The Ordovician Period in Victoria

Distribution of Ordovician rocks in Victoria. Source: Museum Victoria.

In Victoria, rocks of Ordovician age occur over wide areas in the west central highlands (e.g. the Castlemaine and Bendigo goldfields) and in the eastern highlands (e.g. Wellington River and East Gippsland).

Most of the Ordovician rocks in Victoria were deposited in deep water, and most of the fossils they contain are forms that floated in the surface waters, such as graptolites. Many of the graptolites occurring in Victoria are also found in rocks of the same age in other parts of the world.

Graptolite Tetragraptus fruticosus from the Lower Ordovician of Campbelltown, Victoria. Source: Museum Victoria.

Graptolite Rhabdinopora scitulum from the Lower Ordovician of the Romsey district, Victoria. Source: Museum Victoria.

Graptolite Isograptus victoriae from the Lower Ordovician of Castlemaine, Victoria. Source: Museum Victoria.

Graptolite Climacograptus bicornis, from the Upper Ordovician of the Wellington River, Victoria. Source: Museum Victoria.

Assemblage of brachiopods Archaeorthis waratahensis from the Lower Ordovician of Waratah Bay, South Gippsland, Victoria. Source: Museum Victoria.