Authors / CoAuthors
Thyer, R.F. | Vale, K.R.
Abstract
The Oaklands-Coorabin Coalfield in the Riverina Division of New South Wales has been known for many years. Coal is produced from a small colliery near Coorabin and a minor amount of exploratory drilling in the general vicinity of this mine has been carried out by New South Wales and Commonwealth Government authorities. This exploration has shown that coal seams extend over an area of a few square miles near Coorabin. The coal occurs in Permian rocks which do not crop out but are covered by Tertiary and younger sediments with a minimum thickness of 100 feet. Examination of the regional geology led to the conclusion that the coalfield is far more extensive than the limited area proved by drilling. Because of the Tertiary cover, normal geological methods cannot be used to map the boundaries of the Coal Measures and for this reason geophysical survey's, which have been used successfully on similar problems elsewhere, were undertaken to map the sedimentary basin. A gravity survey was carried out first and as the work proceeded it became obvious that a pronounced regional anomaly is present. Consequently, seismic methods were employed to try to obtain the thickness of the sediments at a number of critical places and to provide a control for separating the effect of the sediments from the regional effect. A residual gravity contour plan was obtained and indicates the general shape of the sedimentary basin. This plan provides a satisfactory basis for recommending drilling to test the potentialities of the basin. An area of approximately 1,450 square miles was covered by the geophysical surveys and, after correcting for regional effect, the residual gravity pattern suggests the presence of a Permian basin approximately 600 square miles in area, with a possible extension in a north-westerly direction. Recommendations are made for testing the geophysical results by drilling at five widely-spaced sites in the supposed basin. Five additional drilling sites are recommended and are designed to prove reserves near the known coal occurrences.
Product Type
document
eCat Id
216
Contact for the resource
Custodian
Owner
Custodian
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- GA PublicationBulletin
- ( Theme )
-
- geophysics
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- AU-NSW
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_External
Publication Date
1952-01-01T00:00:00
Creation Date
Security Constraints
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Status
Purpose
Maintenance Information
unknown
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Bulletin 019
Lineage
Unknown
Parent Information
Extents
[-36.0, -35.0, 145.5, 146.5]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Source Information
Source data not available.