Age Constraints on the Duck Ponds and Limeburner's Point Mammalian Faunas Based on Magnetic Polarity Stratigraphy in the Geelong Area (Victoria), Australia

Abstract

AbstractNew magnetostratigraphic results may be used to determine the age of two locally important fossil vertebrate faunas near Geelong (Victoria), Australia. Paleomagnetic samples collected from sections located at Limeburner's Point and Limeburner's Bay, together with previously suggested stratigraphic correlations, now constrain the age of the Duck Ponds Local Fauna to be younger than 1.66 myr (and probably greater than 0.98 myr) and the age of the Limeburner's Point Local Fauna to be younger than 0.98 myr. These age determinations enhance the biostratigraphic importance of both local faunas on a continent characterized by a chronic lack of chronologically well-constrained fossil vertebrate localities.