Organic Geochemistry
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The hydrocarbon generative potential and the thermal maturity of source rocks in the offshore northern Perth Basin was reassessed based on existing and new geochemical data to get a better understanding of the basin's prospectivity. The study establishes for the first time that the main source of onshore accumulations, the Late Permian-Early Triassic Hovea Member, is well developed offshore and contains organic-rich sediments of oil-prone character. This finding shatters the long-held view that the Hovea Member was either absent or of poor quality offshore and provides a new perspective on the basin's prospectivity. The source potential of the Hovea Member varies spatially with best source rocks observed in the Beagle Ridge and Central Abrolhos Sub-basin. The Late Permian Irwin River Sequence and several Jurassic Sequences are also identified as prime potential source rocks offshore, mostly for their gas-generative potential. Oil-generative potential was identified in the Middle to Late Jurassic Yarragadee Sequence and possibly in the Middle Jurassic Cadda Sequence.
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<b>IMPORTANT NOTICE:</b> This web service has been deprecated. The Hydrochemistry Service OGC service at https://services.ga.gov.au/gis/hydrogeochemistry/ows should now be used for accessing Geoscience Australia hydrochemistry analyses data. This is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web service providing access to hydrochemistry data (groundwater analyses) obtained from water samples collected from Australian water bores.
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<b>IMPORTANT NOTICE:</b> This web service has been deprecated. The Australian Onshore and Offshore Boreholes OGC service at https://services.ga.gov.au/gis/boreholes/ows should now be used for accessing Geoscience Australia borehole data. This is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web service providing access to a subset of Australian geoscience samples data held by Geoscience Australia. The subset currently relates specifically to Australian Boreholes.
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This database contains geochemical data for samples analysed both for inorganic and organic geochemistry. Analytical data are sourced from Geoscience Australia's Inorganic Geochemistry Database (OZCHEM) and Organic Geochemistry Database (ORGCHEM), respectively. The data are joined on a unique sample number. Inorganic geochemical data cover the majority of the periodic table, with metadata on analytical methods and detection limits. Organic geochemical data include results of pyrolysis, derivative calculated values, and, where available, isotopic composition of carbonates (D13C) and isotopic composition of rock nitrogen (D15N). Further, there are provisions for delivery of isotopic data for kerogen (H, C, N) and oxygen (O) for carbonates. Where available, sample descriptions include stratigraphic unit names and ages, and lithology. Location information includes coordinates of the sampled feature (eg, borehole), coordinates of the sample and sample depth. Interpretation of the combined inorganic and organic geochemistry for organic-rich shales will facilitate comprehensive characterisation of hydrocarbons source rocks and mineral commodities source and trap environments. All are achieved within the frameworks of petroleum and mineral systems analysis. The initial data delivered by this service include 1785 samples from 35 boreholes from 14 geological provinces, including recently released data for 442 samples from the South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative Carrara 1 stratigraphic drill hole (Butcher et al., 2021; Carson et al., 2021). Many sampled boreholes are located within the polygon of the Exploring for the Future Barkly-Isa-Georgetown project. This dataset will be updated periodically as more data become available.
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The Roebuck Basin on Australia’s offshore north-western margin is the focus of a regional hydrocarbon prospectivity assessment being undertaken by the Offshore Energy Systems Section. This offshore program is designed to produce pre-competitive information to assist with the evaluation of the hydrocarbon resource potential of the central North West Shelf and attract exploration investment to Australia. The recent oil and gas discoveries at Phoenix South 1 (2014), Roc 1 (2015-16), Roc 2 (2016), Phoenix South 2 (2016), Phoenix South 3 (2018), Dorado 1 (2018) and Dorado 2–3 (2019) in the Bedout Sub-basin demonstrate the presence of a petroleum system in Lower Triassic strata (Grosjean et al., 2021; Rollet et al., 2019). As part of this program, a range of organic geochemical analyses were acquired on petroleum fluids from the Dorado 1 and Roc 2 wells with these data released in this report.
