The Gogo Formation in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is a Lagerstätte that exhibits exceptional preservation of a Devonian reef community. The formation is named after Gogo Station, a cattle station where outcrops appear and fossils are often collected from,[1] as is nearby Fossil Downs Station.
Sedimentology[]
Unweathered sections of the Gogo Formation are made of siltstone, shale and calcarenite with numerous limestone concretions. These concretions are resistant to weathering, producing extensive nodule fields on the ground in areas where the surrounding rock has eroded away.[2]
The Gogo sediments represent deep, Hypoxia (environmental) seafloor deposits in the vicinity of a large tropical reef composed primarily of algae and stromatoporoids during the Frasnian faunal stage of the Late Devonian.[3] Associated stratigraphic units which comprise this ancient reef system are the Windjana Formation (the actual reef structures), Pillara Limestone (reef platform) and the Sadler Formation (fore-reef deposits).
Deposition[]
The formation was deposited in the Frasnian (late Devonian).