Middle Ordovician Conodont and Fish Fossils from the Stairway Sandstone

A field sample from the uppermost Stairway Sandstone in the Amadeus Basin contains an abundant and well-preserved fauna. The dataset includes micro-vertebrate and conodont fossils that enable high-resolution international biozonation correlation. It is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated on 2026-05-04.

Use Cases

• Correlating rock units to international conodont biozonation schemes based on the described fossil assemblage.
• Studying early arandaspid fish evolution based on the presence of early fish fossils mentioned in the description.
• Assessing hydrocarbon reservoir potential for the Larapinta Petroleum System based on the unit's stratigraphic context.

Strengths

• Contains well-preserved fossils enabling high-resolution biozonation.
• Includes early arandaspid fish fossils, which are notable for the unit.
• Data is associated with a specific geological unit and basin (Stairway Sandstone, Amadeus Basin).

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

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Field sample collection from the uppermost Stairway Sandstone.

Time Range

Middle Ordovician period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 23:56:45.665840; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Amadeus Basin