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

Palynological and geochronological data from 11 tuff and 18 sedimentary core samples from the APLNG Meeleebee 5 well in the Bowen Basin, Australia. Quantitative analyses, with counts up to 100 specimens, were used to identify plant microfossil taxa and correlate them with CA-IDTIMS tuff ages. The dataset, hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, attaches numeric ages to palynostratigraphic units to aid regional and global correlations of palynofloras and coal-bearing sequences.

Use Cases

• Correlating palynostratigraphic zones with absolute ages based on CA-IDTIMS dated tuffs mentioned in the description.
• Refining the age and duration of the Price (1997) APP5 spore-pollen zone based on the presence of index species Dulhuntyispora parvithola.
• Studying the temporal distribution of specific microfossil events, such as the Micrhystridium evansii acme event and the Microreticulatisporites bitriangularis Subzone.
• Aiding regional correlation of economic coal-bearing sequences in the Bowen Basin using the combined palynology and geochronology framework.

Strengths

• Includes 11 tuff samples dated using high-precision CA-IDTIMS methods.
• Quantitative palynological analyses with counts up to 100 specimens per sample.
• Links the Dulhuntyispora parvithola zone to a temporal span of around five million years, nearly to the Permian-Triassic boundary.

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 single APLNG Meeleebee 5 well in the Bowen Basin.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Palynological examination of strew-slides using light microscopy and CA-IDTIMS dating of tuff samples from a CSG well core.

Time Range

Late Permian, specifically spanning the APP5 palynozone and potentially the APP6 zone.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 21:12:05.558267; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia, from the APLNG Meeleebee 5 well.