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Summary of GA's plans for marine seismic and reconnaissance surveys off southwestern Australia in 2008/09 as part of the Offshore Energy Security Program

Receiver function studies of Northern Sumatra T. Volti and A. Gorbatov Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia The Northern Sumatra subduction zone is distinguished by the occurrence of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman megathrust earthquake and has a peculiar subduction of two major bathymetric structures; the Investigator fracture zone and the Wharton fossil ridge. Four stations in Northern Sumatra (BSI, PSI, PPI, GSI) and two stations in Malaysia (KUM and KOM) have been selected to construct migrated images based on receiver functions (RF) in order to study Earth structure and subduction processes in the region. Waveforms from 304 teleseismic earthquakes with Mb >5.5 and a distance range of 30º to 95º recorded from April 2006 to December 2008 were used for the analysis. The number of RF for each station varies from 20 to 192 depending on the signal/noise ratio. The computed RF clearly show pS conversions at major seismic velocity discontinuities associated with the subduction process where the Moho is visible at 5.5, 4, 3.5, and 2 sec for BSI, PSI, PPI, and GSI, respectively. RF for KUM and KOM have only conversions at the Moho near ~4 sec. The subducted slab is visible below Sumatra as a positive amplitude conversion preceded by a negative one, which we interpret as a low-velocity structure above the subducted slab. RF for PSI located at Toba supervolcano reveal pockets of low-velocity zones extending from a ~50 km depth down to the subducted slab. Forward modellings of RF suggest that seismic velocity contrasts can reach ~18% that is in accordance with previous local tomographic studies.

The under-explored deepwater Otway and Sorell basins lie offshore of southwestern Victoria and western Tasmania in water depths of 100-4,500 m. The basins developed during rifting and continental separation between Australia and Antarctica from the Cretaceous to Cenozoic and contain up to 10 km of sediments. Significant changes in basin architecture and depositional history from west to east reflect the transition from a divergent rifted continental margin to a transform continental margin. The basins are adjacent to hydrocarbon-producing areas of the Otway Basin, but despite good 2D seismic data coverage, they remain relatively untested and their prospectivity is poorly understood. The deepwater (>500 m) section of the Otway Basin has been tested by two wells, of which Somerset 1 recorded minor gas shows within the Upper Cretaceous section. Three wells have been drilled in the Sorell Basin, where minor oil and gas indications were recorded in Maastrichtian rocks near the base of Cape Sorell 1. Building on previous GA basin studies and using an integrated approach, new aeromagnetic data, open-file potential field, seismic and exploration well data have been used to develop new interpretations of basement structure and sedimentary basin architecture. Analysis of potential field data, integrated with interpretation of 2D seismic data, has shown that reactivated north-south Paleozoic structures, particularly the Avoca-Sorell Fault System, control the transition from extension through transtension to a dominantly strike-slip tectonic regime along this part of the southern margin. Depocentres to the west of this structure are large and deep in contrast to the narrow elongate depocentres to its east. Regional-scale mapping of key sequence stratigraphic surfaces across the basins has resulted in the identification of distinct basin phases. Three periods of upper crustal extension can be identified. In the north, one phase of extension in the Early Cretaceous and two in the Late Cretaceous can be mapped. However, to the south, the Late Cretaceous extensional phase extends into the Paleocene, reflecting the diachronous break-up history. Extension was followed by thermal subsidence, and during the Eocene-Oligocene the basin was affected by several periods of compression, resulting in inversion and uplift. The new seismic interpretation shows that depositional sequences hosting active petroleum systems in the producing areas of the Otway Basin are also likely to be present in the southern Otway and Sorell basins. Petroleum systems modelling suggests that if the equivalent petroleum systems elements are present, then they are mature for oil and gas generation, with generation and expulsion occurring mainly in the Late Cretaceous in the southern Otway and northern Sorell basins and during the Paleocene in the Strahan Sub-basin (southern Sorell Basin). The integration of sequence stratigraphic interpretation of seismic data, regional structural analysis and petroleum systems modelling has resulted in a clearer understanding of the tectonostratigraphic evolution of this complex basin system. The results of this study provide new insights into the geological controls on the development of the basins and their petroleum prospectivity.

