ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Tucker, Ryan Thomas (2014) Stratigraphy, sedimentation and age of the upper cretaceous Winton formation, central-western Queensland, Australia: implications for regional palaeogeography, palaeoenvironments and Gondwanan palaeontology. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/34439/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/34439/ Stratigraphy, Sedimentation and Age of the Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation, central-western Queensland, Australia: Implications for regional palaeogeography, palaeoenvironments and Gondwanan palaeontology Thesis Submitted by Ryan Thomas Tucker March 2014 For the degree of: Doctorate of Philosophy In the: SCHOOL OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES FALCULTY OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY Statement of Access I, the undersigned author of this thesis, understand that James Cook University will make this thesis available for use within the university library and allow access in other approved libraries after its submission. All users consulting this thesis will have to sign the following statement: In consulting this thesis I agree not to copy or closely paraphrase it in whole or in part without the written consent of the author; and to make proper public written acknowledgement for any assistance which I have obtained from it. Beyond this, I do not wish to place any restrictions on access to this thesis. Ryan Thomas Tucker January 2014 I Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution or tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of those references is given. Ryan Thomas Tucker January 2014 II Statement of Contribution by Others Nature of assistance Contribution Coauthors and Affiliations Academic Support Grant Writing Dr. Eric Roberts Dr. Paul Dirks Dr. Steven Salisbury Data Analysis Dr. Eric Roberts Dr. Yi Hu Dr. Richard Wormwald Dr. Tony Kemp Processing Dr. Eric Roberts Dr. Yi Hu Dr. Richard Wormwald Editing Dr. Eric Roberts Dr. Tony Kemp Dr. Steven Salisbury Vikie Darlington Mark Munro Owen Li Field-Analytical Field Research Dr. Eric Roberts Support Dr. Steven Salisbury Dr. Marc Hendrix Dr. Leif Tapanila *BNP field crew Data Analysis Dr. Eric Roberts Dr. Yi Hu Dr. Tony Kemp Dr. Richard Wormwald Financial Support Field & Analytical SEES & GRS ($13,300.00) Maggie Smith ($2000.00) Conference & Travel EGRU ($1,000.00) SVP-JSGSMTG ($600.00) III Chapter Details of publication(s) Nature and extent of or input by thesis author Appendix 2 Tucker, R.T., Roberts, E.M., Hu, I wrote most of the Y., Kemp, A.I., Salisbury, S.W., paper to and 2013. Detrital zircon age development most of constraints for the Winton concepts. Kemp and Formation, Queensland: Hu set up the LA- Contextualizing Australia's Late ICPMS system at JCU Cretaceous dinosaur faunas. and developed the Gondwana Research, 24(2), 767- tuning method for the 779. instrument. I conducted all of the analyses, but benefited greatly from the advice and editing provided by all supervisors and contributors. 3 Tucker R.T., Roberts, E.M., I wrote most of the Henderson, R.A., Kemp, A.I.S. paper and developed the majority of the concepts. Kemp in particular, assisted me with Hf-isotope analysis and interpretation. Henderson provided key insights about the geology of N. QLD. 4 Tucker, R.T., Roberts, E.M., I contributed to the Darlington V. writing and development of concepts. Darlington played an important role on the GIS model and contributed to the writing of the methods for the basin model construction. IV Appendix Romilio, A., Tucker, R.T., & I contributed to the 1 Salisbury, S.W., 2013. writing and Reevaluation of the Lark Quarry development of the dinosaur Tracksite (late Albian– paper as a whole, but Cenomanian Winton Formation, my specific focus central-western Queensland, pertained to the Australia): no longer a stampede?. revised Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, sedimentological 33(1), 102-120. interpretations of Lark Quarry Track Site and the interpretations of the depositional environments Appendix I contributed to the 2 writing and development of concepts I confirm the candidate’s contribution to this paper and consent to the inclusion of the paper in this thesis. Primary Advisor: Eric Roberts Signature: Date: V Acknowledgements This work, in its entirety, would not have occurred if it were not for all those involved in the last three and a half years. Although not everyone can be thanked in text, to everyone I pass on a heartfelt thank you. To my Ph.D. committee, I owe the greatest debt of gratitude. I thank Dr. Steven Salisbury for that SVP dinner which has brought about a wonderful and enriching academic adventure. I thank Dr. Paul Dirks, without whom I know this project and my arrival at James Cook