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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.

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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
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

Manuscript submitted to Global and Planetary Change

Status
Spatial representation type
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

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
  • Ordovician

Keywords
  • Canning Basin

Keywords
  • Gloeocapsomorpha prisca

Keywords
  • cryptospores

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification: Fields of Research
  • Earth Sciences

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
OnLine resource

Link to Journal Article (alternate)

Link to Journal Article (alternate)

Distribution format
  • html

OnLine resource

Link to Journal Article (50 download limit)

Link to Journal Article (50 download limit)

Distribution format
  • html

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N/A

Hierarchy level
Document

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/6f202a8b-f40a-4bf8-8086-46573b580dcf

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Edwards, D.S.

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

External publication

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/110783

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/6f202a8b-f40a-4bf8-8086-46573b580dcf

Date info (Creation)
2017-05-16T02:17:07
Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T05:51:32

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Canning Basin Gloeocapsomorpha prisca Ordovician cryptospores
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification: Fields of Research
Earth Sciences

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