Mesozoic evolution and exploration potential of the western Exmouth Plateau, Australia

Conference · Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:5787689

Buffler, R T ^[1]; Exon, N F ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin (United States)
2. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Canberra (Australia)

A regional grid of seismic data across the western Exmouth Plateau combined with recent ODP drilling results (Sites 762, 763, and 766) provide new ideas about the sedimentary history, tectonic evolution, and exploration potential of the area. The outer plateau is underlain by a thick section of regionally tilted, block-faulted, largely fluvial-deltaic, late Paleozoic-Triassic sediments. These sediments grade westward into an acoustically transparent basement interpreted to be Late Triassic-Early Jurassic intermediate volcanics. The western plateau is flanked on the northwest and southwest by the Gascoyne and Cuvier ocean basins, respectively, formed during the Lower Cretaceous when Greater India separated from Australia. Thermal doming of the margins in earliest Cretaceous just prior to initial rifting provided a southerly source area for the Barrow delta as well as local source areas for a thick, Barrow-equivalent sandstone unit along the western margin. Continued local uplift of the western margin during initial rifting (Late Valanginian-Hauterivian) provided shallow water source areas of local clastic wedges that prograded both eastward onto the plateau as well as westward into newly formed deepwater rift basins. This was followed by rapid subsidence of the plateau and deposition of deepwater shales and carbonates during the remainder of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Inferred source rocks (gas ) in the Triassic section, abundant reservoir rocks in the Triassic and overlying Lower Cretaceous, and overlying Cretaceous and Cenozoic seal, plus several episodes of thermal activity make the regional high along the western margin of the Exmouth Plateau a possible target for future deepwater exploration.

• OSTI ID: 5787689
• Report Number(s): CONF-910403-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Vol. 75:3; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Dallas, TX (United States), 7-10 Apr 1991; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
58 GEOSCIENCES
AUSTRALIA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
EXPLORATION
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
SEISMIC SURVEYS
ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
TECTONICS
AUSTRALASIA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
RESOURCES
SURVEYS
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
030200 - Natural Gas- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
580000 - Geosciences