Early Carboniferous Marine Fossil Communities in New South Wales

Visean-Delepinea aspinosa Zone fossil data from New South Wales. The dataset results from multivariate cluster analysis of benthic marine fossil samples to identify recurrent species associations. It was published by Geoscience Australia Data and last updated on 2026-04-30.

Use Cases

• Cluster analysis of fossil communities based on species co-occurrence patterns.
• Study of paleoenvironmental gradients on a marine shelf based on community intergradation.
• Comparative analysis of faunal succession between the Inflatia elegans and Linoprotonia tenuirugosa Subzones.
• Modeling of species persistence and community modification over geological time based on the Rhipidomella australis community.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on samples collected from all known fossiliferous intervals in the study area.
• Identifies four distinct communities within the Inflatia elegans Subzone.
• Results are compared to faunas from the succeeding Rhipidomella fortimuscula Zone.

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 PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Multivariate (cluster) analysis of fossil samples using Euclidean distance coefficient and a weighted-pair grouping method.

Time Range

Early Carboniferous (Visean-Delepinea aspinosa Zone)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:58:42.675602; freshness should be verified.

Geography

New South Wales, Australia