Fault Bluff is a high rock bluff located about northeast of

Mount Longhurst The Cook Mountains () is a group of mountains bounded by the Mulock and Darwin glaciers in Antarctica. They are south of the Worcester Range and north of the Darwin Mountains and the Britannia Range. Early exploration and naming Parts of ...

in the

Cook Mountains The Cook Mountains () is a group of mountains bounded by the Mulock and Darwin glaciers in Antarctica. They are south of the Worcester Range and north of the Darwin Mountains and the Britannia Range. Early exploration and naming Parts of t ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. The rock bluff was visited in the 1957–58 season by the Darwin Glacier Party of the

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South ...

, 1956–58. They originated the name which presumably refers to a

geological fault Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

at the bluff.Stewart, J., 2011. ''Antarctica: An Encyclopedia,'' 2nd ed. Jefferson, North Carolina and London, McFarland & Company, Inc. 1771 pp.

Geology

Fault Bluff is a paleontologically important outcrop of the Aztec Siltstone that has yielded abundant

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s of

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s, including ''

Bothriolepis ''Bothriolepis'' (from , 'trench' and 'scale') was a widespread, abundant and diverse genus of antiarch placoderms that lived during the Middle to Late Devonian period of the Paleozoic Era. Historically, ''Bothriolepis'' resided in an array ...

'' and ''

Groenlandaspis ''Groenlandaspis'' is an extinct genus of arthrodire from the Late Devonian. Fossils of the different species are found in late Devonian strata in all continents except eastern Asia. The generic name commemorates the fact that the first specimens ...

'' (armored

placoderm Placoderms (from Ancient Greek πλάξ 'plax'', ''plakos'''Plate (animal anatomy), plate' and δέρμα 'derma'''skin') are vertebrate animals of the class (biology), class Placodermi, an extinct group of prehistoric fish known from Pal ...

fishes) and scales of an extinct lobe-finned fish. The fossils occur either as thin layers of well preserved, concentrated,

bone bed A bone bed is any Geology, geological stratum or deposition (geology), deposit that contains bones of whatever kind. Inevitably, such deposits are Sedimentary rock, sedimentary in nature. Not a formal term, it tends to be used more to describe esp ...

s or well-sorted, silt-size, ''bone mush''. The bone beds have yielded complete fish spines and bony plates.Long, J., 2001. ''Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica.'' Washington, DC, Joseph Henry Press and National Academy Press. 269 pp. . Fault Bluff' is the type locality for the phyllolepid placoderms, ''

Austrophyllolepis ''Austrophyllolepis ''is an extinct genus of phyllolepid arthrodire placoderm from Middle to Late Devonian freshwater strata of Australia. The type species, ''A. ritchiei'' is found in Givetian to early Frasnian-aged freshwater strata near what ...

quiltyi'' and ''

Placolepis ''Placolepis'' is an extinct genus of phyllolepid placoderm first discovered in New South Wales. ''Placolepis'' was the most widespread phyllolepid genus, with fossils found in Australia, Turkey, Venezuela and Antarctica Antarctica ( ...

tingeyi''.Young, G.C., and Long, J.A., 2005. ''Phyllolepid placoderm fish remains from the Devonian Aztec Siltstone, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica.'' ''Antarctic Science'', 17(3), pp.387-408. This outcrop of the Aztec Siltstone continues along a low

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

associated with Fault Bluff that has the equally important and

fossiliferous A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved i ...

''Fish Hotel'' vertebrate fossil site at its end. In addition to fossil fishes, fossil

lycopod Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants also known as lycopsids, lycopods, or lycophytes. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching stems bearing simple leaves ...

and psilophyte plant remains, including '' Haplostigma lineare'', have been found at both Fault Bluff and ''Fish Hotel'' fossil site.McLoughlin, S. and Long, J.A., 1994. ''New records of Devonian plants from southern Victoria Land, Antarctica.'' ''Geological Magazine'', 131(1), pp.81-90.

References

Cliffs of Oates Land Paleontological sites of Antarctica {{OatesLand-geo-stub

Geology

See also

References