Early Carboniferous Benthic Fossil Communities from New South Wales

Four gradational benthic marine fossil communities identified from the late Visean Rhipidomella fortimuscula Zone in New South Wales. The dataset was created using multivariate cluster analysis of bulk samples from fossiliferous horizons and is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network. It illustrates species associations across different marine shelf environments.

Use Cases

• Modeling gradational community boundaries based on total faunal content described in the analysis.
• Studying species diversity and adaptation to different water column and substrate conditions mentioned in the description.
• Comparing the Whittaker community concept to the Petersen concept using the identified fossil associations.
• Analyzing the long-term impact of environmental perturbations on fossil communities versus modern surveys.

Strengths

• Identifies four distinct fossil communities (Balanoconcha elliptica, Rhipidomella fortimuscula, Tylothyris planimedia, Marginicintus reticulatus) using multivariate analysis.
• Based on bulk sample collection, which allows identification via species distribution and abundance.
• The Marginicintus reticulatus community is noted as the most widespread and having the highest species diversity.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au

Collection Method

Multivariate (cluster) analysis of bulk samples extracted from fossiliferous horizons.

Time Range

Early Carboniferous, late Visean age

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 05:55:08.759958; freshness should be verified.

Geography

New South Wales, Australia