Ordovician Microbial and Geochemical Data from the Canning Basin, Australia

A multi-disciplinary study integrates palynological, petrographic, molecular, and stable isotopic analyses of cores from five boreholes intersecting the Goldwyer Formation. The research focuses on depositional environments and microbial diversity within a Middle Ordovician epicontinental, tropical sea. Data was published by Geoscience Australia Data and last updated on 2026-03 25.

Use Cases

• Modeling ancient marine redox conditions based on biomarker indices like Pristane/Phytane ratios.
• Analyzing microbial community evolution based on the presence of specific organisms like methanotrophic bacteria and Gloeocapsomorpha prisca.
• Investigating early land plant colonization based on cryptospore and terrestrial biomarker records.
• Correlating depositional sequences and sea-level changes using integrated palynological and isotopic data.

Strengths

• Integrates four distinct analytical methods: palynology, petrography, molecular analysis, and stable isotopes.
• Cores from five distinct boreholes provide spatial coverage within the Canning Basin.
• Contains the oldest identified record of land plants (cryptospores) 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 specific study area in Western Australia.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Analysis of cores from five boreholes intersecting the Goldwyer Formation.

Time Range

Middle Ordovician period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 16:37:49.587014; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia