Ordovician Microbial Community and Environmental Data from the Canning Basin, Australia

Australian Ocean Data Network hosts a multi-disciplinary study integrating palynological, petrographic, molecular, and stable isotopic analyses of cores from five boreholes in the Canning Basin. The data was last updated on 2026-05 04 and focuses on the Middle Ordovician Goldwyer Formation to determine depositional environments and microbial diversity during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Use Cases

• Modeling ancient marine anoxia and oxygenation events based on biomarker indices like Pristane/Phytane and gammacerane.
• Analyzing the evolution of microbial communities based on the presence of specific organisms like Gloeocapsomorpha prisca and methanotrophic bacteria.
• Studying the earliest terrestrial plant colonization in Australia based on cryptospore and terrestrial biomarker data.
• Correlating depositional environment changes with biological events during the Ordovician period.

Strengths

• Integrates multiple analysis types: palynological, petrographic, molecular, and stable isotopic.
• Focuses on a crucial evolutionary period, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.
• Includes data from five distinct boreholes, providing multiple sampling points.
• Identifies the oldest record of land plants in Australian Middle Ordovician strata.

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 bias inherent to the single Canning Basin study area.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Multi-disciplinary analyses of cores from five boreholes intersecting the Goldwyer Formation.

Time Range

Middle Ordovician period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 23:52:38.063100; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia