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Dino bone from the famous Lightning Ridge opal mines leads to first ID of this rare type of predatory dinosaur in Australia. A second, 20 million year older example also recognised during their studies. https://m.phys.org/news/2020-01-predatory-dinosaur-added-australia-prehistory.html

Building a home for dinosaur fossils with extra opal bling at Lightning Ridge By Sally Bryant, Australian Broadcasting, https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-02-03/dinosaur-fosssils-with-opal-bling-at-lightning-ridge/6065346 A couple of papers are: Meakin, S., 2011. Geodiversity of the Lightning Ridge area and implications for geotourism. In Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (Vol. 132, p. 71). https://www.academia.edu/24823750/Geodiversity_of_the_Lightning_Ridge_Area_and_Implications_for_Geotourism Watkins, J.J., Behr, H.J. and Behr, K., 2011. Fossil Microbes in Opal from Lightning Ridge: Implications for the Formation of Opal. Division of Resources and Energy. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6e7a/9d5d30343d24a9efb4c15d37602a32c3b10c.pdf?_ga=2.69785872.1453044388.1578279722-895145303.1578279722 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Fossil-microbes-in-opal-from-Lightning-Ridge-—-for-Behr-Behr/6e7a9d5d30343d24a9efb4c15d37602a32c3b10c Yours, Paul H.

Hi I found this online and am wondering if its a tooth?, or just a piece of opal. Its 2mm, and is from Lightning Ridge Australia. Thanks!!

Hi I’m wondering what Theropods are found in lightning Ridge Australia @Down under fossil hunter

Chasing Opal and Fossils in the Australian Outback An ambitious collaboration between scientists and a local mining community seeks to preserve one-of-a-kind opalized fossils. BY Clare Watson, Undark https://undark.org/article/chasing-opal-fossils-australian-outback/ A recent paper is: Bell, P.R., Fanti, F., Hart, L.J., Milan, L.A., Craven, S.J., Brougham, T. and Smith, E., 2019. Revised geology, age, and vertebrate diversity of the dinosaur-bearing Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 514, pp.655-671. Yours, Paul H.

Opal-Filled Fossils Reveal Timid, Dog-Size Dinosaur That Lived Down Under By Laura Geggel, January 17, 2019 https://www.livescience.com/64522-opal-dinosaur-fossils-in-australia.html https://www.sciencealert.com/a-gorgeous-opalised-fossil-turned-out-to-be-an-unknown-species-of-dinosaur Bell, P.R., Herne, M.C., Brougham, T. and Smith, E.T., 2018. Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia. PeerJ, 6, p.e6008. https://peerj.com/articles/6008/ Yours, Paul H.

Hello All, I was hoping that someone could help me identify this bone? its from the mid-Cretaceous Griman Creek Formation of Lightning Ridge Australia I don't think its a yabby button or turtle shell, as the piece is not rounded like a yabby button and there is bone texture. the piece is bilaterally symmetrical and there appear to have joins or groves where the bone meets. The underside is not flat like I would expect for turtle shell... Looking forward to your replies Rod

After learning about Weewarrasaurus, I thought it'd be nice to report the 'lesser-known' recent bit of research about the opalised fossil site Lightning Ridge (New South Wales, Australia) It's basically the most up-to-date paper dealing with the geology - including age, stratigraphy and lithology - and vertebrate paleontology. The paper provides many new details about the Griman Creek Formation (GCF), a Cenomanian (mid-Cretaceous) formation which crops out in the area around Lightning Ridge. The GCF is a formation especially known for its diverse vertebrate paleo-ecosystem; of which many species are represented by quite a few opalised fossils The paper is also rather neat as it contains a nice overview of all the vertebrate groups represented at the GCF - an overview complete with a comprehensive (and up-to-date) list of vertebrate taxa, and several nice pictures of opalised vertebrate fossils Finally, the paper also indicates that a new ornithopod genus (Fostoria) from the GCF is soon going to be published Bell, P. R., Fanti, F., Hart, L. J., Milan, L. A., Craven, S. J., Brougham, T., & Smith, E. (2018). Revised geology, age, and vertebrate diversity of the dinosaur-bearing Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Abstract: The mid-Cretaceous Griman Creek Formation (GCF), which crops out near the town of Lightning Ridge in the Surat Basin of north-central New South Wales, Australia, is noteworthy for its opalised vertebrate fauna. The fossil assemblage comprises remains of aspidorhynchid teleosts, lamniform chondrichthyans, dipnoans, chelid and possible meiolaniform turtles, leptocleidid-like and possible elasmosaurid plesiosaurians, anhanguerian pterosaurs, titanosauriform sauropods, megaraptoran theropods, ankylosaurians, several forms of non-iguano- dontian and iguanodontian ornithopods, crocodylomorphs, enantiornithine birds, and stem and true mono- tremes, making it one of the most diverse mid-Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate faunas in Australia. A detailed stratigraphic survey of twenty subterranean opal mines provides new information on the geology, age and pa- laeoenvironment of the main fossil-bearing beds. Vertebrate remains derive from the ‘Finch Clay facies’, lat- erally-extensive but discontinuous lenses of claystone that likely accumulated relatively rapidly in near-coastal but freshwater embayments (i.e. lagoonal conditions), and probably represent a single, roughly con- temporaneous fauna. U-Pb age dating of detrital zircons extracted from a distinct layer of volcanogenic claystone immediately overlying one of the opalised fossil-bearing layers yields a maximum depositional age of 100.2–96.6 Ma. These new dates confirm an early to mid-Cenomanian age for the fauna, rather than Albian, as has been reported previously. The GCF at Lightning Ridge is therefore equivalent to the middle part of the Winton Formation (Queensland) and several million years older than the sauropod-dominated fauna at Winton. For those who want the paper, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you -Christian

I love the useful information on the fossil forum. For something different I have posted some pictures of where I "mine" fossils from 20m underground in an old opal mine. I am extending an old mine tunnel to find occaisional opalised fossils. The first picture below shows my current tunnel and the second picture the "rock" layer that contains traces of opal and opalised fossils. The rock is quite weathered and can be dug out with an electric jack pick. The majority of fossils that I find do not have gem opal colour play, but they do have exceptional presevation.