Structure and sedimentary history of Exmouth Plateau
The large, deep-water Exmouth Plateau off northwestern Australia has been actively explored for petroleum, and a giant gas accumulation has been found. Data from industry and research institutions have established its geological framework. The plateau has a basement of continental crust that was thinned and extended in the Permian. This is overlain by 10 km of Phanerozoic strata, with an average of more than 3 km of Triassic, about 1 km of Jurassic/Cretaceous, and 0.5 km of Cenozoic strata. The plateau separated from other parts of the northern margin of Gondwanaland in the Mesozoic. Latest Triassic and Jurassic rifting formed large north-northeast-trending fault blocks; in the Oxfordian a microcontinent drifted away to the northwest, forming the plateau's northern margin. The other margins developed in the Neocomian as Greater India separated from Australia - the western margin by rifting and the southern by shearing. Terrigenous input declined greatly at that time. This old continental margin, with its relatively thin Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments, was selected by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) for comprehensive and fully integrated sedimentologic, biostratigraphic, paleobathymetric, and subsidence studies.
- Research Organization:
- Bureau of Mineral Resources, Canberra (Australia)
- OSTI ID:
- 6120121
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890404-
- Journal Information:
- AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States), Vol. 73:3; Conference: AAPG annual convention with DPA/EMD Divisions and SEPM, San Antonio, TX, USA, 23 Apr 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Sequence stratigraphy on an early Cretaceous passive margin, Exmouth Plateau
Mesozoic evolution and exploration potential of the western Exmouth Plateau, Australia