University would have never happened. However, I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to my principle advisor, Dr. Eric Roberts. From the first day in Bladensburg to my first steps as a Lecturer, it is your guidance, patience, and fortitude which made this possible. I hope that in the years to come, I can work with the same passion, integrity, and drive which you devote to everything you set out to accomplish. I also greatly look forward to the buttes needing stratigraphic sections, to the big walls needing climbing, and to the bottles of wine waiting to be opened. I graciously thank all of the lecturer staff at James Cook University; including but not limited to Carl Spandler, Tom Blenkinsop, Bob Henderson, Tony Kemp, Jan Marten Huizenga, and Nigel Chung. I would also like to thank all of the support staff within the School of Earth and Environmental. I would like to also thank all of the staff at the Advanced Analytical Centre at James Cook University. This is especially true for Dr. Yi Hu, for all efforts taken in acquiring the LA-ICPMS geochronological data, a true Doctor ‘WHO’. For continued financial support, I thank the Graduate Research Scheme and the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, along with the Jackson School Travel Grant, The Economic Geological Research Unit, and the generous funds provided by Maggie Smith. I would also like to thank my fellow PhD and Honours students over the past several years. In particular I would like to thank Owen, Johannes, Vikie, Rob, Mark, Babo, George, Cassey, Taka, Matt, and Hannah. I wish to thank you all for the questions, comments, and many laughs which made this journey a memorable one. Most of all, I thank my family and friends for their unwavering support throughout my life concerning these crazy rock based endeavors. I thank my parents for their continued encouragement and the energy they put forth to further my passions in life. I thank Richard Thompson and Garrett Schmitz, both of whom have kept me somewhat sane these many years. Lastly but certainly not in the least, I would like to thank my partner in life, Astrid Vachette. Your laughter and love in our time together made this period of my life the best it could have ever been. VI Abstract The mid-Cretaceous Winton Formation is one of Australia’s most important sources of Mesozoic terrestrial fossils. In recent years it has produced some of the continent’s most significant body and trace fossil records of mid-Cretaceous dinosaurian and crocodilian assemblages. Additionally, the Winton Formation preserves a diverse assemblage of lungfish and primitive ray-finned fish, aquatic lizards, turtles, numerous invertebrates along with a high diversity of plant macrofossils, including some of the world’s earliest flowering plants. The Winton Formation is exposed over large portions of remote central-western Queensland, in addition to northern New South Wales, north-western South Australia and the south-western corner of the Northern Territory. Despite its importance for our understanding of Australian terrestrial environments during the latter part of the Mesozoic, very little in the way of detailed geological work has been carried out on the Winton Formation. As a consequence, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological conditions associated with many of Australia’s key dinosaur faunas are poorly understood. A greater understanding of the stratigraphy, sedimentology, age, and taphonomy of these sites will provide critical context for evaluating Australia’s late-Mesozoic vertebrate taxa to other well-known Gondwanan faunas. This study utilizes detrital zircon geochronology and Lu-Hf isotope analysis to constrain the depositional age, tectonic setting, basin evolution, and stratigraphic context of the Winton Formation, northeastern Australia. A number of geological studies in the past several decades have focused on U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology for maximum depositional age; however, this approach is still underutilized in palaeontology. Thus, these ten samples, which were composed of ~100 grain detrital zircon samples from different VII stratigraphic levels and key fossil locations throughout the Winton and underlying units (basin wide) were analyzed. Detrital zircon ages were obtained via U-Pb LA-ICPMS geochronology and the resulting U-Pb grain ages were subjected to various metrics to interpret maximum depositional age and sedimentary provenance. The results of this work considerably improve upon existing palynological age constraints, suggesting that there are two distinctly different aged faunas: one that is likely ~ 100-98 Ma (Isisford Fauna); and one that is no older than earliest Turonian or latest Cenomanian (92-94 Ma), which includes most other Winton vertebrates (Lark/Bladensburg Fauna).