Cretaceous Pollen And Dinoflagellate Fossils From The Surat Basin

Aptian to mid-Albian sediments from the Surat Basin of southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales contain microfossil records. The study by the Australian Ocean Data Network documents 38 genera and 72 species of spores, 18 genera and 21 species of pollen grains, and 35 genera and 60 species of dinoflagellates. It proposes new species and analyzes abundance fluctuations for environmental reconstruction.

Use Cases

• Classify fossil spores like Lycopodiacidites dettmannae and pollen grains like Clavatipollenites hughesii using documented morphological features.
• Analyze dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, including genera like Cleistosphaeridium and Odontochitina, to date marine Aptian-Albian sediments.
• Track the first appearance of angiosperm pollen grains, such as Asteropollis asteroids, within the Crybelosporites striatus and Coptospora paradoxa zones.
• Reconstruct past environments by modeling proportional abundance fluctuations of spore, pollen, and dinoflagellate groups over time.
• Study acritarch assemblages dominated by Leiosphaeridia and Micrhystridium genera throughout the stratigraphic sequence.

Strengths

• Documents 72 species of spores and 60 species of dinoflagellates across multiple stratigraphic zones.
• Proposes 4 new spore species and 8 new dinoflagellate species with detailed systematic descriptions.
• Provides a temporal framework spanning the Aptian and lower to middle Albian geological ages.

Limitations

• Sample size and row count for quantitative analysis are unknown.
• Data is presented in PDF/HTML formats, requiring extraction for computational use.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the Surat Basin in Australia.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Palynological analysis of sediment samples from the Surat Basin.

Time Range

Aptian to mid-Albian (Lower Cretaceous)

Freshness

null

Geography

Surat Basin, southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales, Australia