Barnicarndy 1 Microfossil Images and Data for Ordovician Correlation

Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future program produced a palynological reconnaissance study of organic-walled microfossils from the Barnicarndy 1 stratigraphic well. The dataset includes digital images of microfossils from 42 samples taken within the Lower Ordovician Nambeet Formation, assessing yield and preservation for regional correlation. The study identifies a diverse suite of microfossils including acritarchs, algae, cryptospores, and graptolites.

Use Cases

• Correlating Lower Ordovician sedimentary sections based on identified acritarch species assemblages.
• Assessing thermal maturity of organic matter based on palynomorph color observations.
• Studying early land plant evolution based on cryptospore data.
• Analyzing microfossil preservation states and yield from core samples.

Strengths

• Includes digital images of all identified microfossil types.
• Based on 42 samples from a fully cored Lower Ordovician formation.
• Identifies a diverse suite of microfossils including acritarchs, algae, cryptospores, and graptolites.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Microfossil yield per sample is described as mostly low, and preservation ranges from poor to good.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future program, via Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Acid-resistant organic-walled microfossils recovered from 42 core samples.

Time Range

Lower Ordovician period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 02:56:49.747601; freshness should be verified

Geography

Barnicarndy 1 stratigraphic well, Barnicarndy Graben, Canning Basin, Western Australia.