Late Triassic Antarctic Palynomorphs with Tethyan Affinities

East Antarctic palynoflora from the upper Flagstone Bench Formation in the Prince Charles Mountains contains well-preserved Late Triassic (Norian age) microfossils. The assemblage, assigned to the Minutosaccus crenulatus Zone, includes taxa common in Tethyan Laurasian regions and represents the Onslow Microflora. This dataset, hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, provides the first record of a Triassic dinocyst from Antarctica.

Use Cases

• Correlating Late Triassic stratigraphy based on the Minutosaccus crenulatus Zone assignment mentioned in the description.
• Modeling ancient plant migration pathways along Tethyan coastal plains as discussed in the description.
• Analyzing palaeolatitudinal controls (40°-30°S) on the distribution of the Onslow Microflora.
• Studying marine influence in terrestrial deposits based on the presence of rare acritarchs and dinocysts.

Strengths

• Contains the first record of a Triassic dinocyst from Antarctica.
• Assemblage is well-preserved and assigned to a specific biozone (Minutosaccus crenulatus Zone) and age (Norian).
• Links Gondwanan and Laurasian (Tethyan) floral assemblages, providing a biogeographic bridge.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is presented in PDF/HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Scientific collection and analysis of palynomorphs from a geological formation.

Time Range

Late Triassic (Norian age)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:30:01.023586; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica