Palaeo‐oceanographical significance of Miocene deep‐sea ostracoda from the Kingfish 8 well,Gippsland Basin,southeastern Australia |
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| Authors: | M T Warne R C Whatley |
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| Institution: | 1. Victorian Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences, School of Earth Sciences , La Trobe University , Bundoora, Vic., 3083, Australia;2. Micropalaeontology Research Group, Institute of Earth Sciences , University of Wales , Aberystwyth, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | In the latest Early to Middle Miocene section of the Kingfish 8 well, offshore Gippsland Basin, the characteristically deep‐marine ostracod genus Zabythocypris is a conspicuous component of ostracod assemblages dominated by species of the genera Argilloecia, Krithe and Parakrithe. The taphonomy and taxonomic composition of the assemblages suggests that they accumulated in an upper bathyal environment (500–1000 m water depth) occurring in a lower continental slope setting. Supporting evidence for these deep‐marine ostracod assemblages occurring near the upper limit of their palaeobathymetrical range is the broadly coincident occurrence of the deep‐marine taxa Legitimocythere sp. and Neonesidea whatleyi Warne, in what would otherwise be considered an outer‐shelf (120–160 m) ostracod fauna at Fossil Beach, Mornington. Ostracod occurrences indicative of dysaerobic sea‐floor conditions in the Kingfish 8 well and Fossil Beach sections, when considered together, appear to record a shallowing of the oceanic oxygen‐minimum zone during the latest Early Miocene to earliest Middle Miocene transgressive phase of southeast Australia. |
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| Keywords: | Gippsland Basin Miocene ostracods palaeobathymetry palaeo‐oceanography |
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