The Gogo Formation Lagerstätte: a view of Australia's first great barrier reef

Abstract

Discoveries from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation in the Canning Basin, Western Australia, have provided insights into the origin and evolution of many unique gnathostome features such as the origins of teeth, internal fertilization, air-breathing, transitional tissues between bone and cartilage, and insights into the fin-to-limb transition. Although vertebrate studies have dominated evolutionary work, invertebrate studies have added important insights into the palaeoecology of the site and demonstrated close faunal affinities along the margins of northern Gondwana and China. Geochemical analyses have broadened our understanding of the pathways involved in the exceptional preservation of this Devonian Konservat-Lagerstatte. Fossils from the Gogo Formation show extensive soft tissue preservation through phosphatization, recording anatomical details not normally obtained from fossil sites.