The structure of Australia's southern rifted margin: basement architecture, rifting processes and basin development  


Authors / CoAuthors

Totterdell, J. | Gibson, G.M. | Stacey, A.R. | Mitchell, C. | Morse, M.P. | Nayak, G.K. | Kusznir, N.

Abstract

Australia's southern magma-poor rifted margin extends for over 4000 km, from the structurally complex region south of the Naturaliste Plateau in the west, to the transform plate boundary adjacent to the South Tasman Rise in the east (Figure 1a). The margin contains a series of Middle Jurassic to Cenozoic basins-the Bight, Otway, Sorell and Bass basins, and smaller depocentres on the South Tasman Rise (Figure 1b). These basins, and the architecture of the margin, evolved through repeated episodes of extension and thermal subsidence leading up to, and following, the commencement of seafloor spreading between Australia and Antarctica. Break-up took place diachronously along the margin, commencing in the west at ~83 Ma and concluding in the east at ~ 34 Ma. The Australian southern margin exhibits a gross 3-fold segmentation that is the product of basement geology and a prolonged and diachronous extension and breakup history. The basins that developed on the margin reflect those influences. Analysis of the stratigraphic evolution of those basins provides valuable constraints on the nature and timing of breakup processes in the absence of drilling on distal parts of the margin.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

74421

Contact for the resource

  Custodian

ED  

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Keywords

  • GA PublicationPoster/Image
( Theme )
  • continental margins
( Theme )
  • crustal structure
( Theme )
  • sedimentary basins
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Published_Internal

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2012-01-01T00:00:00

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geoscientificInformation

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