Eromanga Sea

The Great Artesian Basin lies atop a layer of marine sandstone that formed the bottom of the inland Eromanga Sea.

The Eromanga Sea was an inland sea across the Australian continent that formed in the Early Cretaceous. The sea extended from the Eromanga Basin northward to the Carpentarian Basin. Its southern extents comprised lagoons and rivers, and to the east it reached Surat Basin, a bay.[1][2]

The sea covered large parts of what is now Queensland and Central Australia at least four times during the early Cretaceous.[citation needed] The present-day Winton Formation represents remnants of the river plains that filled the basin left by the Eromanga Sea. The formation is a major source of dinosaur fossils.

  1. ^ Dettmann, M. E.; Molnar, R. E.; Douglas, J. G. (1992). "Australian cretaceous terrestrial faunas and floras: biostratigraphic and biogeographic implications". Cretaceous Research. 13 (3): 207–262. doi:10.1016/0195-6671(92)90001-7.
  2. ^ EROMANGA SEA