Product catalogue
Understanding present-day stress in the onshore Canning Basin of Western Australia
The Ordovician to Cretaceous Canning Basin of Western Australia is an underexplored prospective onshore petroleum basin with proven petroleum systems currently producing on a small-scale. The Canning Basin has recently become a site of interest for unconventional hydrocarbon exploration, with several formations within deeper basin depocentres being investigated for resources and estimates that suggest it may have the largest shale gas potential in Australia. Modern petroleum resource evaluation generally depends on an understanding of both local and regional stresses, which are a primary control over the formation and propagation of induced fractures. Presently, there are significant gaps in our understanding of these factors within the Canning Basin.
This study characterises the regional stress regime of the onshore Canning Basin and presents detailed models of present-day stress within the subsurface. These allow for the identification of significant stress heterogeneities and natural barriers to fracture propagation. Wireline data interpretation reveals a variable present-day state of stress in the Canning Basin. An approximately NE-SW regional present-day maximum horizontal stress orientation is interpreted from observed wellbore failure in image logs, in broad agreement with both the Australian Stress Map and previously published earthquake focal mechanism data. One-dimensional mechanical earth models constructed for intervals from 15 Canning Basin petroleum wells highlight the relationship between lithology and stress. This study describes significant changes in stress within and between lithological units due to the existence of discrete mechanical units, forming numerous inter- and intra- formational stress boundaries likely to act as natural barriers to fracture propagation, particularly within units currently targeted for their unconventional resource potential. Broadly, a strike-slip faulting stress regime is interpreted through the basin, however, when analysed in detail there are three distinct stress zones identified.: 1) a transitional reverse- to strike-slip faulting stress regime in the top ~1 km of the basin, 2) a strike-slip faulting stress regime from ~1 km to ~3.0 km depth, and 3) a transitional strike-slip to normal faulting regime at depths greater than ~3.0 km. This study is a component of the Australian Government’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) initiative, which is focused on gathering new data and information about the resource potential concealed beneath the surface across northern Australia.
Appeared online in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 17 Feb 2021
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Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2020-10-19
- Date (Publication)
- 2021-07-08T23:25:52
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/140129
Identifier
- Codespace
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Digital Object Identifier
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Author Bailey, A.
MEG Internal Contact Author Jarrett, A.J.M.
External Contact Author Tenthorey, E.
MEG Internal Contact Author Henson, P.
MEG Internal Contact
- Purpose
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External publication
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Informa UK Limited
External Contact Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact Point of contact Bailey, A.
MEG Internal Contact
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- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
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Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
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Product data repository: Various Formats
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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EARTH SCIENCES
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- Keywords
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Canning Basin
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Exploring for the Future
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- Keywords
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in situ stress
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EFTF
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present-day stress
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mechanical earth models
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image logs
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wellbore failure
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poroelastic stresses
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rock properties
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
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CC-BY
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4.0
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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- English
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
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Link to Article
Link to Article
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pdf
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Metadata constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security Classification System
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- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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Metadata
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Bailey, A.
MEG Internal Contact
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External Publication
Alternative metadata reference
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
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- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
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
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Version 2.0, September 2018
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