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TIMELINE
Outback Gondwana

Years (ca)
Event

30–16,000 B.P.

60-42,000 B.P

 

Extinction of Australia’s Megafauna

The first evidence of human colonisation of Australia

2 Ma

Megafauna dominates

25 Ma

Opal formation

65 Ma

Extinction of the Dinosaurs

95 Ma

Eromanga dinosaur ‘Cooper’

110 Ma

Eromanga Sea inundates the Eromanga Basin

115-95 Ma

Eromanga Basin
subsidence/ uplifting

128 Ma

Tookoonooka
meteorite impact, Eromanga

250-205 Ma

Eromanga Basin forms
(Great Artesian Basin)

298-250 Ma

Cooper Basin forms

354-298 Ma

Lush peat lands form
(future coal & gas reserves)

410-354 Ma

Adavale Basin forms

434-410 Ma

Uplifting emerges land

500-550 Ma

Gondwana forms

4.6 Ga

Earth forms

 

KEY
BP = Before Present
Ma = Million Years Ago
Ga = Billion Years Ago
ca = approximate

 

References for Timeline

SWQ & OGF Time Line

Cook, A. & McKenzie, D. 1997, The Great Artesian Basin, M’Choinneach Publishers, Ilfracombe.

Field, J., Fillios, M. & Wroe, S. 2008, ‘Chronological overlap between humans and megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea): A review of the evidence’, Earth-Science Reviews, vol. 89, pp.97-115.

Glikson, A. 2004, ‘Asteroid/comet impact cluster, flood basalts and mass extinctions: Significance of isotopic age overlaps’, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 236, p. 935.

Hawke, P. & Dentith, M. 2006, ‘The exploration potential of Australia’s meteorite impact craters’, AESC, pp. 1-6.

Hocknull, S. & Cook, A. 2006, Amazing Facts About Australian Dinosaurs, Steve Parish Publishing, Archerfield.

Johnson, D. 2004, The Geology of Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Longley, I.M. 1989, ‘The Talundilly anomaly and its implications for hydrocarbon exploration of Eromanga astroblems’, in The Cooper and Eromanga Basins, Australia: Proceedings of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins Conference, Adelaide, 1989, ed B.J O’Neil, Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia, Perth, pp.473-490.

O’Neil, B.J. (ed) 1989, The Cooper and Eromanga Basins, Australia: Proceedings of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins Conference, Adelaide, 1989, Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia, Perth.

Wecker, H. 1989, ‘The Eromanga Basin’, APEA Journal, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 379-387.

Zhou, S. 1989,  ‘Subsidence history of the Eromanga Basin, South Australia’, in The Cooper and Eromanga Basins, Australia: Proceedings of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins Conference, Adelaide, 1989, ed B.J O’Neil, Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia, Perth, pp. 329-335.