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First record of Tethyan palynomorphs from the Late Triassic of East Antarctica

Created 20/01/2026

Updated 20/01/2026

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A well-preserved Late Triassic palynoflora from the upper Flagstone Bench Formation, Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, contains taxa that are also widely distributed in coeval Tethyan Laurasian assemblages. The most common and distinctive of these elements in the present assemblage are: Enzonalasporites vigens, E. densus, cf. Ellipsovelatisporites sp., Minutosaccus crenulatus, cf. Rimaesporites aquilonalis, Ovalipollis ovalis, Samaropollenites speciosus, and Duplicisporites scurrilis. The assemblage is assigned to the Australian Minutosaccus crenulatus Zone, and considered to be of Norian age. Gondwanan palynofloras containing these Laurasian elements are assigned to the Onslow Microflora, which is represented by Middle and Late Triassic palynomorph assemblages from Madagascar, western and northern Australia, East Africa, and Peninsular India. Occurrences of the Onslow Microflora appear to be confined to sediments deposited in palaeolatitudes between about 40o-30oS. As well as climatic controls, we suggest that other factors influenced the distribution of the parent floral communities. In particular, availability of migration pathways along Tethyan coastal plains, that were exposed during periods of sealevel regression, was an important factor controlling the rapid dispersal of certain Triassic plants. Marine influence on the present assemblage is evident by the rare spinose acritarchs, and one specimen of a dinocyst of the Shublikodinium-Rhaetogonyaulax plexus; this is the first record of a Triassic dinocyst from Antarctica.

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Title First record of Tethyan palynomorphs from the Late Triassic of East Antarctica
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/3f9975d7-fcc7-498b-a27a-0d5b856eab55
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Data.gov.au