Product catalogue
Resource potential of the Proterozoic−Paleozoic Carrara depocentre, South Nicholson region, Australia
A comprehensive geochemical program was carried out on rock samples collected in the NDI Carrara 1 drill hole, the first stratigraphic test of the newly discovered Carrara Sub-basin located in the South Nicholson region of northern Australia. The drill hole recovered continuous core from 284 m to total depth at 1750 m and intersected approximately 1120 m of Proterozoic sedimentary rocks, unconformably overlain by 630 m of Cambrian Georgina Basin carbonate-rich rocks. Total organic carbon (TOC) contents from Rock-Eval pyrolysis highlight the potential for several thick black shales to be a source of petroleum for conventional and unconventional plays. Cambrian rocks contain an organic-rich section with TOC contents of up to 4.7 wt.% and excellent oil-generating potential. The Proterozoic section is overmature for oil generation but mature for gas generation, with potential for generating gas in carbonaceous mudstones showing TOC contents up to 5.5 wt.% between 680 and 725 m depth. A sustained release of methane (up to 2%) recorded during drilling from 1150 to 1500 m suggests potential for an unconventional gas system in the Proterozoic rocks from 950 to 1415 m depth, which exhibit favourable organic richness and thermal maturity. The Proterozoic rocks, which are comparable in age to the sediment-hosted deposits of the Century Mine, contain local occurrences of lead, zinc and copper sulfide minerals providing hints of mineralisation. The combined geochemical results offer the promise of a potential new resource province in northern Australia.
<b>Citation:</b> E. Grosjean, A.J.M. Jarrett, C.J. Boreham, L. Wang, L. Johnson, J.M. Hope, P. Ranasinghe, J.J. Brocks, A.H.E. Bailey, G.A. Butcher, C.J. Carson, Resource potential of the Proterozoic–Paleozoic Carrara depocentre, South Nicholson region, Australia: Insights from stratigraphic drilling, <i>Organic Geochemistry</i>, Volume 186, 2023, 104688, ISSN 0146-6380, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2023.104688.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2022-12-03T05:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-12-06T04:01:45
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147498
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Grosjean, E.
Internal Contact Author Jarrett, A.J.M
Internal Contact Author Boreham, C.J.
Internal Contact Author Wang, L.
Internal Contact Author Johnson, L.
External Contact Author Hope, J.M.
MEG Internal Contact Author Ranasinghe, P.
External Contact Author Brocks, J.J.
External Contact Author Bailey, A. H. E.
MEG Internal Contact Author Butcher, G.A.
MEG Internal Contact Author Carson, C.J.
Internal Contact Publisher Elsevier Ltd
External Contact
- Name
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Organic Geochemistry
- Issue identification
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Volume 186, December 2023, 104688
- Purpose
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Publication for submission to Organic Geochemistry Journal
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Grosjean, E.
Internal Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Protocol
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FILE:DATA-DIRECTORY
- Name of the resource
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
- Description
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Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Project
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EFTF – Exploring for the Future
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MinEx CRC – Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre
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South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative
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Barkly-Isa-Georgetown
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- Keywords
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petroleum exploration
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- Keywords
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Carrara Sub-basin
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- Keywords
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NDI Carrara 1
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- Keywords
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South Nicholson region
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- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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Inorganic Geochemistry
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Organic Geochemistry
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Exploration Geochemistry
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
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4.0
- Addressee
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details User Any
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- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
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© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience) 2022
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Classification system
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice facsimile
- OnLine resource
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Link to Journal
Link to Journal
- Distribution format
-
Resource lineage
- Statement
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<div>Publication for an international peer-reviewed journal using data acquired during the EFTF South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative</div>
Metadata constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
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urn:uuid/19b17fb6-bc93-486f-898b-09e346cdb45a
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Grosjean, E.
Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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Journal Article / Conference Paper
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/147498
- Date info (Creation)
- 2025-06-09T05:04:34.737Z
- Date info (Creation)
- 2023-12-06T03:19:04
- Date info (Revision)
- 2025-06-09T05:04:46.295Z
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551