By Dr Tim Frauenfelder, UNE Discovery

Between 1979 and 1987, palaeontologists travelled to the town of Surat, in south-eastern Queensland on the hunt for fossils. A mysterious bone that was found along the Balonne River had been sent to Dr Mary Wade at the Queensland Museum which inspired their visit. To their amazement, they had found some large dinosaur bones from a sauropod (long-necked dinosaur, like Brachiosaurus).

Team photo at the welcome to Surat sign! From left to right: Nicolas Campione, Emil Herbert, Blake Forrest, Timothy Frauenfelder, and Phil Bell. Photo by: Nicolas Campione

However, since these initial visits, no one had returned to Surat for over 30 years!

From 2018, palaeontologists from UNE have visited Surat every year trying to relocate old sites and discover new ones. All the fossils that have been found so far are on one property outside of town; however, these make up a large collection of fossils from different animals.

Phil Bell having a relaxing lunch by a creek in Surat, Queensland. Photo by: Nicolas Campione

These include marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, sharks, possibly a turtle or crocodile, and of course, dinosaurs! They have found dinosaur bones from sauropods, ornithopods (like Muttaburrasaurus) and theropods (the carnivorous dinosaurs, like Australovenator).

The teams most recent visit was in the last week of May this year (including our very own UNE Discovery team member, Tim or Dr Dino as he is better known). Interestingly, they found a few fossils from an area that they had previously not looked at, just outside of the main town. The discoveries include a shark tooth, a belemnite, and part of a plesiosaur vertebra. These were all fossilised in a rock that is known as a conglomerate (a bunch of smaller rocks, like pebbles, all stuck together).

A 100 million year old fossil shark tooth found inside a large conglomerate. Photo by: Blake Forrest

Field sites with some good views in Surat, Queensland. Photo by: Blake Forrest

Fossils not only tell us about what kind of animals were living at the time, they can also tell us about the environment. The fossils show that a lot of water was in the area and that it may have had more of a marine environment, rather than a freshwater one. One of the reasons why is because belemnites, which are squid-like animals, typically only live in marine environments.

The Surat region today is relatively dry and can have seasonal flooding from water travelling along the Balonne River. But almost 100 million years ago, the area was close to an inland ocean, the Eromanga Sea. The area would have had changing rivers and quiet lagoons scattered over the area.

It just goes to show that you never know what the rocks and things below your feet can tell you about the history of Earth.