---
title: "Natural history of Australia"
chunk: 1/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_of_Australia"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:46:52.520128+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The natural history of Australia has been shaped by the geological evolution of the Australian continent from Gondwana and the changes in global climate over geological time. The building of the Australian continent and its association with other land masses, as well as climate changes over geological time, have created the unique flora and fauna present in Australia today. There are many species of flora and fauna that are unique to Australia, and do not exist in any other part of the world. The natural history of Australia begins with rock formation, followed by geological development, life evolution, and continues to change today. 

== Precambrian ==

Three areas of the Australian landmass that are made of Archaean rocks are more than 2.5 billion years old, among the oldest known rocks. These igneous and metamorphic rocks are found in the Yilgarn (West) and Pilbara (North) cratons in today's Western Australia and the Gawler (South) craton which makes up the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. During the Proterozoic, 2,500 to 545 Ma, continent building took place around the existing cratons; the accretions include sedimentary deposition of the banded iron formations and the formation of Australia's major orebodies – sources of gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver and uranium. These disparate landmasses are thought to have become associated by the tectonic collisions that formed the supercontinent Rodinia, between 1300 and 1100 Ma. Geological evidence suggests that the West Australian cratons collided first, followed by collision with the South Australian craton between ~830 and 750 Ma. The Centralian Superbasin formed the junction of the North, South and West cratons.
Rodinia broke up between 830 and 745 Ma; at around 750 Ma the western side of Rodinia called Laurentia broke away from the landmass made from Australia, India and Antarctica, forming a gap that would become the Pacific Ocean. Evidence of Rodinia is found in zircons, which are looked for when analyzing major geological events.
The Archean rocks from the Pilbara craton contain some of the first evidence of life, primitive cyanobacterial mats known as stromatolites. Soft-bodied organisms from the Ediacaran collectively known as the Ediacaran biota are found in sandstone around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, notably at a site known as Wilpena Pound.

== Gondwana ==
Following the breakup of Rodinia, Australia, India and Antarctica made up a large landmass. During plate movements from 750 to 500 Ma South America and Africa moved toward India and Australia, and by 500 Ma South America and Africa had joined with them to form Gondwana.
During the Palaeozoic, 545 to 251 Ma, the present landmass of Australia saw two stages of geological development. From 545 to 390 Ma shallow warm seas covered parts of central Australia, with a series of volcanic arcs and deep water sedimentation in the east. During this period between 480 and 460 Ma the Larapinta Seaway extended across the centre of Australia. Cycles of sedimentation and volcanism formed new continental crust, forming eastern Australia. There was a major orogeny in eastern Australia from 387 to 360 Ma. The continent was affected by glaciation around 330 Ma.
The continents that had drifted away from Rodinia drifted together again during the Paleozoic: Gondwana, Euramerica, and Siberia/Angara collided to form the supercontinent of Pangea during the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, some 350 million years ago. Pangea was a short-lived supercontinent; it began to break apart again in the early Jurassic. While Pangea existed it created opportunities for intermixing of the flora and fauna.