Fossil Assemblages from Vening Meinesz Seamounts Spanning Late Cretaceous to Holocene

Calcareous nannofossils, foraminiferids, and macrofossils were collected from eight dredge hauls on seamounts south of Christmas Island. The samples, gathered during BMR cruise 107, represent ages from the Late Cretaceous to the Holocene. The data is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions based on fossil assemblages indicating water depth and temperature.
• Analyzing seamount volcanic history based on descriptions of fresh volcanic content and rapid buildup phases.
• Studying sediment transport processes based on evidence of debris flows mixing lithologies of various ages.
• Modeling paleogeographic plate movement based on evidence of the area being at far southern latitudes during the Late Cretaceous.

Strengths

• Samples cover a wide temporal range from the Late Cretaceous to the Holocene.
• Data includes multiple fossil groups: calcareous nannofossils, foraminiferids, and macrofossils.
• Samples were collected from eight distinct dredge hauls across several seamounts.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the specific cruise and sampling locations.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Samples from eight dredge hauls collected during BMR cruise 107.

Time Range

Late Cretaceous to Holocene

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 05:55:20.764986; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Vening Meinesz seamount chain, south of Christmas Island, northeastern Indian Ocean