THE DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS IN THE GRAMPIAN SANDSTONES 
v WITH GENERAL NOTES ON THE FORMATION. 
By W. H. Ferguson, Assistant Field Geologist. 
The Grampians are, for the most part, formed of a great mass of sand¬ 
stones, the age of which has long been in doubt, as no fossils had been obtained 
there. In places, there are outcrops of granodiorites and porphyries, and 
the relation of these rocks to the sandstone series has not been proved. 
The sediments generally are thick-bedded, coarse-grained sandstones, 
but in a few places there are finer beds, and quartzites and conglomerates 
also occur. 
The sandstones form rugged mountain ranges generally trending about 
north and south with the strike of the rocks. Where massive sandstones have 
a moderate dip, one side of the range generally has an easy slope which 
approximates to the angle of dip, the other presents an almost vertical cliff 
or escarpment. The fine scenery of the Grampians is due to long-continued 
weathering acting along strike and dip, and three systems of joint planes. 
Fossils. 
Search for fossils was restricted to the finer-grained rocks ; thinly-bedded 
shales, &c. of this character are interbedded with the sandstones in Hall’s 
Gap, allotment No. 6g, parish of Boroka. In them, what appear to be sun 
cracks are numerous, so I have called the hitherto unnamed gully in which 
they outcrop, Suncrack Gully. Though these rocks have a likely appearance 
for fossils, none could be found in them ; this was also the case with a fine lot 
of beds 150 ft. in thickness which were searched in Dairy Creek, and which 
may be an extension of the Suncrack Gully beds. 
A very limited quantity of fine-grained rocks occur on the side of Mount 
Rosea (The Goat Rock) at the head of Stony Creek, and here I found fossils. 
Fine-grained chocolate shales form portion of the Mount Don range 
between Mount William Creek (Little Wimmera) and Talbot’s Gap, near 
Mount William, and in these beds was discovered what is apparently the track 
of a crustacean. 
At Mount Rosea the fossils occur in a dark red or purplish shale, the outcrop 
of which has been cut by the tourist track which has recently been made from 
the dredge on Stony Creek up the side of the mountain. Near the top there 
is a natural track formed by a fault and dyke, and known as the Stairway, 
and just below this the fossils were found in a bed not more than half an inch 
in thickness, which was traced along the strike for about 5 feet. 
The fossils from this place identified by Mr. F. Chapman, A.L.S., 1 consisted 
of spines of fishes and a small Lingula. He considers they are undoubtedly 
Lower Carboniferous. 
The Relation of the Grampian Sandstones to the Igneous Rocks. 
From general field evidence it appears that the granodiorites and porphyries 
are intrusive into the sandstones. This conclusion is based on the following 
evidence :— 
1. Near the granitic rocks, the sandstones are, in many places, altered 
into quartzites. 
2. In some places, small dykes appear to extend from the granodiorite 
into the sandstones. 
1 See page 83. 
