The Barlee No. 1 Well was drilled with WAPET's National 100 rig to the total depth of 8101 feet. Below a thin cover of the surface sand, 1562 feet of Mesozoic sediments were encountered, and drilled to the depth of 1594 feet. These sediments are represented by the Broome Sandstone (Lower Cretaceous) and Jurassic rocks, consisting of Jarlemai Siltstone, Alexander Formation, and Wallal Sandstone. The Jarlemai Siltstone interval which is 850 feet thick, is the thickest section of this formation which has been drilled in the Canning Basin. Unconformably below Mesozoic sediments, a uniform section of Carboniferous rocks was encountered and drilled to the total depth. All 6507 feet of the Carboniferous section are included in the Anderson Formation, to which an Upper Carboniferous age is tentatively assigned. In the lower part of the formation (7825 - 7856 feet) an intrusive body of dolerite was encountered. Some induration was observed in rocks adjacent to the intrusion. The well was abandoned in moderately porous sandstone beds of the Anderson Formation. Average dips of 20 degrees were observed in cores and recorded by the dipmeter survey in the Carboniferous section. The dipmeter survey shows that the well was located on the northern flank of the Barlee Anticline. Some very slight shows of gas were present in the sandstone beds of the Anderson Formation. Below 5600 feet some sandstone beds contained impregnations of black, rubbery bituminous material - very probably oil residue. No signs of live oil were observed in the well. The drilling results indicate that the Barlee No. 1 Well (like Fraser River No. 1) is located in the deep Fitzroy Trough on a structure originated by an igneous intrusion. The prospective beds of Ordovician, Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous rocks are buried under the thick cover of the unprospective Upper Carboniferous sediments and probably are intruded by igneous rocks. It seems likely that the sediments of the Fitzroy Trough in the Barlee area extend south as far as the Darnpier Fault; thus the Dampier Fault in the western part of the Canning Basin may replace the Fenton Fault, which dies out before reaching the Dampier Land area. The concept of the Jurgurra Terrace still remains valid, but only for the eastern part as shown on Plate .No. 1.

A reflection seismic survey was conducted in 1959-60 on Authority to Prospect 55P by Austral Geo Prospectors Pty. Ltd. for Associated Australian Oilfields N. L. through their management affiliate, Mines Administration Pty. Ltd., in an area approximately 30 miles north of Roma, Queensland. The primary purpose of the survey was to determine whether the sedimentary section thickened northward into a geologic basin postulated to exist north of the Roma area. A secondary objective was to outline any structure that might be disclosed by the initial lines of survey. Data obtained show a rapid thickening of section towards the north and east of the junction of Eumamurrin and Bungil Creeks. A pronounced structure was outlined in the vicinity of land portion 8, Parish of Eumamurrin and land portions 43V and 55V, Parish of Gubberamunda.

This report covers gravity survey work conducted by Century Geophysical Corporation for Magellan Petroleum Corporation during the period 1st July to 31st December 1959. The survey was made following an aeromagnetic survey. The gravity survey was intended to corroborate the magnetic interpretation; to provide further information as regards depth to basement and fault systems; and to indicate structural "highs" which could then be more precisely delineated by seismic reflection methods. Gravity values were observed and plotted over the area surrounding Winton, Queensland. Both the gravity survey and the aeromagnetic survey indicate a fault or fault zone across the area. In an appendix by the Bureau of Mineral Resources, it is stated that a seismic profile crossing this zone indicates that this zone is either a fault or a monoclinal fold. Magellan Petroleum Corporation are planning to deepen the water bore at Corfield, and if this does not provide sufficient information regarding the deeper rocks, a further stratigraphic test will be drilled at Winton.

Mollusca from the Nanutarra Formation, a recently defined strata! unit cropping out along the north-eastern edge of the Carnarvon Basin of Western Australia, are described and the age of the' formation is discussed. The fossils occur largely as moulds of the original shells, so that their study has been based mainly on artificially prepared casts. Of about 48 forms recorded in the paper, only one (Pseudavicula anomala) has been definitely referred to a previously described species, four (Maccoyella aff. corbiensis. M. aff. barklyi, M. aff. moorei, and Modiolus aff. ensi/ormis) have been assigned qualified identifications with known species, and 18 are described as new; the remainder have been given only generic identifications, owing to the limitations of the material. The new species are as follows:-Nuculana hoelscheri, Glycymeris mckellari, Pacitrigonia? nanutarraensis, Pterotrigonia australiensis, "[socyprina" fairbridgei, "Corbicellopsis," nanutarraensis, Lucina macroporum, Mutiella? teicherti, Protocardia wapeti, Astarte (Nicaniella) mcwhaei, Eriphyla playjordi, Pleuromya ashburtonensis, Panopea glaessneri. CQrbula nanutarraensis, Muricotrochus? australiensis, Purpurina? yanreyensis, Procerithium (Rhabdocolpus) brunnschweileri, and" Acteonina" australiensis. Apart from the species of Pseudavicula, Maccoyella, and Modiolus, which have been identified, mostly with qualification, with Australian Lower Cretaceous species, the fossils bearing particularly on the age of the formation are those belonging to the genera Pterotrigonia (hitherto solely Cretaceous apart from one record from the Tithonian), Eriphyla (hitherto mainly Cretaceous, but known from the Upper Jurassic), Glycymeris (known from the Cretaceous but not from the Jurassic), and large Panopea (resembling several Cretaceous species and unlike any from the Jurassic). No species belongs to an exclusively Jurassic group. It is concluded that, notwithstanding palaeobotanical evidence of a Jurassic age, the Nanutarra Formation should be most probably referred to the Lower Cretaceous. It has yielded no ammonites or brachiopods.

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.