Product catalogue
Carnarvon Basin hydrogeological inventory
This Carnarvon Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus.
The Carnarvon Basin is a large sedimentary basin covering the western and north-western coast of Western Australia, stretching over 1,000 km from Geraldton to Karratha. It is predominantly offshore, with over 80% of the basin located in water depths of up to 4,500 m. The basin is elongated north to south and connects to the Perth Basin in the south and the offshore Canning Basin in the north-east. It is underlain by Precambrian crystalline basement rocks.
The Carnarvon Basin consists of two distinct parts. The southern portion comprises onshore sub-basins with mainly Paleozoic sedimentary rocks extending up to 300 km inland, while the northern section consists of offshore sub-basins containing Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and Paleozoic sequences.
The geological evolution of the Southern Carnarvon Basin was shaped by multiple extensional episodes related to the breakup of Gondwana and reactivation of Archean and Proterozoic structures. The collision between Australia and Eurasia in the Mid-Miocene caused significant fault reactivation and inversion. The onshore region experienced arid conditions, leading to the formation of calcrete, followed by alluvial and eolian deposition and continued calcareous deposition offshore.
The Northern Carnarvon Basin contains up to 15,000 m of sedimentary infill, primarily composed of siliciclastic deltaic to marine sediments from the Triassic to Early Cretaceous and shelf carbonates from the Mid-Cretaceous to Cenozoic. The basin is a significant hydrocarbon province, with most of the resources found within Upper Triassic, Jurassic, and Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs. The basin's development occurred during four successive periods of extension and thermal subsidence, resulting in the formation of various sub-basins and structural highs.
Overall, the Carnarvon Basin is a geologically complex region with a rich sedimentary history and significant hydrocarbon resources. Exploration drilling has been ongoing since 1953, with numerous wells drilled to unlock its hydrocarbon potential.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2023-09-01
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-09-28T07:21:31
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/148714
- Citation identifier
- Digital Object Identifier/https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/148714
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Purpose
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A thematic summary of the Carnarvon Basin. Part of a compendium of consistently compiled summaries that comprise the National Hydrogeological Inventory
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Carey, H.
MEG Internal Contact Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
- Inland waters
- Environment
Extent
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
-
Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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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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Hydrogeology
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
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ECOLOGY
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Land Use and Environmental Planning
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Environmental Management
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Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy)
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Basin Analysis
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EARTH SCIENCES
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GEOLOGY
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Sedimentology
-
- Project
-
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National Groundwater Sytems
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- Theme
-
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Groundwater
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- Theme
-
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Exploring for the Future
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- Theme
-
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National Hydrogeological Inventory
-
- Keywords
-
-
Published_External
-
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
-
CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
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(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2023
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice facsimile
- OnLine resource
-
Download the report (pdf) [1.1 MB]
Download the report (pdf) [1.1 MB]
- Distribution format
-
-
pdf
-
Resource lineage
- Statement
-
This document for the National Hydrogeological Inventory was created through the compilation and analysis of various national geospatial datasets and a range of supporting scientific and technical literature. In most cases, the spatial boundary (polygon) for the region was sourced from the Geoscience Australia Geological Provinces 2018 dataset. The geospatial data reported for the region of interest were selected by spatial queries of the region's polygon using Geographic Information System (GIS) applications. A variety of national-scale datasets were assessed for each region, with these data relevant to the study of groundwater, hydrogeology and related social, cultural or environmental characteristics. These data are published by various organisations (mostly Australian Government entities) and include fundamental Australian datasets such as the National Groundwater Information System (NGIS), National Aquifer Framework, Atlas of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems and the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD). A complete list of all data used to develop the National Hydrogeological Inventory, and the various data processing and analysis methods used, will be released as part of a future Geoscience Australia publication focused on the hydrogeological inventory methodology.
The document also contains written summary information about the geology, hydrogeology and related features of the region of interest. These narrative summaries were compiled by Geoscience Australia researchers based on literature review and analysis of a range of scientific and technical publications about the region. The reports use similar document templates to ensure the consistency of information provided across the entire Australian continent.
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/de9145a4-84f9-4dee-8078-7d8d6488edf6
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Carey, H.
MEG Internal Contact
- Title
-
National Hydrogeology Inventory
- Citation identifier
- 77a96e76-a39e-483d-976b-4137a79141f8
- Citation identifier
- 148897
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
-
GA publication: Carnarvon Basin hydrogeological inventory
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/148714
- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
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