Upper Triassic Coral and Spongiomorph Fossils from the Northwestern Australian Shelf

Upper Triassic fossils dredged from the Rowley Terrace indicate possible new reef facies comparable to those in central Europe. The collection includes the spongiomorph Spongiomorpha sp. and corals Pamiroseris rectilamellosa and Retiophyllia tellae, suggesting a Norian-Rhaetian age. This dataset, provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network, may represent an eastward extension of known Wombat Plateau reefs.

Use Cases

• Comparative analysis of reef facies based on fossil associations mentioned in the description
• Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the spatial relationship to the Wombat Plateau site
• Taxonomic study of Late Triassic marine invertebrates based on the reported genera and species

Strengths

• Includes specific fossil taxa (Spongiomorpha sp., Pamiroseris rectilamellosa, Retiophyllia tellae) enabling taxonomic analysis
• Provides a temporal anchor with a suggested Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) age
• Offers a geographic comparison to a known reef site approximately 350 km away

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, focusing on a specific dredge location

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Dredged during BMR Cruise 95

Time Range

Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 06:35:43.990849; freshness should be verified

Geography

Rowley Terrace, offshore Canning Basin, northwestern Australia