Lower Carboniferous Spore Assemblages from Bonaparte Gulf Basin Boreholes

55 species of plant microfossils, distributed among 32 genera, were identified from Lower Carboniferous sediments in four boreholes in the Bonaparte Gulf Basin. The palynological flora is dominated by the species Granulatisporites frustulentus, which accounts for 44-83 percent of the spore populations. The data, sourced from the Australian Ocean Data Network, describes well-preserved assemblages from Visean-age marine sediments.

Use Cases

• Biostratigraphic correlation and age determination based on identified spore species and genera.
• Analysis of paleofloral composition and dominance patterns based on the relative abundance of Granulatisporites frustulentus.
• Taxonomic study of trilete sporae dispersae, including the evaluation of the new genus Exallospora.
• Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on spore assemblages recovered from marine sediments.

Strengths

• Includes 55 identified species and 32 genera, providing a detailed taxonomic breakdown.
• Specifies the dominant species accounts for 44-83% of populations, indicating a quantifiable core component.
• Data is tied to specific lithostratigraphic units and geographic borehole locations within the basin.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data files are in HTML and PDF formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Recovered from sediment samples in four boreholes.

Time Range

Lower Carboniferous, Visean age.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 05:46:36.624576; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Western Australia and Northern Territory.