Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area


The Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area is a group of fossil sites located in the Australian state of South Australia within the Tirari Desert in the north-eastern part of the state's Far North region. The group has an overall area of and is located about east of Lake Eyre and about north-north-east of Marree, off the Birdsville Track near Etadunna Station.

Description

The area consists of four lakes grouped into two areas located about apart. They are surrounded by extensive areas of sand dunes in a flat, arid landscape. The lake beds are largely unvegetated and usually dry. Low cliffs on the western margins of the lakes have produced a variety of Tertiary vertebrate fossils ranging in age from the late Oligocene to the Pleistocene.

Lakes Kununka, Ngapakaldi and Pitikanta

The following three lakes are located on the west side of the gazetted locality of Mulka with Lake Ngapakaldi being partly located within the locality of Lake Eyre:
Lake Palankarinna is located in the gazetted locality of Etadunna on the west side of the Birdsville Track to the south of the other three sites. The lake is part of a reserve known as the ‘Lake Palankarinna Fossil Reserve’ which consists of part of the western half of the lake bed and a parcel of land to the west.

Status

The four sites are subject to a number of past and present heritage listings while one is located with a protected area: