Legacy product - no abstract available

The 4-10 km-thick Bangemall Supergroup, comprising the Edmund and Collier groups, was deposited between 1620 Ma and 1070 Ma in response to intracratonic extensional reactivation of the Paleoproterozoic Capricorn compressional orogen. The supergroup can be further divided into six depositional packages bounded by unconformities or major marine flooding surfaces. Samples of each of the major sandstone units within these packages have been collected for detrital zircon provenance analysis. U-Pb dating of over 1200 detrital zircon grains has failed to identify any syndepositional magmatism, but provides an extensive dataset for evaluating the provenance history of the Bangemall Supergroup and implications for the Mesoproterozoic paleogeography of the West Australian Craton. Integration of this detrital zircon data with palaeocurrent data indicates that all source areas were located within the Mesoproterozoic West Australian Craton, with the main source area for the northern Bangemall Supergroup being the Gascoyne Complex and southern Pilbara Craton. All samples have prominent age modes in the 1850-1600 Ma range, indicating significant contribution from the northern Gascoyne Complex and coeval sedimentary basins. Some samples also display prominent modes in the 2780-2450 Ma range, consistent with derivation from the Fortescue and Hamersley groups. The provenance history of the Edmund Group records unroofing of the underlying basement, from the Gascoyne Complex to the Archean granites and greenstones of the Pilbara Craton. This results in detrital age-spectra in which the dominant modes become older upwards. In contrast, the Collier Group records unroofing of the underlying Edmund Group, and is characterized by age-spectra in which the dominant modes become younger upwards. These data imply that the West Australian Craton remained intact throughout the Mesoproterozoic assembly of Rodinia, and was the only source of detritus for the Bangemall Supergroup. Keywords: Bangemall Supergroup, Edmund Group, Collier Group, paleocurrents, provenance, zircon

Twenty-four samples provided by Geoscience Australia were analysed using screening methods to provide a preliminary insight into the gas shale potential of the Amadeus and Georgina Basins, Australia. Eleven samples from the Amadeus Basin include the Bitter Springs Formation (Late Neoproterozoic), Lower Giles Creek Dolomite (Middle Cambrian), Goyder Formation (Middle Cambrian) and Horn Valley Siltstone (Early Ordovician). Thirteen samples of core from the Georgina Basin are from the Middle Cambrian, and most of them from the "hot shale" of the Arthur Creek Formation. Results indicate that samples from both the Amadeus and Georgina basins have high potential for gas shale.

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Under the Australian Government's Offshore Energy Program, Geoscience Australia conducted a marine reconnaissance survey GA2476 from October 2008 to January 2009 using the German research vessel RV Sonne. The 90-day marine reconnaissance survey acquired geological and geophysical data over poorly known areas of the Zeewyck and Houtman sub-basins (Perth Basin); the southern Exmouth Sub-basin and Bernier Platform (southern parts of the Carnarvon Basin); and the Cuvier Plateau (also referred to as the Wallaby Plateau). A total of 68 sampling operations recovered rocks during the survey, including 19 over the Zeewyck Sub-basin, 19 over the Houtman Sub-basin, 15 over the southern Exmouth Sub-basin, 13 over the Cuvier Plateau and two over the Bernier Platform. Geological sampling operations were undertaken in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 m. Fifty-one dredge, 13 grab and three benthic sled hauls as well as one box core recovered several hundred individual rock samples. These rock samples represent the first successful recovery of rock dredges from the Houtman Sub-basin and supplement previous sparsely sampled rocks from frontier Zeewyck Sub-basin, southern Exmouth Sub-basin, Bernier Platform and Cuvier Plateau. The rock hauls yielded a diverse range of rock lithologies including sandstone, claystone, siltstone, mudstones, limestone and minor basalt. Initial micropalaeontological analyses (foraminifera, nannofossils and palynology) of rock samples from the Houtman, Zeewyck and Exmouth sub-basins and the Bernier Platform have shown that most samples fall within two broad stratigraphic intervals: early Cretaceous strata and middle Paleocene to late Eocene strata. For the first time, terrestrial marine sedimentary rocks have been recovered from the southwestern escarpment of the Cuvier Plateau. At least one sample is likely to be Upper Jurassic, making it the oldest known sedimentary sample from the Cuvier Platform.

Geoscience Australia's Bremer Sub-basin Study is providing the first new frontier exploration opportunity under the Commonwealth Government's New Oil program.

No abstract available

natural gases and 130 core samples from potential source rocks enable resolution of the generation and migration history of petroleum in the Bowen and Surat basins. Biomarker analysis confirmed a pre-Jurassic source for the petroleum.Stable carbon-isotope analysis further indicated a Permian-sourced petroleum and was able to differentiate a very minor and localised Triassic source contribution.The dominant source for the petroleum is terrestrial land plants as well as a minor marine source influence. Lower delta plain and alluvial Permian coals show thehigher liquid potential compared with upper delta plain facies. Initial liquid expulsion from the source rock occurred at vitrinite reflectance 0.65-0.7% and continued to Ro of 1.05%. This was followed by the main phase of gas generation between1.05c/o<Ro<1.4%. The gas generation enabled remobilisation of liquid petroleum for further migration. Biodegradation occurred throughout the basins' petroleummigration history, resulting in an initial regional phase of heavy palaeobiodegradation followed by a second phase of more localised and less intense in-reservoir alteration.

This report is a description of velocity data acquired during the summer of 2006/07 on Geoscience Australia's seismic marine reflection, refraction and potential field survey GA302 over the Capel and Faust Basins, Lord Howe Rise. The survey was the final phase of the Australian Government's Big New Oil initiative commenced in 2003 to support acreage release in frontier basins. Previous data over the region are sparsely located, and the present survey will provide explorers with high quality data acquired and processed to modern standards. The Lord Howe Rise is thought to be a continental fragment detached from Australia during the formation of the Tasman Sea. The Capel and Faust Basins are of interest as possible frontier petroleum provinces, and the present work is aimed at improving the confidence of sediment thickness estimation, a critical parameter in evaluating of prospectivity. The study reviews the seismic reflection data from survey GA302, the sonobuoy refraction data acquired, and the stacking velocities from the seismic reflection processing.

Introduction to a supplementry issue on Cenozoic Continental Sediments in Australia.