Three Aptian and Albian (Lower Cretaceous) dinoflagellate cysts from coastal basins along the western margin of Australia are described. Two are new species, Cannosphaeropsis australis and Ovoidinium striatum, while Craspedodinium indistinctum Cookson & Eisenack 1958 is redescribed and emended. These dinoflagellate cyst taxa have stratigraphical utility in the Aptian and Albian of Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Chapter in Palaeobiology II (eds. Briggs D.E.G. & Crowther P.) Blackwell Science, Oxford

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Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) dinoflagellate cysts from the Timor Sea, offshore north-western Australia include several undescribed forms. Of these, three genera, Hadriana, Mombasadinium and Striatodinium, and seven new species described as new. The new dinoflagellate cyst species are Craspedodinium swanense, Cribroperidinium corrugatum, Gonyaulacysta fenestrata, Hadriana cincta, Oligosphaeridium swanense, Striatodinium lineatum and Striatodinium ottii. The genus Craspedodinium and the species Indodinium khariense are emended. The species formerly known as Indodinium? parvelatum is transferred to the new genus Mombasadinium and is also emended. All these new dinoflagellate cyst taxa have stratigraphical utility in the Kimmeridgian Dingodinium swanense Zone of Australia.

Phallocysta granosa sp. nov. is described from the Timor Sea, Australia. This new dinoflagellate cyst has stratigraphical utility in the Bathonian (Mid Jurassic) Caddasphaera halosa and Wanaea verrucosa zones.

Selected species of the dinoflagellate cyst genus Wanaea from Australasia and Europe have been restudied. The new species Wanaea lacuna from the late Bathonian of Australia demonstrates that the genus may be extensively cavate and the generic diagnosis has been emended. Other new species from the Bathonian and earliest Callovian of Australia include Wanaea enoda and W. verrucosa. Wanaea enoda, W. lacuna and W. verrucosa are all energlynioid forms which lack a prominent posterior paracingular flange. The European and sub-Mediterranean energlynioid species Wanaea acollaris Dodekova 1975 and W. zoharensis Conway 1978 have been redescribed and emended. Wanaea zoharensis may have a solid extension to the antapical horn or protuberance and the term antapicular structure is proposed for this feature. In Australia, the form originally described as Epicephalopyxis spectabilis Deflandre & Cookson 1955 has been subsequently misidentified. The species has a complex paracingular flange comprising three distinct zones; it is also stratigraphically important, being confined to the mid Oxfordian. It was transferred to Wanaea in 1958, however the figured specimen accompanying this transfer is not conspecific with the type. This specimen has a narrower flange comprising short, regular processes which are connected distally by a trabeculum. Subsequent identifications of Wanaea spectabilis have followed the latter specimen. Because of this, the new species Wanaea talea is erected.

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For more than 30 years, deep seismic reflection profiles have been acquired routinely across Australia to better understand the crustal architecture and geodynamic evolution of key geological provinces and basins. Major crustal-scale breaks have been interpreted in some of the profiles, and are often inferred to be relict sutures between different crustal blocks, as well as sometimes being important conduits for mineralising fluids to reach the upper crust. The widespread coverage of the seismic profiles now provides the opportunity to construct a map of major crustal boundaries across Australia, which will allow a better understanding of how the Australian continent was constructed from the Mesoarchean through to the Phanerozoic, and how this evolution and these boundaries have controlled metallogenesis. Starting with the locations of the crustal breaks identified in the seismic profiles, geological (e.g. outcrop mapping, drill hole, geochronology, isotope) and geophysical (e.g. gravity, aeromagnetic, magnetotelluric) data are used to map the crustal boundaries, in plan view, away from the seismic profiles. For some of these boundaries, a high level of confidence can be placed on the location, whereas the location of other boundaries can only be considered to have medium or low confidence. In other areas, especially in regions covered by thick sedimentary successions, the locations of some crustal boundaries are essentially unconstrained. From the Mesoarchean to the Phanerozoic, the continent formed by the amalgamation of many smaller crustal blocks over a period of nearly 3 billion years. The development of the map of crustal boundaries of Australia will help to constrain tectonic models and plate reconstructions for the geological evolution of Australia, will provide constraints on the three dimensional architecture of Australia, and will suggest regions of higher potential for future mineral exploration.