Product catalogue
Environmental conditions and microbial community structure during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event; a multi-disciplinary study from the Canning Basin, Western Australia
The Ordovician is an important period in Earth’s history with exceptionally high sea levels that facilitated the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. This crucial biological event is regarded as the second most significant evolutionary event in the history of Paleozoic life, after the Cambrian radiation. The present study integrates palynological, petrographic, molecular and stable isotopic (δ13C of biomarkers) analyses of cores from five boreholes that intersected the Goldwyer Formation, Canning Basin, Western Australia, to determine depositional environments and microbial diversity within a Middle Ordovician epicontinental, tropical sea.
A major transgression was detected in the laminated shales of the lower Goldwyer Formation (Units 1+2) which were deposited in anoxic bottom waters, as confirmed by low (<1) Pristane/Phytane ratios, and elevated dibenzothiophene and gammacerane indices. A second, less extensive, flooding event is recorded by shallow marine sediments of the upper Goldwyer Formation (Unit 4). Cores of these sediments, from two wells (Solanum-1 and Santalum-1A) are bioturbated and biomarkers indicate relatively oxygenated conditions, as well as the presence of methanotrophic bacteria, as determined from the high 3-methylhopane indices.
Typical Ordovician marine organisms including acritarchs, chitinozoans, conodonts and graptolites were present in the lower and upper Goldwyer Formation, whereas the enigmatic organism Gloeocapsomorpha prisca (G. prisca) was only detected in Unit 4. The presence of G. prisca was based on microfossils and specific biosignatures presenting an odd-over-even predominance in the C15 to C19 n-alkane range.
Cryptospores were identified in Unit 4 in the Theia-1 well and are most likely derived from bryophytes, making this is the oldest record of land plants in Australian Middle Ordovician strata. Biomarkers in some samples from Unit 4 that also support derivation from terrestrial organic matter include retene, benzonaphthofurans and δ13C-depleted mid-chain n-alkanes.
This research contributes to understanding Ordovician marine environments from a molecular perspective since few biomarker studies have been undertaken on age-equivalent sections. Furthermore, the identification of the oldest cryptospores in Australia and their corresponding terrestrial biomarkers contributes to understanding the geographical evolution of early land plants.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2017-05-17T00:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2017-11-21T04:29:06
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/110783
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Spaak, G.
Co-author Edwards, D.S.
Co-author Foster, C.B.
Co-author Pagès, A.
Co-author Summons, R.E.
Co-author Sherwood, N.
Co-author Grice, K.
- Purpose
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Manuscript submitted to Global and Planetary Change
- Status
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
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- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Keywords
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Ordovician
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- Keywords
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Canning Basin
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- Keywords
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Gloeocapsomorpha prisca
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- Keywords
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cryptospores
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- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification: Fields of Research
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Earth Sciences
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
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4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Link to Journal Article (alternate)
Link to Journal Article (alternate)
- Distribution format
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html
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- OnLine resource
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Link to Journal Article (50 download limit)
Link to Journal Article (50 download limit)
- Distribution format
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html
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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N/A
- Hierarchy level
- Document
Metadata constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
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urn:uuid/6f202a8b-f40a-4bf8-8086-46573b580dcf
- Title
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GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Edwards, D.S.
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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External publication
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/110783
- Date info (Creation)
- 2017-05-16T02:17:07
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-04-20T05:51:32
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551