Australia has some of the best documented Permian basins in Gondwana, but much of the succession is nonmarine. Calibration of the local palynostratigraphic scheme (Price, 1997) to the global timescale was indirect and very difficult, having traditionally relied on correlations from relatively sparse, high-latitude, marine strata, within which ammonoids and conodonts are rare, fusulinids are unknown, and much of the other fauna (brachiopods, bivalves) is endemic. Tie points are rare and often tenuous (Mantle et al., 2010): one example is the record of a single specimen of the ammonoid Cyclolobus persulcatus from the Cherrabun Member of the Hardman Formation, in the Canning Basin, Western Australia (Foster and Archbold, 2001), dated as ¿post-Guadalupian¿ by Glenister et al. (1990) and ¿Capitanian¿Dzhulfian¿ by Leonova (1998). In eastern Australia, the Permian succession is replete with felsic ash beds, many of which contain zircons. Ash beds are rare in Western Australia, but some have been found in the Canning Basin. Sampling of ash beds has been coupled with sampling of adjacent clastics for palynomorphs, mostly from drillcore and coalmines in the Sydney, Gunnedah, Bowen and Galilee basins in eastern Australia, and drillcore in the Canning Basin in Western Australia. The zircons have been subjected to the Chemical Abrasion-Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (CA-IDTIMS) technique for U-Pb dating (Mattinson, 2005). The resultant radioisotopic dates, with associated palynostratigraphic determinations, permit the direct calibration of the Price (1997) scheme to the numerical timescale. Some of the data has been cited previously (Smith & Mantle, 2013; Nicoll et al., 2015, 2016; Metcalfe et al., 2015; Phillips et al., 2016). A more detailed synthesis of the Guadalupian and Lopingian will be published soon (Laurie et al., in press) and a study of the Cisuralian is in progress. The results of Laurie et al. (in press) indicate that the palynozones in the Guadalupian and Lopingian of Australia are significantly younger than currently calibrated (Figure 1). The recalibrations indicate: 1. the top of the Praecolpatites sinuosus (APP3.2) Zone lies in the early Roadian; 2. the top of the Microbaculispora villosa (APP3.3) Zone lies in the middle Roadian; 3. the top of the Dulhuntyispora granulata (APP4.1) Zone lies in the Wordian; 4. the top of the Didecitriletes ericianus (APP4.2) Zone lies in the first half of the Wuchiapingian; 5. the entire Dulhuntyispora dulhuntyi (APP4.3) Zone lies within the Wuchiapingian; and 6. the top of the Dulhuntyispora parvithola (APP5) Zone lies at or near the Permian¿Triassic boundary. These new calibrations involve some major changes, the most significant being the base of the Dulhuntyispora parvithola (APP5) Zone, which is about 6 million years younger than previously calibrated. A preliminary assessment of the Cisuralian, in eastern Australia, suggests that the Pseudoreticulatispora pseudoreticulata (APP2.1) Zone and the Microbaculispora trisina (APP2.2) Zone (APP2.2) are both of greater duration than previously thought. Contrastingly, the Pseudoreticulatispora confluens (APP1.2.2) Zone is older and of shorter duration than previously suggested (Mantle et al., 2010). However, at this stage this interpretation is based on relatively few dated ash beds (Figure 1). Preliminary data indicates that similar miscorrelations are also a feature of the current Mesozoic palynomorph zonation, and future work will attempt to remedy this.

This data package provides seismic interpretations that have been generated in support of the energy resource assessments under the Australia’s Future Energy Resources (AFER) project. Explanatory notes are also included. The AFER project is part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Program—an eight year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, Geoscience Australia is building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This will help support a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. The EFTF program is supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, industry and agriculture sectors, as well as economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. Further details are available at http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf. The seismic interpretations build on the recently published interpretations by Szczepaniak et al. (2023) by providing updated interpretations in the AFER Project area for the Top Cadna-owie (CC10) and Top Pre-Permian (ZU) horizons, as well as interpretations for 13 other horizons that define the tops of play intervals being assessed for their energy resource potential (Figure 1). Seismic interpretations for the AFER Project are constrained by play interval tops picked on well logs that have been tied to the seismic profiles using time-depth data from well completion reports. The Pedirka and Western Eromanga basins are underexplored and contain relatively sparse seismic and petroleum well data. The AFER Project has interpreted play interval tops in 41 wells, 12 seismic horizons (Top Cadna-owie and underlying horizons) on 238 seismic lines (9,340 line kilometres), and all 15 horizons on 77 recently reprocessed seismic lines (3,370 line kilometres; Figure 2). Note that it has only been possible to interpret the Top Mackunda-Winton, Top Toolebuc-Allaru and Top Wallumbilla horizons on the reprocessed seismic lines as these are the only data that provide sufficient resolution in the shallow stratigraphic section to confidently interpret seismic horizons above the Top Cadna-owie seismic marker. The seismic interpretations are provided as point data files for 15 horizons, and have been used to constrain the zero edges for gross-depositional environment maps in Bradshaw et al. (2023) and to produce depth-structure and isochore maps for each of the 14 play intervals in Iwanec et al. (2023). The data package includes the following datasets: 1) Seismic interpretation point file data in two-way-time for up to 15 horizons using newly reprocessed seismic data and a selection of publicly available seismic lines (Appendix A). 2) Geographical layers for the seismic lines used to interpret the top Cadna-owie and underlying horizons (Cadnaowie_to_TopPrePermian_Interpretation.shp), and the set of reprocessed lines used to interpret all 15 seismic horizons (All_Horizons_Interpretation.shp; Appendix B). These seismic interpretations are being used to support the AFER Project’s play-based energy resource assessments in the Pedirka and Western Eromanga basins.

