Middle Ordovician Conodont and Fish Fossils from the Stairway Sandstone, Amadeus Basin

The Amadeus Basin in Australia contains a sample of micro-vertebrate and conodont fossils from the Middle Ordovician Stairway Sandstone formation. The data, provided by Geoscience Australia Data, is a field sample from the uppermost part of the sandstone, enabling correlation to international biozonation schemes. The dataset was last updated on 2026-04-30.

Use Cases

• Correlating rock layers based on conodont biozonation schemes mentioned in the description
• Studying early arandaspid fish fossils found in the Stairway Sandstone
• Analyzing the paleoenvironment of shallow marine siliciclastic sediments described
• Assessing hydrocarbon reservoir potential for the Larapinta Petroleum System referenced

Strengths

• Fossil fauna is described as abundant and well-preserved.
• Enables high-resolution correlation to international conodont biozonation schemes.
• Data is sourced from Geoscience Australia Data, a government organization.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The unit has not been directly dated, relying on fossil correlation for age.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Field sample collected from the uppermost Stairway Sandstone.

Time Range

Middle Ordovician period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 13:24:25.770917; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Amadeus Basin, Australia