Nannofossil Records from the Great Australian Bight Basin, Maastrichtian to Oligocene

Samples from the Great Australian Bight Basin, collected during BMR Survey 66, were examined for calcareous nannofossils. The dataset compares Maastrichtian, Eocene, and Oligocene assemblages with onshore southern Australian sequences. It provides evidence for marine ingressions, sea-level changes, and the influence of a proto-Leeuwin Current from the middle Eocene onward.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions based on nannofossil assemblage composition.
• Correlating offshore and onshore geological sequences in southern Australia.
• Modeling historical sea-level and subsidence rates based on fossil evidence.
• Investigating the historical influence of ocean currents like the proto-Leeuwin Current on marine temperatures.

Strengths

• Includes the first reported Maastrichtian nannofossil assemblages found in southern Australia.
• Provides a comparative analysis of offshore (Great Australian Bight) and onshore (Otway Basin) geological records.
• Evidence is supported by palynological and lithological data, as mentioned in the description.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is presented in PDF/HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Samples were dredged during BMR Survey 66 by KV, Rig Seismic and subsequently analyzed.

Time Range

Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to early Tertiary (Eocene and Oligocene)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:41:34.903348; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Australian Bight Basin and onshore equivalents on the southern margin of Australia