Sedimentary basin framework of Exmouth Plateau, northwest Australia

Conference · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6395226

Boyd, R; Exon, N; Williamson, P

The Exmouth Plateau is a marginal plateau lying off northwest Australia. Water depths range between 800 m and 4000 m, and the area shallower than 2000 m covers approximately 150,000 km/sup 2/. The plateau consists of rifted and deeply subsided continental crust, with a Phanerozoic sedimentary sequence around 10 km thick, deposited in the Canning and Carnarvon basins. The plateau is separated from the Northwest Shelf by the Kangaroo syncline and is bounded to the north, west, and south by oceanic crust of Cretaceous and Jurassic age. The present structural configuration of Exmouth Plateau was initiated by rifting in the Triassic to Middle Jurassic, followed by northwest-oriented sea floor spreading. The western margin has a normal rifted structure, while the southern margin structure was dominated by transform motion. The complex rifted and sheared northern margin contains at least one crustal block of post-breakup igneous origin. Below a rift onset unconformity of Neocomian age lies a thick Triassic paralic sequence to the south, while farther north the unconformity is of Callovian age and overlies a Jurassic sequence of Tethyan carbonates, coal measures, and volcanics. The post-breakup sequence consists of Late Jurassic-Cenomanian deltaic and shelf clastics, overlain by thin Late Cretaceous-Tertiary shallow marine to pelagic carbonates. Exmouth Plateau therefore represents classic rift to mature ocean stage development of a sediment-starved passive margin. The large fault blocks in the rifted Triassic-Jurassic sequences and large areal closures in the Cretaceous deltas encouraged petroleum exploration over the last two decades. The rifted section was shown to be gas prone, while the overlying section proved to be largely immature.

• Research Organization: Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, Nova Scotia
• OSTI ID: 6395226
• Report Number(s): CONF-870606-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 71:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
AUSTRALASIA
AUSTRALIA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
EXPLORATION
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
JURASSIC PERIOD
MATURATION
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS