Reconstruction of Gravicalymene coppinsensis

Recreation of the trilobite Gravicalymene coppinsensis in shallow waters during the middle to late Silurian period. A near complete specimen of G. coppinsensis was found at Coppins Crossing (as indicated by its species name). This specimen was buried by slumping sediment, possibly along the underwater slopes of a volcano. As there was widespread volcanism in the Canberra region during the Silurian, this G. coppinsensis possibly lived nearby volcanic activity, hence, seafloor hydrothermal vents, known as black smokers, can be seen in the background. This recreation attempts to show the Canberran shallow Silurian seafloor at approximately 425 million years ago. During which the region was located off the eastern margin of Gondwana, and may have looked like the current-day Tonga-Kermadec island arc in the south-west Pacific Ocean.