Saint Bathans

St Bathans, formerly named Dunstan Creek,[1] is a former gold and coal mining town in Central Otago, New Zealand.

After mining stopped in 1934, the hole accumulated water, which turned a distinctive blue hue due to minerals from the surrounding rocks.

[6] The town lends its name to the St Bathans fauna, a rich palaeontological section of the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group, with an age range of 19–16 million years ago.

The layer in which the fossils are found derives from littoral zone sediments deposited in a large shallow freshwater lake bordered by an extensive floodplains.

[8] The St Bathans formation also bears fossils of moa, mekosuchine crocodiles, turtles, skinks, tuatara, geckoes, at least eight taxa of waterfowl including the endemic Miotadorna and Manuherikia, a petrel, Accipitriformes, rails, a possible seagull, herons, a palaelodid flamingo, pigeons, parrots, a swift, an owlet-nightjar, songbirds, the enigmatic Aptornis and a primitive kiwi, Proapteryx.