Early Tertiary Eyre Formation, lower Nelly Creek, southern Lake Eyre Basin, Australia: Palynological dating of macrofloras and silcrete, and palaeoclimatic interpretations

Palynofloras in the Eyre Formation in Nelly Creek, southern Lake Eyre Basin, are time equivalents of the Lower Nothofagidites asperus Zone in southeastern Australia. This indicates that the formation and the macrofloras it preserves are Middle Eocene in age, as are ‘silcrete floras’ in Poole Creek Palaeochannel to the south. The age relationships with ‘silcrete floras’ in the regionally adjacent Stuart Creek area remain ambiguous. The combined evidence indicates that gallery rain forest grew along the valley bottom whereas more sclerophyllous vegetation prevailed on the interfiuves.