Palynostratigraphy of the Bookpurnong Beds and related Late Miocene-Early Pliocene facies

Dinoflagellate microfossils provide a reliable method for distinguishing Late Miocene-Early Pliocene sedimentary units in the Murray Basin. The dataset, from Geoscience Australia, includes species diagnostic of the Bookpurnong beds, such as Melitasphaeridium aequabile and Tuberculodinium vancampoae, and those from older formations like the Geera Clay. It was last updated on 2026-03-25.

Use Cases

• Correlating Late Miocene-Early Pliocene sedimentary units based on diagnostic dinoflagellate species.
• Distinguishing Bookpurnong beds from older, lithologically similar formations like the Winnambool Formation.
• Refining regional stratigraphic models for the central west Murray Basin using palynological markers.

Strengths

• Identifies specific diagnostic species for key stratigraphic units, such as Melitasphaeridium aequabile for the Bookpurnong beds.
• Provides a method for reliable distinction between Late Miocene-Early Pliocene and Oligocene-Middle Miocene facies.
• Sourced from the authoritative national geological organization, Geoscience Australia.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Palynological analysis of sedimentary rock samples.

Time Range

Late Miocene to Early Pliocene

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 25 16:20:31.300092.

Geography

Central west Murray Basin, Australia