The interpretation of two regional seismic reflection profiles and the construction of a balanced cross section through the southern Australian margin (Bight Basin) are designed to analyze the influence of the Australia-Antarctica continental breakup process on the kinematic evolution of the Cretaceous Ceduna delta system. The data shows that the structural architecture of this delta system consists of two stacked sub-delta systems. The lower White Pointer delta system (Late Albian-Santonian) is an unstable tectonic wedge, regionally detached seaward above Late Albian ductile shales. Sequential restorations suggest that the overall gravitational sliding behavior of the White Pointer delta wedge (~45 km of seaward extension, i.e., ~25%) is partially balanced by the tectonic denudation of the subcontinental mantle. We are able to estimate the horizontal stretching rate of the mantle exhumation between ~2 km Ma-1and 5 km Ma-1. The associated uplift of the distal part of the margin and associated flexural subsidence in the proximal part of the basin are partially responsible for the decrease of the gravitational sliding of the White Pointer delta system. Lithospheric failure occurs at ~84 Ma through the rapid exhumation of the mantle. The upper Hammerhead delta system (Late Santonian-Maastrichtian) forms a stable tectonic wedge developed during initial, slow seafloor spreading and sag basin evolution of the Australian side margin. Lateral variation of basin slope (related to the geometry of the underlying White Pointer delta wedge) is associated with distal raft tectonic structures sustained by high sedimentation rates. Finally, we propose a conceptual low-angle detachment fault model for the evolution of the Australian-Antarctica conjugate margins, in which the Antarctica margin corresponds to the upper plate and the Australian margin to the lower plate.

Compressional deformation is a common phase in the post-rift evolution of passive margins and rift systems. The central west Western Australian margin, between Geraldton and Karratha, provides an excellent example of strain partitioning between inverting passive margin crust and adjacent oceanic and continental crust. The distribution of contemporary seismicity in the region indicates a concentration of strain release within the basins diminishing eastward into the cratons. Very few data exist to quantify uplift or slip rates, however this pattern can be qualitatively demonstrated by tectonic landforms which indicate that the last century or so of seismicity is representative of patterns of Neogene and younger deformation. Pleistocene marine terraces on the western side of Cape Range indicate uplift rates of several tens of metres per million years, with similar deformation resulting in sub-aerial emergence of Miocene strata on Barrow Island and elsewhere. In the southern Carnarvon Basin, marine strandlines of unknown age are displaced by a few tens of metres, indicating uplift rates an order of magnitude lower than further west. Relief production rates in the western Yilgarn Craton are lower still - numerous scarps (e.g. Mt Narryer) appear to relate individually to <10 m of displacement across Neogene strata. The en echelon arrangement of such features distinguish them from those representing strain concentration in the craton proper, where scarps are isolated and typically <5 m high. Quantitative analysis of time-averaged deformation preserved in the aforementioned landforms, including study of scarp length as a proxy for earthquake magnitude, has the potential to provide useful constraint on seismic hazard assessments in a region which contains major population centres and nationally significant infrastructure.

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Australia's southern continental margin hosts rich oil and gas resources and offers huge potential for future discoveries. Most of Australia's oil has been produced from the Gippsland Basin, located in the easternmost part of the southern rift system. With all the petroleum system elements and processes in place, the basin contains Australia's only billion barrel oil fields. These giant accumulations are sourced from rich liquid-prone coaly and carbonaceous source rocks. In contrast, the western two-thirds of the southern margin is occupied by one of the largest frontier provinces in Australia - the Bight Basin. The thick sedimentary succession in the Bight Basin (>15 km) and its evolution from local half-graben depocentres during the Jurassic, to an extensive sag basin in the Early Cretaceous and passive margin during the Late Cretaceous to Holocene, suggests that there is significant potential for the presence of multiple petroleum systems across the basin. The Ceduna Sub-basin in the eastern Bight Basin is currently the focus of renewed exploration efforts. The key to its petroleum prospectivity is the distribution of Upper Cretaceous marine and deltaic facies. Dredging of upper Cenomanian-Turonian organic-rich marine rocks has confirmed the presence of high quality potential source rocks in this section. These rocks are mature in the central part of the Ceduna Sub-basin and are likely to have generated and expelled hydrocarbons since the Campanian. Excellent reservoir rocks and potential intraformational seals are present in the Upper Cretaceous deltaic successions, and regional seals could be provided by Upper Cretaceous marine shales.

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