Late Permian Palynozones and Dated Tuffs from the Bowen Basin, Australia

The Bowen Basin in Queensland, Australia, is the focus of this dataset. Geoscience Australia Data produced it, with a last update recorded on 2026-04-30. It combines palynological analysis of 29 core samples with CA-IDTIMS dating of 11 tuff layers to assign numeric ages to plant microfossil zones.

Use Cases

• Calibrating the age of the APP5 and APP6 spore-pollen zones based on associated tuff dates.
• Correlating regional coal-bearing sequences using the identified palynostratigraphic units.
• Refining the temporal range of index species like Dulhuntyispora parvithola and Microreticulatisporites bitriangularis.
• Dating the Micrhystridium evansii acme event within the Permian timeline.

Strengths

• Integrates two distinct data types: palynological counts (up to 100 specimens per sample) and high-precision CA-IDTIMS tuff ages.
• Focuses on a specific, economically significant geological unit: the coal-bearing Bowen Basin succession.
• Provides numeric age constraints for biostratigraphic zones, such as the Dulhuntyispora parvithola zone spanning around five million years.

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/temporal bias inherent to data_gov_au, being from a single well (APLNG Meeleebee 5).

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Palynological examination of core samples and CA-IDTIMS dating of tuff layers from the APLNG Meeleebee 5 well.

Time Range

Late Permian, with data suggesting proximity to the Permian-Triassic boundary.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:47:16.885408; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bowen Basin, intersected by a well spudded in the Surat Basin, Queensland, Australia.