U–Pb geochronology and palynology from Lopingian (upper Permian) coal measure strata of the Galilee Basin, Queensland, Australia

Phillips, L. J.; Crowley, James L.; Mantle, Daniel; Esterle, Joan; Nicoll, Robert S.; McKellar, John L.; Wheeler, Alexander

doi:10.1080/08120099.2018.1418431

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…These authors also recognized a low-magnitude negative δ 13 C org excursion within the "marker mudstone", mirroring the pattern in the FBM of the Sydney Basin. In the northern part of the Galilee Basin (GSQ Muttaburra 1, OEC Glue Pot Creek 1, and CRD Montani 1 wells), the "marker mudstone" appears to have been removed by erosion (Phillips et al, 2017;Phillips et al, 2018).…”

Section: Distribution and Correlation With Australian Successionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and Paleoenvironmental Significance of the Frazer Beach Member—A New Lithostratigraphic Unit Overlying the End-Permian Extinction Horizon in the Sydney Basin, Australia

McLoughlin

Nicoll²,

Crowley

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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The newly defined Frazer Beach Member of the Moon Island Beach Formation is identified widely across the Sydney Basin in both outcrop and exploration wells. This thin unit was deposited immediately after extinction of the Glossopteris flora (defining the terrestrial end-Permian extinction event). The unit rests conformably on the uppermost Permian coal seam in most places. A distinctive granule-microbreccia bed is locally represented at the base of the member. The unit otherwise consists of dark gray to black siltstone, shale, mudstone and, locally, thin lenses of fine-grained sandstone and tuff. The member represents the topmost unit of the Newcastle Coal Measures and is overlain gradationally by the Dooralong Shale or with a scoured (disconformable) contact by coarse-grained sandstones to conglomerates of the Coal Cliff Sandstone, Munmorah Conglomerate and laterally equivalent units. The member is characterized by a palynological “dead zone” represented by a high proportion of degraded wood fragments, charcoal, amorphous organic matter and fungal spores. Abundant freshwater algal remains and the initial stages of a terrestrial vascular plant recovery flora are represented by low-diversity spore-pollen suites in the upper part of the unit in some areas. These assemblages are referable to the Playfordiaspora crenulata Palynozone interpreted as latest Permian in age on the basis of high precision Chemical Abrasion Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (CA-IDTIMS) dating of thin volcanic ash beds within and stratigraphically bracketing the unit. Plant macrofossils recovered from the upper Frazer Beach Member and immediately succeeding strata are dominated by Lepidopteris (Peltaspermaceae) and Voltziopsis (Voltziales) with subsidiary pleuromeian lycopsids, sphenophytes, and ferns. Sparse vertebrate and invertebrate ichnofossils are also represented in the Frazer Beach Member or in beds immediately overlying this unit. The Frazer Beach Member is correlative, in part, with a thin interval of organic-rich mudrocks, commonly known as the “marker mudstone” capping the Permian succession further to the north in the Bowen, Galilee and Cooper basins. The broad geographic distribution of this generally <5-m-thick mudrock unit highlights the development in eastern Gondwana of extensive, short-lived, shallow lacustrine systems with impoverished biotas in alluvial plain settings in the immediate aftermath of the end-Permian biotic crisis.

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Section: Distribution and Correlation With Australian Successionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and Paleoenvironmental Significance of the Frazer Beach Member—A New Lithostratigraphic Unit Overlying the End-Permian Extinction Horizon in the Sydney Basin, Australia

McLoughlin

Nicoll²,

Crowley

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…The sediment infill occurred during two major phases of deposition from the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) to the Cisuralian (early Permian) and from the Lopingian (late Permian) to the Middle Triassic, separated by a mid-Permian depositional hiatus. This hiatus is attributed to reduced rates of deposition rather than to erosion, as there is little evidence of an erosional unconformity (Van Heeswijck, 2010;Phillips et al, 2018). The basement comprises the Devonian-Carboniferous Drummond Basin in the east, the Thomson Orogen in the centre, and Precambrian cratonic rocks in the west.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Detrital-zircon data from Phillips et al (2018) indicate that the Anakie Inlier was submerged at the time the Marker Mudstone was deposited, and that the waterbody was a large-scale feature that spread across both basins (Fig. 7).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeoenvironmental changes recorded in the palynology and palynofacies of a Late Permian Marker Mudstone (Galilee Basin, Australia)

