Reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the Houtman Sub-basin, Western Australia

The Houtman Sub-basin is an under-explored region of the northern Perth Basin, offshore Western Australia. Interpretation of Geoscience Australia’s recently acquired GA349 seismic survey reveals that the northern sub-basin contains a Permian–Early Cretaceous succession up to 16 km thick, dominated by two main phases of extension in the Permian and late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. The most prominent feature of the basin architecture is a series of large Permian half graben which extend along the inboard part of the basin and are overlain by a westward-thickening Triassic–Jurassic succession with closely spaced faulting in the outboard region. To aid understanding of the basin’s petroleum prospectivity, this study uses 2D structural restorations to investigate the major phases of basin evolution, the amount of crustal extension (ß) associated with each rifting event and the magnitude of uplift and erosion associated with the Valanginian unconformity.

Newly interpreted seismic sequences were used to construct a 2D geological model on a dip line through the northern Houtman Sub-basin, which formed the basis of the structural restorations. A combination of decompaction and reconstruction using a simple shear kinematic model enabled regional restoration of the basin through time. Constraints on estimates of erosion at the Valangininian unconformity were provided by area balancing. 1D subsidence curves extracted along the section were compared with crustal thickness changes in the restored 2D profile to investigate the variation in extension factor along the transect.

Results indicate a complex basin history with multiple phases of rifting, culminating in the separation of Australia and Greater India. Initial Early- to mid-Permian rifting was focused along the inboard part of the basin, resulting in the formation of large half-graben and deposition of up to 10 km of synrift sediments. This was followed by widespread Triassic–Early Jurassic thermal subsidence. The second major phase of rifting occurred in the late Jurassic–Cretaceous and saw the focus of deformation shift to the outboard region of the basin. The total ß factor for both phases of extension is >6 over the outboard part of the basin, indicating hyperextension of the crust, with a maximum ß factor of 3 associated with Permian graben formation. The results of this work have important implications for petroleum potential in the basin. Crustal thinning and maximum burial depth are two key factors influencing the basin’s burial and temperature history, and hence are required for predicting source rock maturity and generation history.

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Date (Creation)
2017-10-31T00:00:00
Date (Publication)
2017-12-18T23:52:05
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/115702

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Orlov, C.
Co-author

Hall, L.S.
Co-author

Borissova, I.
Co-author

Southby, C.
Co-author

Owens, R.
Purpose

Poster and associated abstract presented at the 2017 Specialist Group in Tectonics and Structural Geology (SGTSG) conference on 8-12 November 2017.

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Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
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Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division

 External Contact
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Hall, L.

 Space Division Internal Contact
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  • Geoscientific information

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S
E
W


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Not planned

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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

Place

  • Houtman Sub-basin

Place

  • Perth Basin

Theme

  • structural evolution

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification: Fields of Research

  • Earth Sciences

Keywords

  • Published_External

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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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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

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License

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

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2018-11-01T00:00:00
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https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

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Unclassified
Language
English
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UTF8

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Download the poster (pdf)

Download the poster (pdf)

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  • pdf

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Poster created for SGTSG 2017 conference based on work by listed authors in 2016-2017

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

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

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

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Unclassified

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Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/4418ba1f-68d2-40e8-91da-76fd57fb7362

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Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Owner

Orlov, C.

 MEG Internal Contact
Point of contact

Hall, L.

 Space Division Internal Contact

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Document
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GA publication: Poster

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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

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Citation identifier
eCatId/115702

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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/4418ba1f-68d2-40e8-91da-76fd57fb7362

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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/ofmj3/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/4418ba1f-68d2-40e8-91da-76fd57fb7362

Date info (Creation)
2017-12-18T03:30:39
Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T05:50:41

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

 
 

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N
S
E
W


Keywords

structural evolution
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification: Fields of Research
Earth Sciences

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