Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy of Marion Plateau Dredge Samples, Miocene to Pleistocene

Planktic and larger benthic foraminiferids from two sites on the Marion Plateau, offshore Queensland, reveal distinct geological histories. The northern site sampled an Early to Middle Miocene carbonate platform with evidence of subaerial exposure, while the southern site sampled a Late Miocene platform. This dataset, published by the Australian Ocean Data Network, documents faunal assemblages used to date events from the Miocene to the Pleistocene.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions based on shallow-water foraminiferal assemblages and hermatypic corals mentioned in the description
• Modeling carbonate platform subsidence timelines based on biostratigraphic age ranges from Miocene to Pleistocene
• Analyzing periods of non-deposition and subaerial exposure based on faunal evidence and solution cavity infills
• Correlating geological events between northern and southern platform sites based on differing age results

Strengths

• Data covers a significant geological time range from the Early Miocene to the Pleistocene
• Description provides specific biostratigraphic zones (N.18 and N.22) and inferred water depths (less than 50 m)
• Analysis distinguishes between two distinct sites (northern and southern) with different geological histories

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data is provided in PDF/HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Study of foraminiferids in thin section from a suite of dredge samples

Time Range

Miocene to Pleistocene

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 16:43:58.473772; freshness should be verified

Geography

Marion Plateau, offshore Queensland, Australia