Treasures from the Rainbow Billabong
Only one place on earth produces black opal fossils - Lightning Ridge in northern New South Wales, Australia. The fossils are usually exact replicas of plant, shell or bone material, and at times they are composed of gem quality black opal, which is as valuable as diamonds and more beautiful.
This book is the first in-depth account of these black opal fossils, natural treasures of critical scientific value, which could revolutionise our understanding of the evolution of Australia's unique flora and fauna.
The book explains the intricate geological processes that produced the fossils and describes the ancient landscape when the opal dirt was laid down, when Australia was part of the giant supercontinent of Gondwana and located within the Antarctic Circle. The fossils are evidence of a great diversity of plants and animals - yabbies, predatory fish, giant lungfish, turtles, plesiosaurs, crocodiles, pterosaurs, an intriguing range of large and very small dinosuars, early birds and mystery animals.
Full-colour photographs of hundreds of superb relics, some of them of major scientific value, and numerous black and white illustrations of specimens and the fossil fauna delight the eye. There are detailed reconstructive drawings of the better-known fossil animals, based on comparative analysis and conjecture, and accounts of specimens recently discovered and still under study.
The book contains an evolutionary sequence chart, and a map of major fossil sites on the black opal fields and comprehensive glossary of scientific and local terms. The foreword is by acclaimed mammalogist and palaeontologist Dr Tim Flannery, author of 'The Future Eaters'.
