Geoscience Australia commissioned reprocessing of selected legacy 2D seismic data in the Pedirka-Simpson Basin in South Australia-Northern Territory as part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program. 34 Legacy 2D seismic lines from the Pedirka Basin were reprocessed between May 2021 and January 2022 (phase 1). An additional 54 legacy 2D seismic lines (34 lines from Pedirka Basin, South Australia and 20 lines from Simpson Basin, Northern Territory) were reprocessed between November 2021 and June 2022 (phase 2). Geofizyka Toruń S.A. based in Poland carried out the data processing and Geoscience Australia with the help of an external contractor undertook the quality control of the data processing. The seismic data release package contains reprocessed seismic data acquired between 1974 and 2008. In total, the package contains approximately 3,806.9 km of industry 2D reflection seismic data. The seismic surveys include the Beal Hill, 1974; Pilan Hill, 1976; Koomarinna, 1980; Christmas Creek, 1982; Hogarth, 1984; Morphett, 1984; Colson 2D, 1985; Etingimbra, 1985; Fletcher, 1986; Anacoora, 1987; Mitchell, 1987; Bejah, 1987; Simpson Desert, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1987; Forrest, 1988; Eringa Trough, 1994; Amadeus-Pedirka, 2008 and covers areas within the Amadeus Basin, Simpson Basin, Pedirka Basin, Warburton Basin and Cooper Basin in South Australia and Northern Territory. The objective of the seismic reprocessing was to produce a processed 2D land seismic reflection dataset using the latest processing techniques to improve resolution and data quality over legacy processing. In particular, the purpose of the reprocessing was to image the structure and stratigraphic architecture of the Neoproterozoic to Late Palaeozoic Amadeus Basin, Triassic Simpson Basin, Cambrian–Devonian Warburton Basin, Permian–Triassic Pedirka Basin and Cooper Basin. All vintages were processed to DMO stack, Pre-stack Time Migration and Post-Stack Time Migration. <b>Data is available on request from clientservices@ga.gov.au - Quote eCat# 146309</b>

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future Program is investigating the mineral, energy and groundwater resource potential of sedimentary basins and basement provinces in northern Australia and parts of South Australia. A key challenge in exploring Australian onshore sedimentary basins is that these are often areas with limited seismic data coverage to image the sub-surface structural and stratigraphic architecture. Consequently, well logs are often the main data sets that are used to understand the sub-surface geology. Where good seismic data coverage is available, a considerable amount of time is generally required to undertake an integrated interpretation of well and seismic data. The primary aim of this study is to develop a methodology for visualising the three-dimensional tectonostratigraphic architecture of sedimentary basins using just well data, which can then be used to quickly screen areas warranting more detailed studies of resource potential. A workflow is documented which generates three-dimensional well correlations using just well formation tops to visualise the regional structural and stratigraphic architecture of the Amadeus, Canning, Officer and Georgina basins in the Centralian Superbasin. A critical step in the workflow is defining regionally correlatable supersequences that show the spatial linkages and evolution through time of lithostratigraphic units from different basin areas. Thirteen supersequences are defined for the Centralian Superbasin, which were deposited during periods of regional subsidence associated with regional tectonic events. Regional three-dimensional correlation diagrams have been generated to show the spatial distribution of these supersequences, which can be used as a reconnaissance tool for visualising the distribution of key stratigraphic elements associated with petroleum, mineral and groundwater systems. Three-dimensional well correlations are used in this study to redefine the Centralian Superbasin as encompassing all western, northern and central Australian basins that had interconnected depositional systems driven by regional subsidence during one or more regional tectonic events between the Neoproterozoic and middle Carboniferous. The Centralian Superbasin began to form during a series of Neoproterozoic rift-sag events associated with the break-up of the Rodinia Supercontinent at about 830 Ma. Depositional systems in the Amadeus and Officer basins were partially disconnected by an emergent Musgrave Province during these early stages of superbasin evolution. Subsequent regional uplift and erosion of the superbasin occurred during the late Neoproterozoic–early Cambrian Petermann Orogeny. The Officer and Amadeus were permanently disconnected by the uplifted Musgrave Province following this major orogenic event. Rejuvenation of the Centralian Superbasin occurred during middle–late Cambrian extension and subsidence resulting in the generation of several new basins including the Canning Basin. Subsidence during the Ordovician Larapinta Event created an intracontinental seaway that episodically connected the Canning, Amadeus, Georgina and Officer basins to the proto-Pacific Ocean in the east. Fragmentation of the Centralian Superbasin began at the onset of the Alice Springs Orogeny during the Rodingan Event when the uplifted Arunta Region disconnected the Amadeus and Georgina basins. The Rodingan Movement initially disconnected depositional systems between the Canning and Amadeus basins, which promoted the development of a large evaporitic depocentre over the southern Canning Basin. However, these basins subsequently reconnected during the Early Devonian Prices Creek Movement. Complete fragmentation of the Centralian Superbasin occurred during the Late Devonian–middle Carboniferous Pillara Extension Event when the Canning and Amadeus basins became permanently disconnected. Widespread uplift and erosion at the culmination of the Alice Springs Orogeny in the middle Carboniferous resulted in final closure of the Centralian Superbasin.