et al. 2020

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Reconstructing the terrestrial palaeoenvironment during the end-Permian is made challenging by widespread erosion and ecosystem destruction. High-resolution sampling for palynofacies and palynology in sections that preserve the boundary interval allows for detailed examination of the drastic environmental changes that characterize the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. In the Bowen and Galilee basins in eastern Australia, this environmental perturbation is recorded within a Marker Mudstone that occurs above the uppermost Permian coal seams. The Marker Mudstone is used as a stratigraphic reference level at many localities, but has previously only been studied at a single locality in the Bowen Basin. In the present study, borehole Tambo 1-1A drilled in the Galilee Basin was selected to clarify whether this black, organic-rich mudstone marks a marine transgression, and to examine potential indicators of the end-Permian mass extinction. A total of 22 samples were taken from the mudstone unit, and from the over-and underlying strata and processed for palynology, palynofacies, and carbon isotope analysis. Biostratigraphic data indicate that the Marker Mudstone itself covers the uppermost part of unit APP5, with the first index taxa of unit APP6 floras occurring in samples less than 80 cm above this interval. This can be correlated with several other localities in the Bowen and Sydney basins where this shift occurs just above the uppermost Permian coal seam. Palynofacies data agree with previous interpretations of a southwards prograding delta that subsides as base level rises to form an extensive waterbody in which the Marker Mudstone was deposited. A change from translucent phytoclast-dominated to opaque phytoclast-dominated palynofacies within the Marker Mudstone suggests a shift to more oxic conditions in the water column, while base level begins to fluctuate, or increased terrestrial input from fluvial systems as the hinterland rises. Algal bodies resembling Botryococcus are found in the strata above the Marker Mudstone, but differ in morphology from the algal bodies found in the deltaic facies below. The presence of acanthomorph acritarchs in the Marker Mudstone and in the overlying Rewan Formation may indicate marine influence.Forms resembling fungal spores are present, but they do not show a "spike" as seen in other P-T boundary localities.The relative position of unit APP6 to the P-T boundary itself remains unclear.APP6 assemblages are dominated by simple acavate trilete and cavate trilete spores, which suggests stressed environment dominated by ferns and lycopods. The presence of degraded phytoclasts towards the top of the Marker Mudstone may also be used to suggest a mass-extinction interval. They may also be indicative of shifting local palaeoenvironmental changes, an interpretation that is supported by the low magnitude negative excursion of the δ 13 C isotope values within the Marker Mudstone.More datasets from the Bowen and Galilee basins will be essential to decoupling these signals.

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“…Whereas in the eastern part of Gondwana, Australian basins seem to be most challenging due to their tectonic disturbance, incomplete basin fill history, different latitude positions, presence of rare marine intervals in the Permian, and significant endemism, with the result that separate palynozonations were developed in the western and eastern Australian basins (Kemp et al, 1977;Balme, 1980;Backhouse, 1991;Price, 1983;1997) and the precise relationship between these schemes and the ages of the biozones still remains speculative. Recent studies by Laurie et al (2016) and Phillips et al (2018) provide new radiometric data from zircons of ash beds in Permian successions of the Sydney, Gunnedah, Bowen and Galilee basins in eastern Australia, and drillcore in the Canning Basin in Western Australia. These data, together with associated palynostratigraphic determinations, are crucial for the direct calibration of the Price (1997) scheme to the numerical timescale, and provide an excellent base for refining Australian palynostratigraphy including climate signatures.…”

Section: Application To Other Gondwana Basinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of Gondwanan Marine-Nonmarine Correlations—A Palynological Perspective

Goetz¹,

Wheeler

2018

Paleontol. J.

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Marine-nonmarine correlations of the Permian of Laurussia are recently addressed using integrated sedimentological-palaeontological-geochemical signatures aiming to refine existing correlation schemes. However, for Gondwana such efforts are still in an early stage with first studies on single localities and within distinct basins. Palynology is seen to be the key discipline to tackle this challenge and recent efforts to use climatic signatures recorded in palynomorph assemblages for crossbasin and interbasinal correlations of Karoo-aged basins in southern Africa are very promising. Their near continuous basin fill from the Pennsylvanian to the Early Jurassic captures the most prominent climate change in the Phanerozoic. Postglacial coal-bearing successions of Permian and Triassic age in the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa enable detailed studies of changing vegetation on land. Marine black shales capture changes in paleoceanographic conditions as reflected in marine phytoplankton assemblages and changing terrestrial input of pollen grains and spores, enabling precise correlation of terrestrial coals and marine shales. Ongoing research aims to establish the use of climate signals recorded in terrestrial and marine palynofacies for correlation on a Gondwana-wide, interregional scale.

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U–Pb geochronology and palynology from Lopingian (upper Permian) coal measure strata of the Galilee Basin, Queensland, Australia

Cited by 25 publications

References 33 publications

Age and Paleoenvironmental Significance of the Frazer Beach Member—A New Lithostratigraphic Unit Overlying the End-Permian Extinction Horizon in the Sydney Basin, Australia

Age and Paleoenvironmental Significance of the Frazer Beach Member—A New Lithostratigraphic Unit Overlying the End-Permian Extinction Horizon in the Sydney Basin, Australia

Palaeoenvironmental changes recorded in the palynology and palynofacies of a Late Permian Marker Mudstone (Galilee Basin, Australia)

Challenges of Gondwanan Marine-Nonmarine Correlations—A Palynological Perspective

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