As part of Geoscience Australia's 2002-2004 work program, the Petroleum and Marine Division initiated a collaborative study of the Otway Basin (Figure 1) with Primary Industries and Resources SA (PIRSA) and the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Victoria. The aim of the project was to enhance the petroleum prospectivity of the basin through an improved understanding of depositional systems, integrated petroleum systems analysis and enhanced access to basic datasets critical to the exploration industry. Major project work components included seismic- and well-interpretation to
construct a new regional chronostratigraphic framework for the basin (Figure 2), geochemistry and geohistory modelling to document regional petroleum systems elements (Boreham et al ., 2004), and biostratigraphy to refine age-control, biozonations and correlations within the basin (Krassay et al ., 2004). Biostratigraphic work for the Otway Basin Project involved a major program of new
sampling, processing and palynological analysis combined with a thorough review of existing biostratigraphic reports and data. Collection, processing and preparation of new samples were conducted in-house by Geoscience Australia staff. New palynological analyses were carried out by Morgan Palaeo Associates on a commercial contract basis. This Record (CD-ROM) contains consultants palynological reports (Microsoft Word) and digital data files as originally submitted (wmf and dex formats) and as updated and standardised (csv format) for over 200 new samples collected from 14 selected Otway Basin wells (Table 1). This Record also contains revised palynological data files (csv format) for 18 Otway Basin wells (Table 2). Revision and updating of palynological data
from existing reports and new consultants reports involved initial quality-assurance and quality-control of the data followed by updating of synonyms and systematics to comply with a standardised taxonomy. Revised data files contained in this Record adhere to a standardised taxonomy in current use at Geoscience Australia. Revised data files are presented in a csv format (Excel spreadsheets).
