South Australia- World Heritage Site

8/7/2019 South Australia- World Heritage Site

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AustraliaAustralia


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Naracoorte Caves

National Park A national park near Naracoorte in the Limestone Coast tourism region in the

south-east of South Australia (Australia)

Established in 1994 when it was inscribed on the World Heritage Site list along

with Riversleigh. Preserves 6 km of remnant vegetation, with 26 caves contained within the 3.05

km World Heritage Area.

Skeleton of a Marsupial Lion (Thylacoleo

carnifex) in the Victoria Fossil Cave,

Naracoorte Caves National Park


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Naracoorte Caves


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Australian Fossil Mammal Site

- NaracoorteLocationOver 2000 kilometres separate the Naracoorte

(South Australia) and Riversleigh (Queensland) sites,

which form the World Heritage Australian Fossil

Mammal Site.

The site at Naracoorte, South Australia, covers

300 hectares and is located in flat country,

punctuated by a series of stranded coastal Dune

ridges that run parallel to the present coastline.


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Description of place

The cool caves at Naracoorte

are in stark contrast to the

semi-arid conditions at

Riversleigh. The Naracoorte

fossils document a distinctive

fauna, and illustrate faunal

change spanning several ice

ages, highlighting the impactsof both climatic change and

humankind on Australia's

mammals from at least

350,000 years before the present.


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Snapshots of Pleistocene life

Ongoing research at the

Naracoorte Caves sites is

expected to document

a series of snapshots ofPleistocene life in south-east

Australia, including details of

climate and vegetation

associated with the fauna.

Recent geological researchsuggests that deposits of

Pliocene and even Miocene

age could be found at the site, thus providing closer links with the site at Riversleigh.


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Specimens representing 99 vertebrate species have been discovered, ranging in size fromvery small frogs to buffalo-sized marsupials. These include exceptionally preserved examples

of the Australian Ice Age megafauna, as well as a host of modern species such as the

Tasmanian devil, thylacine and others. The Naracoorte fossils span the probable time of the

arrival of humans in Australia, and this is valuable in analysing the complex relationships

between humans and their environment.


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The sites, each highly significant in its own right, are presented as a serial

World Heritage nomination. Together they represent the key stages in the

development of Australia's mammal fauna. While there are other

important Australian fossil mammal sites, Riversleigh and Naracoorte are

outstanding for the extreme diversity and the quality of preservation of

their fossils. They also provide links through time that unify the biotas of

the past with those of today in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, the

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, and Kakadu National Park World

Heritage properties.


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South Australia Map


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Outstanding examples representing major stages of the

earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going

geological processes in the development of landforms, or

significant geomorphic or physiographic features.The Australian Fossil Mammal

Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)

was inscribed on the World

Heritage List in 1994.

Riversleigh and Naracoorte are

outstanding examples

representing major stages of

earth's history, including the

record of life, particularly the

middle to late Tertiary evolution

of the mammals in Australia(Riversleigh), and an outstanding

record of terrestrial vertebrate

life spanning the last 170,000

years (Naracoorte), and

significant on-going geological

processes.

Naracoorte Cave National Park Information Centre


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The World Heritage values of Riversleigh include:

Fossil deposits which:

include abundant and diverse fossils, including complete crania and disarticulated

skeletons representing most age classes of the known extinct late Pleistocene

mammals of Australia;

span the middle to late Pleistocene time period, representing the development of

modern fauna;

have a high quality of preservation which enables both reconstruction and detailed

anatomical descriptions and functional morphology of both crania and post-cranialskeletal elements.


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Riversleigh and Naracoorte are outstanding examples representing significant ongoing

ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of Australia's

mammal fauna, including the richest Australian, and one of the world's richest, Oligo-Miocene mammal records, linking that period (15-25 million years) to the predominantly

modern assemblages of the Pliocene and Pleistocene (Riversleigh), and a record of faunal

change spanning two ice ages, highlighting the impacts of both climatic change and man

on Australia's mammals (Naracoorte).


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The World Heritage values of

Riversleigh include:The cave fauna deposits which includes

fossil assemblages and sequences that:

date to the middle to late Pleistocene period,

providing an important southern hemisphere

site for the study of mega faunal extinction;

provide a window on faunal change spanning

at least two ice ages and culminating in the appearance of humans on the Australian continent;

include representation of unique Gondwanan groups such as extinct madtsoiid snakes and monotremes due

to the high quality of the preservation of most of the fossil material;

include a large quantity of individuals represented and a high quality of preservation due to the deposition ofthe fossils in a "pit fall trap" environment;

provide further evidence that the Australian fauna has evolved mainly in isolation;

are important in understanding the impacts of Milankovitch climatic cycles and humans on Australia's

mammal fauna;

include DNA which has been found and extracted from examples of the fossil material with a view to

reconstructing detailed phylogenies for the extinct thylacoleonids (marsupial lions) and the extinct browsing

sthenurine kangaroos.


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Other World Heritage Sites in

Australia Carlton Gardens, Melbourne

Fraser Island, Queensland

Gondwana Rainforest, New South Wales- Queensland

Great Barrier Reef, Northeast Australia

Greater Blue Mountains Area, New South Wales, Australia Heard Island & Mc Donald Island (HIMI)

Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory of Australia

Lord Howe Island, East Australia

Macquarie Island

Purnululu National Park, Western Australia

Royal Exhibition building, Melbourne Shark Bay, Gascoyne

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales

Tasmanian Wilderness, Tasmania

Uluu-Kata Tjua National Park, Northern Territory

Wet Tropics of Queensland

Willandra Lakes Region, New South Wales


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Thank you for your attention!

References and pictures:-

http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/au

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riversleigh

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/698

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South Australia- World Heritage Site

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