<div>This data package provides depth and isochore maps generated in support of the energy resource assessments under the Australia’s Future Energy Resources (AFER) project. Explanatory notes are also included.</div><div><br></div><div>The AFER project is part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Program—an eight year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, Geoscience Australia is building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This will help support a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. The EFTF program is supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, industry and agriculture sectors, as well as economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. Further details are available at http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf.</div><div><br></div><div>The depth and isochore maps are products of depth conversion and spatial mapping seismic interpretations by Szczepaniak et al. (2023) and Bradshaw et al. (2023) which interpreted 15 regional surfaces. These surfaces represent the top of play intervals being assessed for their energy resource potential (Figure 1). These seismic datasets were completed by play interval well tops by Bradshaw et al. (in prep), gross depositional environment maps, zero edge maps by Bradshaw et al. (in prep), geological outcrop data as well as additional borehole data from Geoscience Australia’s stratigraphic units database.</div><div><br></div><div>Depth and isochore mapping were undertaken in two to interactive phases; </div><div><br></div><div>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Model Framework Construction Phase – In this initial phase, the seismic interpretation was depth converted and then gridded with other regional datasets. </div><div><br></div><div>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Model Refinement and QC Phase – This phase focused on refining the model and ensuring quality control. Isochores were generated from the depth maps created in the previous phase. Smoothing and trend modelling techniques were then applied to the isochore to provide additional geological control data in areas with limited information and to remove erroneous gridding artefacts.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The final depth maps were derived from isochores, constructing surfaces both upward and downward from the CU10_Cadna-owie surface, identified as the most data-constrained surface within the project area. This process, utilizing isochores for depth map generation, honours all the available well and zero edge data while also conforming to the original seismic interpretation.</div><div><br></div><div>This data package includes the following datasets: </div><div><br></div><div>1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Depth maps, grids and point datasets measured in meters below Australian Height Datum (AHD, for 15 regional surfaces (Appendix A). </div><div>2)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Isochore maps, grids and point datasets measured in meters, representing 14 surfaces/play internals (Appendix B).</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>These depth and isochore maps are being used to support the AFER Project’s play-based energy resource assessments in the Pedirka and western Eromanga basins, and will help to support future updates of 3D geological and hydrogeological models for the Great Artesian Basin by Geoscience Australia.</div><div><br></div>

<div>This report presents the results from detailed palynological analyses of both newly processed samples and re-analysis of existing slides across the upper Permian to Lower Triassic section from the following wells across the southern Bonaparte Basin: Tern 3, Tern 5, Ascalon 1A, Blacktip P1, Blacktip 2, Petrel 1A, Petrel 4, Petrel 5, Prometheus 1, Rubicon 1, Torrens 1. This palynological zonal work is supplemented with palynofacies analyses in a subset of wells. In addition to these new analyses, a review of the existing palynological data from open file palynological reports (in company well completion reports) was undertaken for both the immediately under- and overlying late Permian and earliest Triassic intervals in the newly sampled wells and offset wells of the Tern and Petrel gas fields,&nbsp;including the following wells: Petrel 2, Petrel 3, Petrel 6, Tern 1, Tern 2, Tern 4.</div>

