Conflicting Permian Age Data from Western Australia's Canning Basin

U–Pb zircon dating from tuffs in the Canning Basin reveals a 1.7-million-year age conflict between palynological zones. The dataset documents an age of 267.04 ± 0.14 Ma for the Microbaculispora villosa Zone, challenging established biostratigraphic correlations. This research by Mory et al. (2017) presents isotopic and palynological evidence from the middle Permian.

Use Cases

• Calibrate Permian biostratigraphic timelines using the reported U–Pb zircon age of 267.04 ± 0.14 Ma.
• Analyze the influence of non-marine depositional environments on palynoflora assemblages noted in the study.
• Compare Ar–Ar dating results for Late Triassic basaltic sills against the Permian tuff ages to assess intrusion effects.

Strengths

• Provides high-precision CA-IDTIMS U–Pb zircon ages with a reported uncertainty of ± 0.14 Ma.
• Explicitly quantifies a 1.7-million-year age conflict between two key Permian spore-pollen zones.
• Data is peer-reviewed and published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences with a full citation.

Limitations

• Sample data and structured columns are unavailable, limiting direct computational analysis.
• The dataset is a static research publication; it does not contain time-series or multi-record tabular data.
• Geographic coverage is specific to the Canning Basin, Western Australia, limiting broader regional application.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data, from the peer-reviewed article by Mory et al. (2017).

Collection Method

Chemical abrasion-isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (CA-IDTIMS) on zircon and Ar–Ar dating on basaltic sills.

Time Range

Middle Permian (Roadian–Wordian), with specific reference to an age of 267.04 Ma.

Freshness

null

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia, with sample locations 350–400 km apart.