Lower Carboniferous Spore Assemblages from Bonaparte Gulf Basin Boreholes

Bonaparte Gulf Basin in Western Australia and Northern Territory contains well-preserved plant microfossil assemblages from Lower Carboniferous marine sediments. The data includes 55 species across 32 genera of trilete spores, with one new genus described, and is dominated by the species Granulatisporites frustulentus. This palynological data was aggregated by the Australian Ocean Data Network and last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Biostratigraphic correlation and age dating based on identified spore species and genera.
• Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of marine Carboniferous settings based on microfossil assemblages.
• Taxonomic study of early plant evolution based on the 55 described species, including the new genus Exallospora.
• Analysis of spore population dominance patterns based on the prevalence of Granulatisporites frustulentus.

Strengths

• Well-preserved microfossil assemblages from four specific boreholes are described.
• Includes 55 recognized species distributed among 32 genera, with one new genus instituted.
• The dominant species, Granulatisporites frustulentus, accounts for 44-83 percent of spore populations, providing a clear signal.

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

Recovered from sediments in four boreholes in the Bonaparte Gulf Basin.

Time Range

Lower Carboniferous, Visean age.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:03:10.149659; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Western Australia and Northern Territory.