OFR 151.pdf - CRC LEME
OFR 151.pdf - CRC LEME
OFR 151.pdf - CRC LEME
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Inferred climate<br />
The sequence records the progressive replacement of Austral Conifer Forest by floristically<br />
complex angiosperm-dominated rainforest. The succession is ecologically consistent with<br />
warming followed by transient cooling although mean temperatures appear to have remained<br />
within the lower mesotherm range. Rainfall was high (perhumid) throughout the year. To<br />
what extent plant community evolution was shaped by low light intensities or possible<br />
microtherm temperatures during winter months is unclear.<br />
1.2.7 Tasmania<br />
Paleocene sediments occur in subcrop in the Bass Basin (lower Eastern View Coal Measures)<br />
and along the western margin of Tasmania but few reliable quantitative data are available in<br />
open-file reports.<br />
1. Bass Basin<br />
Non-marine correlatives of the Lower and Upper Lygistepollenites balmei Zone in Yolla-1<br />
well, Bass Basin, are dominated by Araucariaceae (Agathis/Wollemia) with trace amounts of<br />
Lagarostrobos, Dacrydium (Lygistepollenites balmei) and Gambierina (Morgan 1986b).<br />
Nothofagus (Brassospora) pollen in the same microfloras are suggested to be Eocene<br />
contaminants introduced during processing.<br />
Evans and Mulholland (1969) have recorded Podocarpaceae-dominated possibly Upper L.<br />
balmei Zone Equivalent microfloras in the Clam-1 well, drilled in the King Island Sub-basin<br />
near King Island, and also in northwestern Tasmania. Rare taxa include Casuarinaceae,<br />
Callitrichaceae, Ericales, Gambierina, ancestral Nothofagus, nondescript Proteaceae and a<br />
much more diverse group of ferns and gymnosperms. Correlative assemblages occur in the<br />
Longford and Port Sorell Sub-basins in northern Tasmania, and in an onshore extension of the<br />
Sorell Basin south of Macquarie Harbour (S. Forsyth pers. comm.). Microfloras from Rose<br />
Rivulet near Launceston and other unspecified localities in the same (Launceston) sub-basin,<br />
dated as Paleocene by Harris (1967), include Tiliaceae (Intratriporopollenites notabilis) and<br />
are either contaminated with Eocene taxa or are Early Eocene (Lower Malvacipollis diversus<br />
Zone Equivalent).<br />
2. West Coast<br />
Macphail (unpubl. results) has recorded an apparently uncontaminated Upper L. balmei Zone<br />
Equivalent microflora in cuttings in the Cape Sorell-1 well, offshore Sorell Basin. Pollen<br />
dominance is shared between Araucariaceae (Agathis/Wollemia), Podocarpaceae<br />
(Lagarostrobos, Podocarpus-Prumnopitys), ancestral Nothofagus and Cyatheaceae<br />
(Cyathidites), with lesser amounts of Gleicheniaceae, Proteaceae and undescribed tricolporate<br />
angiosperms. Rare taxa include Dacrydium (Lygistepollenites balmei, L. florinii),<br />
Callitrichaceae, Casuarinaceae, Cupanieae, Cunoniaceae (Gillbeea), Euphorbiaceae,<br />
Gambierina and Myrtaceae.<br />
Inferred climate<br />
Within the limits of the data, relative pollen dominance points to Austral Conifer Forest being<br />
the dominant vegetation type on the Bassian Plain and in northern and western Tasmania<br />
during the Paleocene. The diversity is low relative to the Gippsland Basin, possibly due to<br />
reduced photoperiods during winter months. Species with modern warm temperate or<br />
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