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Fluorine Tests in Australia on the Keilor Skull and a Tertiary Marsupial

Abstract

The Keilor Skull. The application of the fluorinephosphate method described by Oakley and Hoskins1 for determining the relative ages of fossils has shown that the Keilor Skull from near Melbourne is a true fossil, and its age that of the terrace in which it was found. The ratio for the skull is 2.0, and of other fossils found in situ in the terrace 1.9, 1.5 and 2.9. Different parts of a rat skeleton gave 3.8 and 4.4—higher than anticipated, and due to low percentage of phosphate. I am indebted to Mr. W. R. Jewell, chief chemist, State Laboratories, Melbourne, and his staff for carrying out the analyses.

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References

  1. Oakley, K. P., and Hoskins, C. R., Nature, 165, 379 (1950).

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  2. Keble, R. A., and Macpherson, J. H., Mem. Nat. Mus. Melb., 14, (2), 52 (1946).

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GILL, E. Fluorine Tests in Australia on the Keilor Skull and a Tertiary Marsupial. Nature 172, 409–410 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/172409b0

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