Geology and Evolution of the Capel and Faust Basins: Petroleum Prospectivity of the Deepwater Tasman Sea Frontier

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Abstract

The Capel and Faust basins are located on the northern Lord Howe Rise in water depths of 1300-2500 m. Geoscience Australia recently completed a geological study and assessed the petroleum prospectivity of the area, based on new seismic, potential field, multibeam bathymetry and rock sample data. The data sets were acquired under Australian Government initiatives aimed at providing pre-competitive information to industry. Existing data coverage in these remote frontier basins is sparse and the DSDP 208 drill hole provides the sole well control. The interpretation of seismic data has confirmed the existence of large depocentres containing a maximum total sediment thickness of over 6 km. The early syn-rift megasequence is inferred to Comprise Early Cretaceous volcanics and volcaniclastic sediments, with possible coal and lacustrine sediments. The late syn-rift megasequence is likely to be a Late Cretaceous non-marine to shallow marine clastic succession. The post-rift megasequence is a Late Cretaceous to Holocene marine succession that becomes increasingly calcareous. In some areas, the syn-rift sediments overlie an older (?Mesozoic) pre-rift basin succession. Two major extensional episodes are recognised and appear to be related to distinct breakup stages of the eastern Gondwana margin. Potential source rocks may occur in the pre-rift and syn-rift sections. Basin modelling indicates that the deeper depocentres have reached the oil or gas window and that expulsion could have occurred from the Early Cretaceous onward. Fluvio-deltaic, shoreline and turbiditic sandstones may provide potential reservoirs in the syn-rift and the lower post-rift sections. There is considerable potential for stratigraphic and fault-related traps, and large anticlinal structures have been identified. Similar large depocentres appear to also occur over the central and southern Lord Howe Rise, highlighting the exploration potential of this vast frontier region.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

70800

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Custodian

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Keywords

External PublicationConference Paper

( Theme )

petroleum geology

( Theme )

sedimentary basins

( Theme )

prospectivity

( Theme )

geophysics

( Theme )

structural geology

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

Earth Sciences

Published_Internal

Publication Date

2010-01-01T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Classification - unclassified

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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Use - license

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unknown

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geoscientificInformation

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Conference poster version of the abstract Geocat 70266 and conference paper Geocat 70818Paper available from Crown Minerals website at http://www.nzpam.govt.nz/cms/pdf-library/petroleum-conferences-1/2010-nzpc-technical-posters-papers/P24_Hashimoto_abstract.pdf.

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