Arcadia Formation, Australia

The Arcadia Formation is a sequence of sandstones and mudstones deposited as a result of freshwater rivers and lakes during the Induan–Olenekian epoch.[3] The Arcadia Formation represents one of the oldest known Mesozoic formation within the entirety of Australia, as well as it is preserving relatively well-preserved specimens for its age and country. The time at which the Arcadia Formation takes place was still recovering from the recent Permian–Triassic extinction event and as a result the global biodiversity had remained low throughout much of the lower Triassic.[4] The world currently was generally a hot and arid environment reaching an average temperature more than 80o S. This is suggested by the red color of sediments found within the Bowen Basin.

The fauna and flora from the Formation are not abruptly unique from the known fauna or flora from the rest of the world at this time, however the Arcadia Formation has an unusually high diversity of amphibians, with 90% of the fauna from the Arcadia Formation being made up of amphibians. So far, the formation's fauna is known to of been made up of brachiopods, fish, amphibians, reptiles and Synapsids. There is also a high diversity of ichnotaxa based on coprolites.[5]