This record presents a compilation of new zircon U-Pb SHRIMP geochronological results (total of 17 samples) from the east Arunta region, the Litchfield Province and the Nimbawah Domain of the Pine Creek Orogen, and the Murphy Inlier, Northern Territory/Queensland. These data was collected through the ongoing collaborative NTGS-GA geochronology project during the period July 2007-June 2009 under the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA). Six samples were analysed from the east Arunta region (HALE RIVER, ILLOGWA). Five of these samples were from Palaeoproterozoic metasediments and intrusives, one sample (1945963) was from the overlying Neoproterozoic Amadeus Basin (Table 1). Ten samples in total were collected from the Pine Creek Orogen; one from the Litchfield Province (CAPE SCOTT), the remainder from the Nimbuwah Domain (COBOURG PENINSULA, ALLIGATOR RIVER). One sample (from the base of the Westmoreland Conglomerate) was analysed from the Murphy Inlier region (WESTMORELAND; Qld). Three additional samples were submitted for SHRIMP analysis but which did not yield zircons or the zircons extracted were unsuitable for analysis.

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This work forms part of a major internation multi-disciplinary study of the Permian -Triassic boundary, end-Permian mass extinction and Middle Permian-Early Triassic timescale calibration. Studies undertaken in the overarching program include biostratigraphy, isotope geochronology, magnetostratigraphy, and chemostratigraphy.

Abstract for 34th IGC

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Australia's North West Shelf (NW Shelf) has been the premier hydrocarbon exploration and production province for over 30 years. Despite the large number of geological studies completed in this region, numerous geological questions remain to be answered such as the provenance of reservoir units and how this relates to reservoir quality, extent and correlation. Submission of offshore sample material by explorers on the NW Shelf has allowed U-Pb age results to be determined; providing insights into the potential provenance and sedimentary transport pathways of various Triassic to Cretaceous reservoir facies. Initial results reveal that the proximal Pilbara, Yilgarn and Kimberly cratons were not major proto-sources during the Middle to Upper Triassic. The prospective, Mungaroo Formation appears to display a Triassic volcanic signature; the source of which remains enigmatic, but numerous grain characteristics suggest a source proximal to the Exmouth Plateau. Many samples show a Gondwana Assemblage age. Sediment sources of this age are absent on the Australian continent suggesting a distal origin - most likely the Antarctic and Indian blocks. Transport pathways, for the Triassic Mungaroo Formation, are interpreted as possibly northward through a proto-Perth Basin or north-westward through the Gascoyne-Hamersley-Pilbara regions. Other results suggest subtle differences in provenance of the sediments between the Exmouth Plateau and Rankin Platform, and that the provenance signatures of the Bonaparte, Canning and Perth basins show distinctively different provenance signatures.

Australia's Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) span most of Earth's geological history, ranging from Early Archean to Recent. LIPs in continental Australia are represented by continental flood basalts, fragments of oceanic plateaux, layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions, sill complexes and dyke swarms. It is only in the last decade that geologists have started to focus on LIPs in Australia, mainly from the perspective of their mineral potential, particularly after the discovery of the Nebo-Babel Ni-Cu-PGE deposit in the West Musgrave Province, central Australia. The list of LIPs increased by including other well-known igneous provinces, such as the Fortescue, Warakurna, Hart-Carson, Kalkarindji (formerly known as Antrim Plateau Volcanics) and various dyke swarms (e.g., Widgiemooltha, Marnda Moorn, Gairdner). The Bunbury Basalt, although only covering a small area in the Cape Naturaliste-Cape Leeuwin peninsula, joined the list of LIPs, due to its age links with the huge Kerguelen oceanic plateau magmatism. As indicated by the world-class Nebo-Babel deposit and further discoveries in the West Musgrave and in the Kimberley region, the mineral potential of LIPs is very high. In the case of orthomagmatic mineral systems, the selection of areas or specific intrusions requires focusing on isotope systematics and trace- and major-element geochemical trends to filter out mafic-ultramafic intrusions that may not have undergone sulphur saturation from those that have experienced sulphur saturation from processes, such as crustal contamination. In eastern Australia, there are two major volcanic provinces: the Early Cretaceous Whitsunday volcanic province, which is a good example of a silicic LIP, and a 4400 km long belt characterised by recent (youngest volcano is 4600 years ago) intraplate alkaline volcanism. The mineral potential associated with these provinces is as yet not fully assessed.

The Mount Painter Province is located in the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia and comprises deformed Proterozoic metasedimentary and igneous rocks.

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