<div>Palynology preparations from 62 samples from several key wells in the Northern Territory section of the Pedirka Basin were examined for Geoscience Australia. The sampling was done by the Geological Survey of NT (see table 1 for sample listing). All resulting slides and remaining residue have been submitted to government. The samples were analysed quantitatively with the first 200 specimens in each sample counted and subsequent species simply recorded as present. In this summary report, the results are provided in tabulated form only. Details of the palynomorph assemblages are recorded on StrataBugs distribution charts, with each taxon expressed as a percentage of the entire assemblage (Appendix B). From this information, assignments are made to the palynostratigraphic scheme of Price (1997), as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and summarised in Appendix A.</div><div>Wells included are: Blamore-1, CBM 93-002, CBM 93-004, CBM 107-001, CBM 107-002, Hale River-1, Simpson-1, Thomas-1. </div><div>Also see accompanying report by Hannaford and Mantle, 2022: Palynological analysis of infill samples for selected wells in the South Australian section of the Pedirka Basin. eCat 147227</div>

<div>Palynology preparations from 50 samples from several key wells in the South Australian section of the Pedirka Basin were examined for Geoscience Australia. The sampling was done by Carey Hannaford under inspection number 5358 (see table 1 for sample listing). All resulting slides and remaining residue have been submitted to government. The samples were analysed quantitatively with the first 200 specimens in each sample counted and subsequent species simply recorded as present. In this summary report, the results are provided in tabulated form only. Details of the palynomorph assemblages are recorded on StrataBugs distribution charts, with each taxon expressed as a percentage of the entire assemblage (Appendix B). From this information, assignments are made to the palynostratigraphic scheme of Price (1997), as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and summarised in Appendix A.</div><div>Wells included are: Erabena-1, Macumba-1, Mokari-1, Oolarinna-1, Pandieburra-1, Poolowanna-1, Poolowanna-2, Walkandi-1. </div><div>Also see accompanying report by Hannaford and Mantle, 2022: Palynological analysis of infill samples for selected wells in the Northern Territory section of the Pedirka Basin.</div>

<div>This document provides metadata for the gross depositional environment (GDE) interpretations that have been generated in support of the energy resource assessments under the Australia’s Future Energy Resources (AFER) project.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The AFER projects is part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Program—an eight year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This will help support a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. The EFTF program is supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, industry and agriculture sectors, as well as economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. Further details are available at http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf.&nbsp;</div><div>The GDE data sets provide high level classifications of interpreted environments where sediments were deposited within each defined play interval in the Pedirka, Simpson and Western Eromanga basins. Twelve gross depositional environments have been interpreted and mapped in the study (Table 1). A total of 14 play intervals have been defined for the Pedirka, Simpson and Western Eromanga basins by Bradshaw et al. (2022, in press), which represent the main chronostratigraphic units separated by unconformities or flooding surfaces generated during major tectonic or global sea level events (Figure 1). These play intervals define regionally significant reservoirs for hydrocarbon accumulations or CO2 geological storage intervals, and often also include an associated intraformational or regional seal.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>GDE interpretations are a key data set for play-based resources assessments in helping to constrain reservoir presence. The GDE maps also provide zero edges showing the interpreted maximum extent of each play interval, which is essential information for play-based resource assessments, and for constructing accurate depth and thickness grids.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>GDE interpretations for the AFER Project are based on integrated interpretations of well log and seismic data, together with any supporting palynological data. Some play intervals also have surface exposures within the study area which can provide additional published paleo-environmental data. The Pedirka, Simpson and Western Eromanga basins are underexplored and contain a relatively sparse interpreted data set of 42 wells and 233 seismic lines (Figure 2). Well and outcrop data provide the primary controls on paleo-environment interpretations, while seismic interpretations constrain the interpreted zero edges for each play interval. The sparse nature of seismic and well data in the study area means there is some uncertainty in the extents of the mapped GDE’s.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>The data package includes the following datasets:&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Play interval tops for each of the 42 wells interpreted – provided as an ‘xlsx’ file.&nbsp;</div><div>A point file (AFER_Wells_GDE) capturing the GDE interpretation for each of the 14 play intervals in each of the 42 wells – provided as both a shapefile and within the AFER_GDE_Maps geodatabase.&nbsp;</div><div>Gross depositional environment maps for each of the 14 play intervals (note that separate GDE maps have been generated for the Namur Sandstone and Murta Formation within the Namur-Murta play interval, and for the Adori Sandstone and Westbourne Formation within the Adori-Westbourne play interval) – provided as both shapefiles and within the AFER_GDE_Maps geodatabase.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>These GDE data sets are being used to support the AFER Project’s play-based energy resource assessments in the Western Eromanga, Pedirka and Simpson basins.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div>

