Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Australian Cretaceous Vegetation - macrofossils

What is known of Australian macrofloras from the Cretaceous comes from a few sites, mainly in the Gippsland and Otway Basins, as well as some from Queensland, central Australia and Northern Territory sites. When the macroflora evidence is combined with that from palynology regional differences become apparent. The extent of the differences are difficult to know fully, because of the paucity of the fossil record, and the situation in Western Australia is better known and the sites in eastern and northern Queensland have been studied more fully using modern methods.

The sequences found in the deposits in the Otway Basin show that during the Cretaceous there were a number of events that appear to be of an almost catastrophic nature, where plant communities disappear on a very short time scale to be replaced by new communities.

Australian Cretaceous Vegetation - Microfossils

Sources & Further reading

J.G. Douglas in Hill, Robert S., (ed.), 1994, History of the Australian Vegetation, Cambridge University Press.

• Australian Palaeoclimate during the Tertiary
• Australian Landscapes - Cretaceous to Recent
• Australian palaeogeography - Cretaceous to Recent
• Australian Cretaceous Vegetation - Microfossils
• Australian Cretaceous Vegetation -Macrofossils
• Australian Phytogeography - Tertiary