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The unexpected discovery of oil in Triassic sedimentary rocks of the Phoenix South 1 well on Australia’s North West Shelf (NWS) has catalysed exploration interest in pre-Jurassic plays in the region. Subsequent neighbouring wells Roc 1–2, Phoenix South 2–3 and Dorado 1–3 drilled between 2015 and 2019 penetrated gas and/or oil columns, with the Dorado field containing one of the largest oil resources found in Australia in three decades. This study aims to understand the source of the oils and gases of the greater Phoenix area, Bedout Sub-basin using a multiparameter geochemical approach. Isotopic analyses combined with biomarker data confirm that these fluids represent a new Triassic petroleum system on the NWS unrelated to the Lower Triassic Hovea Member petroleum system of the Perth Basin. The Bedout Sub-basin fluids were generated from source rocks deposited in paralic environments with mixed type II/III kerogen, with lagoonal organofacies exhibiting excellent liquids potential. The Roc 1–2 gases and the Phoenix South 1 oil are likely sourced proximally by Lower–Middle Triassic TR10–TR15 sequences. Loss of gas within the Phoenix South 1 fluid due to potential trap breach has resulted in the formation of in-place oil. These discoveries are testament to new hydrocarbon plays within the Lower–Middle Triassic succession on the NWS.
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NDI Carrara 1 is a deep stratigraphic drill hole completed in 2020 as part of the MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative (NDI) in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. It is the first test of the Carrara Sub-Basin, a depocentre newly discovered in the South Nicholson region based on interpretation from seismic surveys (L210 in 2017 and L212 in 2019) recently acquired as part of the Exploring for the Future program. The drill hole intersected approximately 1120 m of Proterozoic sedimentary rocks unconformably overlain by 630 m of Cambrian Georgina Basin carbonates. Continuous cores recovered from 283 m to a total depth of 1750 m provide samples of the highest quality for a comprehensive geochemical program designed to inform on the energy and mineral prospectivity of the Carrara Sub-basin. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) contents from Rock-Eval pyrolysis of the Cambrian and Proterozoic sections demonstrate the potential for several thick black shales as source rocks and unconventional plays. Evidence for retained hydrocarbons included bituminous oil stains in centimetre-scale vugs within the Cambrian Georgina Basin and several oil bleeds within the Proterozoic section. The latter also contains surface gas with up to 2% methane concentrations measured within carbonaceous mudstones. Geochemical analyses of hydrocarbon shows highlight the occurrence of several petroleum systems operating in this frontier region. The results at NDI Carrara 1 offer the promise of a new exciting resource province in northern Australia.
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Geoscience Australia and its predecessors have analysed the hydrochemistry of water sampled from bores, surface features, rainwater and core samples (pore water). Samples have been collected during drilling or monitoring projects, including Exploring for the Future (EFTF). The hydrochemistry database includes physical-chemical parameters (EC, pH, redox potential, dissolved oxygen), major and minor ions, trace elements, isotopes and nutrients. The resource is accessible via the Geoscience Australia Portal <a href="https://portal.ga.gov.au/">(https://portal.ga.gov.au/)</a>
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A regional hydrocarbon prospectivity study was undertaken in the onshore Canning Basin in Western Australia as part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, an Australian Government initiative dedicated to driving investment in resource exploration. As part of this program, significant work has been carried out to deliver new pre-competitive data including new seismic acquisition, drilling of a stratigraphic well, and the geochemical analysis of geological samples recovered from exploration wells. A regional, 872 km long 2D seismic line (18GA-KB1) acquired in 2018 by Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), images the Kidson Sub-basin of the Canning Basin. In order to provide a test of geological interpretations made from the Kidson seismic survey, a deep stratigraphic well, Barnicarndy 1, was drilled in 2019 in a partnership between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) in the Barnicarndy Graben, 67 km west of Telfer, in the southwest Canning Basin. Drilling recovered about 2100 m of continuous core from 580 mRT to the driller’s total depth (TD) of 2680.53 mRT. An extensive analytical program was carried out to characterise the lithology, age and depositional environment of these sediments. This data release presents organic geochemical analyses undertaken on rock extracts obtained from cores selected from the Barnicarndy 1 well. The molecular and stable isotope data carbon and hydrogen will be used to understand the type of organic matter being preserved, the depositional facies and thermal maturity of the Lower Ordovician sedimentary rocks penetrated in this well. This information provides complementary information to other datasets including organic petrological and palynological studies.
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<b>Legacy service Retired 29/11/2022 IMPORTANT NOTICE: </b>This web service has been deprecated. The Australian Onshore and Offshore Boreholes OGC service at https://services.ga.gov.au/gis/boreholes/ows should now be used for accessing Geoscience Australia borehole data. This is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web service providing access to Australian onshore and offshore borehole data. This web service is intended to complement the borehole GeoSciML-Portrayal v4.0 web service, providing access to the data in a simple, non-standardised structure. The borehole data includes Mineral Drillholes, Petroleum Wells and Water Bores along with a variety of others types. The dataset has been restricted to onshore and offshore Australian boreholes, and bores that have the potential to support geological investigations and assessment of a variety of resources.