Arrinthrunga Formation: Upper Cambrian Carbonate Sequence in Central Australia

The Georgina Basin in central Australia hosts the Arrinthrunga Formation, a complex Upper Cambrian carbonate and mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequence. The Australian Ocean Data Network provides this dataset, last updated in 2026, describing its deposition in a shallow, intermittently emergent epeiric sea under warm, arid conditions. The description details a history of algal bioherms, peloid shoals, evaporite pans, and karst formation.

Use Cases

• Modeling ancient carbonate platform evolution based on described depositional facies like algal bioherms and peloid shoals.
• Studying hypersaline lagoon and evaporite formation based on described high salinities and halite evaporite pans.
• Analyzing sea-level change and transgression-regression cycles based on described sequences of progradation, emergence, and flooding.

Strengths

• The description provides a detailed geological narrative of depositional environments and processes.
• The dataset is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, a government-associated platform.

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 data_gov_au.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Time Range

Upper Cambrian period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 06:02:32.696985; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Georgina Basin, central Australia