Early Carboniferous Marine Benthic Communities in New South Wales

The Visean-Delepinea aspinosa Zone fossil data includes two subzones: Inflatia elegans and Linoprotonia tenuirugosa. Multivariate cluster analysis identified recurrent species associations from samples collected across all known fossiliferous intervals in the study area. The dataset is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Identify recurrent fossil species associations based on multivariate cluster analysis.
• Compare benthic communities between the Inflatia elegans and Linoprotonia tenuirugosa Subzones.
• Analyze community intergradation and depth-limited assemblage patterns described in the study.
• Study the persistence and modification of the Rhipidomella australis community across subzones.

Strengths

• Analysis covers all known fossiliferous intervals of the two subzones in the study area.
• Results parallel findings from the succeeding Rhipidomella fortimuscula Zone, suggesting methodological consistency.
• Identifies four distinct communities within the Inflatia elegans Subzone.

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.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Multivariate (cluster) analysis of samples collected from fossiliferous intervals.

Time Range

Early Carboniferous (Visean-Delepinea aspinosa Zone)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 04:39:29.356825; freshness should be verified.

Geography

New South Wales, Australia