'day Stirfx,

boy are lucky living in such a great spot -you are in one of the most prolific areas in SA for fossils which can be found in the limestone pretty much anywhere along the river. I recently collected near Renmark and scored over 250 teeth in an afternoon. Mainly shark but there were also parrot fish plates, stingray barbs and whale bone found. There are lots of echinoids & spines of many different varieties as well as gastropods and bi-valves all which can be found by looking.
There are lots of buildings that have been built from the limestone from the area that are full of fossils. Bit hard to collect from these but they will give you an idea what can be found.

The Riverland Gem & Mineral Club with their Clubrooms in the old Glossop Hall is worth a visit. President Dennis and the members will soon give you some direction.

Be persistent and get out there to enjoy the river & what ever fossils you find.

Wow, thanks for the information. By near the river are you talking about the cliffs?

Thanks so much! Wouldn't think the Riverland would date back so far.
 
by walking along the Cliffs take your time and look up at what is in the limestone you will often see the fossils just sitting there almost out of reach. It is often worth while sieving the sand below an area where you see the fossil layer. You may be lucky enough to get fossils that have been weathered out, they are often intact and undamaged. Not always the case if you take them out of the cliffs. The area where we collected the teeth was from decomposing limestone and sand which was relatively easy to get out but in a very precarious location - we were on a small ledge with about a 15m shear drop to the River bank.

The fossils from this area are Tertiary fossils from the Miocene era.

Please take care when fossicking in this area the cliffs can be dangerous no matter how good a specimen is it is not worth your life.
 
Hello,

I work for ABC Local Radio. This discussion on fossils in the Riverland is of interest to me. Dughug any chance you would share your information on radio? It's very interesting
 
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