High-precision radiometric dating using Chemical Abrasion-Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (CA-IDTIMS) has allowed the recalibration of the numerical ages of Permian and Triassic spore-pollen palynozones in Australia. These changes have been significant, with some zonal boundaries in the Permian shifting by as much as six million years, and some in the Triassic by more than twice that. Most of the samples analysed came from eastern Australian coal basins (Sydney, Gunnedah, Bowen, Galilee) where abundant volcanic ash beds occur within the coal-bearing successions. The recalibrations of these widely used palynozones have implications for the dating of geological events outside the basins from where samples were obtained. Our revised dates for the Permian palynozones can now be applied to all Permian basins across Australia, including the Perth, Carnarvon, Canning and Bonaparte basins (along the western and northern continental margins), the Cooper and Galilee basins (in central Australia), and the Bowen, Gunnedah and Sydney basins (in eastern Australia). Revised regional stratigraphic frameworks are presented here for some of these basins. The impact of an improved calibration of biostratigraphic zones to the numerical timescale is broad and far-reaching. For example, the more accurate stratigraphic ages are the more closely burial history modelling will reflect the basin history, thereby providing control on the timing of kerogen maturation, and hydrocarbon expulsion and migration. These improvements can in turn be expected to translate in to improved exploration outcomes. We have initially focused on the Permian and provide preliminary results for the Triassic, but intend to expand recalibrations to include Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleozoic successions beyond the Permian. Preliminary data indicates that significant changes to these calibrations are also likely.

The northern Houtman Sub-basin is an under-explored region of Australia’s western continental margin. It is located at the transition between the non-volcanic margin of the northern Perth Basin and the volcanic province of the Wallaby Plateau and lies adjacent to the Wallaby-Zenith Transform Margin. In 2014, Geoscience Australia acquired new 2D seismic data (GA-349, 3455 km) across the northern Houtman Sub-basin to assess its hydrocarbon prospectivity. Previous studies of the Houtman Sub-basin indicated that en-echelon basin bounding N-NW trending faults are associated with the Permian half graben complex, however, it was not known if this structural style continued into the northern area of the Houtman Sub-basin. This study integrated interpretation of the recently acquired survey, with regional interpretation of the Houtman Sub-basin. This was further supported by well data and geophysical modelling and a regional 2D structural and stratigraphic interpretation developed. Structural mapping was done for the basement, Early Triassic (Woodada Formation) and Early Jurassic (Eneabba Formation). The basement structure of the northern Houtman Sub-basin is controlled by a series of large en-echelon NW-SE trending SW dipping faults, some of which have a throw of more than 10 km. These basement-involved faults control a series of Permian half graben separated by transfer zones and fault ramps. This basement architecture is similar to the inboard part of the southern Houtman Sub-basin, however the structures are larger. The Early Triassic and Early Jurassic faults trend NW-SE similar to the basement-involved faults, however major faults within the Jurassic succession lie about 50 km to the west of the Permian faults. Interpretation of the northern Houtman Sub-basin reveals a structurally complex basin containing a wide range of structural and stratigraphic traps at several stratigraphic levels. Potential plays have been identified in the upper Permian, Triassic and Jurassic successions. They include large stratigraphic plays in the Upper Permian/Lower Triassic, rollover anticlines within the Lower Triassic and Jurassic, and fault propagation folds and fault block plays in the Jurassic. Extended Abstract presented at the 2018 First Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference (https://www.aig.org.au/events/first-australian-exploration-geoscience-conference/)

The upper Permian to Lower Triassic sedimentary succession in the southern Bonaparte Basin represents an extensive marginal marine depositional system that hosts several gas accumulations, including the Blacktip gas field that has been in production since 2009. Development of additional identified gas resources has been hampered by reservoir heterogeneity, as highlighted by preliminary results from a post drill analyses of wells in the study area that identify reservoir effectiveness as a key exploration risk. The sedimentary succession that extends across the Permian–Triassic stratigraphic boundary was deposited during a prolonged marine transgression and shows a transition in lithofacies from the carbonate dominated Dombey Formation to the siliciclastic dominated Tern and Penguin formations. Recent improvements in chronostratigraphic calibration of Australian biostratigraphic schemes, spanning the late Permian and Early Triassic, inform our review of available palynological data and re-interpretation and infill sampling of well data. The results provide a better resolved, consistent and up-to-date stratigraphic scheme, allowing an improved understanding of the timing, duration, and distribution of depositional environments of the upper Permian to Lower Triassic sediments across the Petrel Sub-basin and Londonderry High. <b>Citation:</b> Owens R., Kelman A., Khider K., Iwanec J., Bernecker T. (2022) Addressing exploration uncertainties in the southern Bonaparte Basin: enhanced stratigraphic control and post drill analysis for upper Permian plays. <i>The APPEA Journal</i> 62, S474-S479