Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene nannofossil biostratigraphy of Challenger No. 1 well (Challenge

Western Australia's offshore Perth Basin contains calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the Challenger No. 1 well, above the 780m level. The dataset, provided by Geoscience Australia, revises the age of the Challenger Formation type section and identifies three major disconformities. It compares the section's completeness to nearby Deep Sea Drilling Project sites.

Use Cases

• Refining geological age models based on nannofossil assemblage correlations described in the study.
• Identifying stratigraphic gaps and disconformities within the Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene sequence.
• Comparing offshore marine Palaeogene continuity with onshore basin formations like the Kings Park Formation.
• Revising lithostratigraphic unit definitions for the Challenger and Porpoise Bay Formations.

Strengths

• Identifies marine Oligocene sediments for the first time in the Perth Basin within this well.
• Revises the age of the Challenger Formation type section with specific bounds (Middle Eocene-Oligocene).
• Detects three major disconformities at key geological boundaries (Eocene/Oligocene, Cretaceous/Tertiary, within Campanian).

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 reports, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Biostratigraphic analysis of well core/cuttings.

Time Range

Late Cretaceous to Palaeogene (Campanian through Oligocene).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 03:29:41.818416; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Challenger No. 1 well, offshore Perth Basin, Western Australia.