Proterozoic Microfossils from the Roper Group, Northern Territory, Australia

Microfossil assemblage from shales in the McMinn Formation of the Roper Group, with a minimum age of approximately 1.3 billion years. The microbiota includes algal cells, filaments, large acritarchs, and giant filaments, with some specimens potentially indicating eukaryotic life. The data is provided by Geoscience Australia and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Classifying microfossil morphologies based on the described assemblage of algal cells, filaments, and acritarchs.
• Studying the preservation of organic matter in low-thermal-metamorphism environments as described for the Roper Group.
• Comparing Proterozoic microbiotas from shale environments against those from carbonate, stromatolitic environments as referenced in the description.
• Analyzing the potential for hydrocarbon generation based on the geochemical studies of organic matter maturity mentioned.

Strengths

• Fossils are described as being in a particularly good state of preservation due to low thermal metamorphism.
• The dataset provides a temporal anchor with a minimum age of approximately 1.3 billion years.
• Includes descriptions of diverse microfossil types: algal cells, filaments, acritarchs, and giant filaments.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific Australian geological formation.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Likely collected through geological field studies and laboratory analysis.

Time Range

Proterozoic era, with a minimum age of approximately 1.3 billion years.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 16:50:02.958230; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Roper Group, Northern Territory, Australia.