Lower Carboniferous Spore Assemblages from the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Australia

Well-preserved assemblages of 55 species of plant microfossils, distributed among 32 genera, have been recovered from Lower Carboniferous sediments in four boreholes. The palynological flora is dominated by the pan-Australian species Granulatisporites frustulentus, which accounts for 44-83 percent of the spore populations. This dataset from Geoscience Australia provides taxonomic data on spores from the Visean age, lending confirmation to the age previously adduced from the contained fauna.

Use Cases

• Biostratigraphic correlation and age dating based on identified spore species and genera.
• Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on marine sediment origins and microfossil assemblages.
• Taxonomic analysis and comparison with northern hemisphere Lower Carboniferous spore forms.
• Studying the dominance and distribution of the species Granulatisporites frustulentus within spore populations.

Strengths

• Well-preserved microfossil assemblages from four distinct boreholes.
• Contains 55 recognized species distributed among 32 genera, including one new genus.
• The dominant species, Granulatisporites frustulentus, is quantified as comprising 44-83% of spore populations.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

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

Time Range

Lower Carboniferous, Visean age.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 15:50:35.419005; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Western Australia and Northern Territory, Australia.