Foraminiferal biofacies and palaeoenvironmental evolution of an Oligo-Miocene cool-water carbonate succession in the Otway Basin, southeast Australia

Abstract

This multidisciplinary study integrates facies studies and foraminiferal analyses to assess the palaeoenvironmental evolution of an Oligocene to Miocene cool-water carbonate succession in the Otway Basin, southeastern Australia. The cool-water carbonate succession in the Otway Basin records signals relating to the evolution of the Southern Ocean throughout the Cenozoic. The strata are correlated with the relative coastal onlap curve of Haq et al. (1988) and several sequences can be identified in three formations. The Early Oligocene Narrawaturk Formation (TA 4.5) comprises near the base high-energy, inner shelf biofacies (lowstand systems tracts) and up-section to lower energy mid- to outer ..