Marine benthic communities in the Early Carboniferous of New South Wales (Visean-Delepinea

Multivariate cluster analysis identifies recurrent fossil species associations from the Early Carboniferous Delepinea aspinosa Zone in New South Wales. The dataset describes four communities in the Inflatia elegans Subzone and the persistence of the Rhipidomella australis community into the Linoprotonia tenuirugosa Subzone. It is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in June 2026.

Use Cases

• Cluster analysis of fossil species associations based on multivariate methods described.
• Study community intergradation and depth distribution on a marine shelf based on inferred environmental settings.
• Track species composition changes across subzones based on the described persistence and modification of communities.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on samples from all known fossiliferous intervals in the study area.
• Identifies four distinct communities within the Inflatia elegans Subzone.
• Documents the persistence of the Rhipidomella australis community into a subsequent 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 fossil samples using Euclidean distance and a weighted-pair grouping method.

Time Range

Early Carboniferous (Visean-Delepinea aspinosa Zone)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 06:49:33.774990; freshness should be verified.

Geography

New South Wales, Australia