Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed

The Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed was first found by Arthur Lowe in 1889 with the first mention of the site in the literature being by Woodward in 1895. Charles Cullen later collecting a number of fish fossils from the site for the NSW Mines Department. These specimens would later be described by authors such as Woodward and Wade. Along with these fossil fish, a single insect would also be collected in 1968 by I. Holswich, though the preservation was more poor than what was seen in the fish. Over the next two decades after this discovery, numerous other insect fossils were collected from the site representing a number of orders. Due to the site being within a paddock used for grazing on private property, not much work has been done though Lynne Bean was able to collect specimens in 2006. Over the next 5 years, a total of twenty weekend collection field trips were made resulting in over 400 insect specimens being collected. The name "Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed" was a general name of the site though it was put into publication as an informal name by Dulhuntly and Eadie in 1969 with this name deriving from the nearby Talbragar River. == Geology ==

The Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed is located around north-northwest of Ulan, New South Wales and is in thickness. The unit itself is made up of sandstone and tuffaceous siltstone with the original extent of the unit being larger than what is seen today. This is due to erosion at both the northern and southern ends along with faulting present along the eastern boundary. == Paleobiota ==

Actinopterygii Arachnida Bivalvia Chondrichthyes Gastropoda Insecta Temnospondyli Conifers Corystospermales Cycadophytes Lycopodiales Pentoxylales Polypodiopsida Pteridospermatophyta == Paleoenvironment ==

During the time of deposition, what is now the Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed would have been a shallow lake in a warm and humid environment. Due to the thickness of the unit and small amount of burrows found, it was most likely a short-lived, very shallow body of water that would have shoaled towards the southern section. This lake most likely did not last very long with Percival (1979) estimating a time period of about 250 years. The water in the lake would have been well oxygenated with a large amount of autotroph biomass based on what is found at the site. At least a part of the base of the food web would have been made up by fly larvae found at the bottom of the lake along with smaller fish species. Due to the amount of degraded fish found, mainly at the southern site, the shallowest areas were most likely made up of quiet backwater environments and isolated pools. Unlike modern lake ecosystems, it has been suggested that lake food webs were not regulated by larger aquatic plants. Based on coprolites at the site, fish were eating other fish, bivalves, and softer food such as soft invertebrates and plants. Surrounding the lake, it would have been forested with a number of different plant groups being present including pentoxylalean gymnosperms, araucariacean conifers, seed ferns, and true ferns. This shallow lake would have been covered by volcanic ash showers in the area. This event would have been made up by two phases with the first being made up of lahar with a second fall of ash causing the full infill of the lake. ==References==