Palynological analysis of the Oakvale-1 corehole reveals diverse and well-preserved assemblages of spores, pollen, and dinoflagellates from the Oligocene-Miocene Geera Clay and Renmark Group. The site provides fossil records for extant Australian taxa like Acacia and Gyrostemonaceae from the late Oligocene, and the first Australian fossil record for Utricularia and Gardenia pollen. A quantitative zonation based on major pollen taxa frequencies divides the sequence into two major zones, with the younger zone further split into four sub-zones.
Use Cases
- Reconstructing past vegetation and climate based on pollen assemblage composition and frequencies.
- Studying the evolutionary history of specific plant families (e.g., Myrtaceae, Nothofagus, Podocarpaceae) using their fossil pollen record.
- Correlating geological strata between regions using biozones like the Triporopollenites bellus Zone.
- Investigating marine-terrestrial environmental linkages through concurrent dinoflagellate cyst and terrestrial pollen data.
Strengths
- Assemblages are described as diverse and well-preserved throughout the sequence.
- Provides the first fossil record in Australia for pollen of Utricularia and Gardenia.
- A statistically calculated quantitative zonation enables division into two major zones and four sub-zones.
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 and HTML formats, which may require extraction for analysis.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Palynological analysis of core samples from the Oakvale-1 corehole.
- Time Range
- Oligocene to Miocene
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-04 05:49:07.609731; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Oakvale-1 corehole, western Murray Basin, South Australia