• Product catalogue
  •  
  •  
  •  

Waxy bitumen stranding in southern Australia: a geochemical study of multiple oil families and their likely origins

Reports of bitumen stranding on the ocean beaches of southern Australia date back to the early days of European settlement. Previous investigations have shown that this ‘coastal bitumen’ comprises three categories of stranded petroleum: waxy bitumen, asphaltite and oil slicks. All three varieties are physically and chemically distinct from each other, and bear no geochemical resemblance to any indigenous Australian crude oil. This study focuses on the most common variety, waxy bitumen, which accounted for 90% of the strandings on six South Australian beaches repeatedly surveyed during 1991–1992. Geochemical analysis of 96 individual specimens collected from these survey sites and other beaches in South Australia and western Victoria has shown them to be variously weathered high-wax crude oils of paraffinic to aromatic-intermediate bulk composition. Elemental, isotopic and biomarker differences allow their assignment to at least five oil families with inferred source facies that range from deep freshwater lacustrine through paludal and deltaic to euxinic marine, possibly deposited within different sedimentary basins. Family 1, 2 and 3 waxy bitumens all contain biomarkers derived from the freshwater alga Botryococcus sp. and tropical angiosperms (notably dipterocarps). Similar biomarker assemblages are unknown in Australian sedimentary basins but are common in Cenozoic crude oils and source rocks throughout western Indonesia. Family 4 waxy bitumens lack these biomarkers, but do contain dinosterane and 24-n-propylcholestane, indicative of a marine source affinity, while the carbon isotopic signatures and high pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) ratios of Family 5 waxy bitumens are consistent with their origin from coal-rich source rocks deposited in fluvial to deltaic sedimentary successions. The majority of these waxy bitumens represent an oceanic influx of non-indigenous, Southeast Asian crude oils carried into the waters of southern Australia by the Leeuwin Current. Although they are likely to originate from natural seepage within the Indonesian Archipelago, it is unknown whether the parent oils emanate from submarine seeps or from inland seepages which are then carried to the sea by rivers. The common practice of tanker cleaning operations in the Java and Banda seas may augment the supply of natural bitumen to the beaches of Australia.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2017-05-16T00:00:00
Date (Publication)
2018-03-09T00:51:22
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/110781

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Edwards, D.S.

Co-author

McKirdy, D.M.

Co-author

Rowlands, S.J.

Co-author

Heath, D.J.

Co-author

Gray, P.S.

Purpose

Manuscript for Organic Geochmistry

Status
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

Edwards, D.S.

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Resource provider

RD

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Spatial representation type
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

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

Keywords
  • Coastal bitumen

Keywords
  • Bight Basin

Keywords
  • Otway Basin

Keywords
  • Bremer Basin

Keywords
  • Waxy bitumen

Keywords
  • Biomarker alkanes

Keywords
  • Carbon isotopic signatures

Keywords
  • Oil families

Keywords
  • Indonesian provenance

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
OnLine resource

Link to Journal article

Link to Journal article

Distribution format
  • html

Resource lineage

Statement

Not suppied

Hierarchy level
Document

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/bc20671e-9b34-48c4-9f3a-723fbbe25720

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Edwards, D.S.

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

GA Publication: External Publication

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/110781

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/bc20671e-9b34-48c4-9f3a-723fbbe25720

Date info (Creation)
2017-05-16T04:36:59
Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T05:50:28

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Bight Basin Biomarker alkanes Bremer Basin Carbon isotopic signatures Coastal bitumen Indonesian provenance Oil families Otway Basin Waxy bitumen

Provided by

Access to the portal
Read here the full details and access to the data.

Associated resources

Not available


  •  
  •  
  •