Speculation is increasing that Proterozoic eastern Australia and western Laurentia represent conjugate rift margins formed during breakup of the NUNA supercontinent and thus share a common history of rift-related basin formation and magmatism. In Australia, this history is preserved within three stacked superbasins formed over 200 Myr in the Mount Isa region (1800-1750 Ma Leichhardt, 1730-1670 Ma Calvert and 1670-1575 Ma Isa), elements of which extend as far east as Georgetown. The Mount Isa basins developed on crystalline basement of comparable (~1840 Ma) age to that underlying the Paleoproterozoic Wernecke Supergroup and Hornby Bay Basin in NW Canada which share a similar tripartite sequence stratigraphy. Sedimentation in both regions was accompanied by magmatism at 1710 Ma, further supporting the notion of a common history. Basin formation in NW Canada and Mount Isa both concluded with contractional orogenesis at ~1600 Ma. Basins along the eastern edge of Proterozoic Australia are characterised by a major influx of sediment derived from juvenile volcanic rocks at ~1655 Ma and a significant Archean input, as indicated by Nd isotopic and detrital zircon data. A source for both these modes is currently not known in Australia although similar detrital zircon populations are documented in the Hornby Bay Basin, and in the Wernecke Supergroup, and juvenile 1660-1620 Ma volcanism occurs within Hornby Bay basin NW Canada. These new data are most consistent with a northern SWEAT-like tectonic reconstruction in a NUNA assembly thus giving an important constraint on continental reconstructions that predate Rodinia.

Detrital zircon from sandstone bodies intersected in three recent exploration wells on the North West Shelf were analysed and dated using the SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe) at Geoscience Australia to test the technique as a tool for understanding the provenance and sediment transport pathways of reservoir facies in the region. Chevron, Hess and Santos, the operating companies for exploration permits WA- 365-P, WA-390-P and WA-281-P respectively, collected 3-5 kg of cuttings from the wells Guardian-1 and Hijinx-1 (Triassic Mungaroo Formation on the Exmouth Plateau of the Carnarvon Basin) and Burnside-1 (Jurassic Brewster Sands from the Browse Basin). All three wells were drilled in 2009-2010. Samples were prepared at Geoscience Australia with 70-80 zircon grains randomly selected for analysis following standard data acquisition and processing procedures to provide a statistically meaningful representation of detrital ages in each sample.

Australia's North West Shelf (NW Shelf) has been the premier hydrocarbon exploration and production province for over 30 years. Despite the large number of geological studies completed in this region, numerous geological questions remain to be answered such as the provenance of reservoir units and how this relates to reservoir quality, extent and correlation. Submission of offshore sample material by explorers on the NW Shelf has allowed U-Pb age results to be determined; providing insights into the potential provenance and sedimentary transport pathways of various Triassic to Cretaceous reservoir facies. Initial results reveal that the proximal Pilbara, Yilgarn and Kimberly cratons were not major proto-sources during the Middle to Upper Triassic. The prospective, Mungaroo Formation appears to display a Triassic volcanic signature; the source of which remains enigmatic, but numerous grain characteristics suggest a source proximal to the Exmouth Plateau. Many samples show a Gondwana Assemblage age. Sediment sources of this age are absent on the Australian continent suggesting a distal origin - most likely the Antarctic and Indian blocks. Transport pathways, for the Triassic Mungaroo Formation, are interpreted as possibly northward through a proto-Perth Basin or north-westward through the Gascoyne-Hamersley-Pilbara regions. Other results suggest subtle differences in provenance of the sediments between the Exmouth Plateau and Rankin Platform, and that the provenance signatures of the Bonaparte, Canning and Perth basins show distinctively different provenance signatures.

Legacy product - no abstract available

The digital dataset combines data from the Oracle ozchron, sites, and rocks tables and is presented as shapefiles and mapinfo files for the rubidium-strontium, conventional uranium-lead and samarium-neodymium geochronology themes. This dataset package will eventually include the uranium-lead shrimp data, and is intended to be updated on a regular basis until the project is completed.

Legacy product - no abstract available

Beginning in the Archean, the continent of Australia evolved to its present configuration through the accretion and assembly of several smaller continental blocks and terranes at its margins. Australia usually grew by convergent plate margin processes, such as arc-continent collision, continent-continent collision or through accretionary processes at subduction zones. The accretion of several island arcs to the Australian continent, through arc-continent collisions, played an important role in this process, and the geodynamic implications of some Archean and Proterozoic island arcs recognised in Australia will be discussed here.

Abstract for 34th IGC

The International Geo-Sample Number (IGSN) provides a globally unique identifier for physical samples used to generate analytical data. This unique identifier provides the ability to link each physical sample to any analytical data undertaken on that sample, as well as to any publications derived from any data derived on the sample. IGSN is particularly important for geochemical and geochronological data, where numerous analytical techniques can be undertaken at multiple analytical facilities not only on the parent rock sample itself, but also on derived sample splits and mineral separates. Australia now has three agencies implementing IGSN: Geoscience Australia, CSIRO and Curtin University. All three have now combined into a single project, funded by the Australian Research Data Services program, to better coordinate the implementation of IGSN in Australia, in particular how these agencies allocate IGSN identifiers. The project will register samples from pilot applications in each agency including the CSIRO National Collection of Mineral Spectra database, the Geoscience Australia sample collection, and the Digital Mineral Library of the John De Laeter Centre for Isotope Research at Curtin University. These local agency catalogues will then be aggregated into an Australian portal, which will ultimately be expanded for all geoscience specimens. The development of this portal will also involve developing a common core metadata schema for the description of Australian geoscience specimens, as well as formulating agreed governance models for registering Australian samples. These developments aim to enable a common approach across Australian academic, research organisations and government agencies for the unique identification of geoscience specimens and any analytical data and/or publications derived from them. The emerging pattern of governance and technical collaboration established in Australia may also serve as a blueprint for similar collaborations internationally.

This GSQ-GA geochronology record presents a compilation of 25 new zircon U-Pb SHRIMP geochronological results from the Mount Isa, south Nicholson and Simpson Desert regions, Queensland. This data was collected through the collaborative GSQ-GA geochronology project in July 2009 to June 2010 as part of the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA) and in support of ongoing geoscientific investigations and regional geological mapping by the GSQ in the Mount Isa, south Nicholson and Simpson Desert regions. A separate report for each sample is presented, which contain a brief geochronological interpretation as well as information on sample location and geological context. In addition, an appendix (Appendix A) contains Sm-Nd whole rock analyses of selected samples.