Off topic, but fits the thread title, I spotted this article in the UNSW newsletter.
New Riversleigh fossil site
A major new fossil site has been discovered by UNSW scientists beyond the boundaries of the famous Riversleigh World Heritage area in north-western Queensland. … The breakthrough enabling the new discoveries came as a result of remote sensing studies by former UNSW PhD student Ned Stephenson.
When challenged to use satellite data alone to “retro-predict” the location of hundreds of fossil sites already known from the 40 square kilometres of fossil-bearing rocks in the World Heritage area, he succeeded with spectacular accuracy.
“The team at UNSW were still getting over their amazement at the accuracy of his results, when he said: ‘But wait, there’s more!’. When he used the same satellite data to examine the countryside way beyond the World Heritage area, he realised there were even larger areas that appeared to give the same signals as the fossil deposits in the World Heritage area,” says Professor Archer.
The UNSW team managed to reach the edge of this new area last year and immediately found an extraordinarily different fossil deposit than any that had been seen in the World Heritage area. In total, 1.8 tonnes of bone-rich rock samples were collected. The team also located more than 30 previously unknown caves in the remote region – many more than have been previously found in the World Heritage area.
Named Wholly Dooley Site by core team member Phil Creaser, its silt-filled rocks were treated with acid by research student, Caitlin Anderson, and found to contain the remains of mostly unfamiliar animals. ‘‘There are some animals here I’ve never seen before. This place is bone city.” …