Following the publication of Geoscience Australia record 2014/09: Petroleum geology inventory of Australia's offshore frontier basins by Totterdell et. al, (2014), the onshore petroleum section embarked upon a similar project for onshore Australian basins. The purpose of this project is to provide a thorough basis for whole of basin information to advise the Australia Government and other stakeholders, such as the petroleum industry, regarding the exploration status and prospectivity of onshore Australian basins. Eight onshore Australian basins have been selected for this volume and these include: the McArthur, South Nicholson, Georgina, Amadeus, Warburton, Wiso, Galilee and Cooper basins. This record provides a comprehensive whole of basin inventory of the geology, petroleum systems, exploration status and data coverage for these eight onshore Australian basins. It draws on precompetitive work programs by Geoscience Australia as well as publicly available exploration results and geoscience literature. Furthermore, the record provides an assessment of issues and unanswered questions and recommends future work directions to meet these unknowns.

<div>Geoscience Australia and CSIRO have collaborated, under the Exploring for the Future program, to investigate whether water-saturated residual oil zones (ROZs), sometimes associated with conventional Australian hydrocarbon plays, could provide a CO2 storage resource and enhance the storage capacity of depleted fields. This product is part of a larger project that includes, among others, a reservoir modelling component. </div><div>This report focuses on our petrophysical module of work that investigated the occurrence and character of ROZs in onshore Australian basins. Our findings demonstrate that ROZs occur in Australia’s hydrocarbon-rich regions, particularly in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin. ROZs with more than 10% residual oil saturation are uncommon, likely due to small original oil columns and lower residual saturations retained in sandstone reservoirs than in classic, carbonate-hosted North American ROZs. Extensive, reservoir-quality rock is found below the deepest occurring conventional oil in many of the fields in the Eromanga Basin, potentially offering significant CO2 storage capacity.&nbsp;</div><div>For more information about this project and to access the related studies and products, see: https://www.eftf.ga.gov.au/carbon-co2-storage-residual-oil-zones. </div><div><br></div>

This Record presents data collected in March 2021 as part of the ongoing Northern Territory Geological Survey–Geoscience Australia (NTGS–GA) SHRIMP geochronology project under the National Collaborative Framework (NCF) agreement and Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future Program. New U–Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronological results derived from two drillhole samples of igneous and meta-igneous material from basement to the Amadeus Basin in the Northern Territory are presented herein. <b>Bibliographic Reference:</b> Kositcin N, Verdel C and Edgoose CJ, 2022. Summary of results. Joint NTGS–GA geochronology project: Crystalline basement intersected by the Mount Kitty 1 and Magee 1 drillholes south of Alice Springs, March 2021. <i>Northern Territory Geological Survey</i>, <b>Record 2022-002</b>.

The Middle Ordovician Stairway Sandstone consists of a succession of siliciclastic shallow marine sediments, stratigraphically positioned between the dark organic-rich siltstones of the Horn Valley Siltstone, and the regressive siltstones and shales of the overlying Stokes Siltstone, in the Amadeus Basin. The Stairway Sandstone is notable for containing early arandaspid fish fossils, and is a prospective reservoir for Larapinta Petroleum System hydrocarbons. The unit has not been directly dated, but a field sample from the uppermost Stairway Sandstone has yielded an abundant and well-preserved fauna, including micro-vertebrate and conodont fossils that enable correlation to high resolution international conodont biozonation schemes.

A key challenge in exploring Australian onshore sedimentary basins is limited seismic data coverage. Consequently, well logs are often the main datasets that can be used to understand the subsurface geology. The primary aim of this study was to develop a methodology for visualising the three-dimensional (3D) tectonostratigraphic architecture of sedimentary basins using well data, which can then be used to quickly screen areas warranting more detailed studies of resource potential. This project has developed a workflow that generates 3D well correlations using sequence stratigraphic well tops to visualise the regional structural and stratigraphic architecture of the Amadeus, Canning, Officer and Georgina basins in the Centralian Superbasin. Thirteen Neoproterozoic‒Paleozoic supersequence tops were interpreted in 134 wells. Three-dimensional well correlations provide an effective regional visualisation of the tectonostratigraphic architecture across the main depocentres. This study redefines the Centralian Superbasin as encompassing all western, northern and central Australian basins that had episodically interconnected depositional systems driven by regional subsidence during one or more regional tectonic events between the Neoproterozoic and middle Carboniferous. The Centralian Superbasin began to form during Neoproterozoic extension, and underwent several phases of partial or complete disconnection and subsequent reconnection of depositional systems during various regional tectonic events before final separation of depocentres at the culmination of the Alice Springs Orogeny. Regional 3D correlation diagrams have been generated to show the spatial distribution of these supersequences, which can be used to visualise the distribution of stratigraphic elements associated with petroleum, mineral and groundwater systems. <b>Citation: </b>Bradshaw, B., Khider, K., MacFarlane, S., Rollet, N., Carr, L. and Henson, P., 2020. Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Centralian Superbasin (Australia) revealed by three-dimensional well correlations. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.