Palaeogeography and petroleum potential of the Beagle Sub-Basin, Australia
- Bureau of Resource Sciences, Canberra (Australia)
- Australian Geological Survey Organisation, Canberra, (Australia)
Palaeogeographic reconstructions of the Beagle Sub-basin of the Carnarvon Basin show a complex matrix of three major palaeoperiods, overprinting four separate tectonic zones. The palaeoperiods are: an initial period of back-rift depression sedimentation, a period of active pre-breakup tectonism resulting in block faulting, trough development and wrenching, and a post-breakup period of thermal sag and marine transgression. The tectonic zones are: basin margin features, major trough depocentres, intra-basin horsts and grabens, and outer basin platform areas. The eleven palaeogeographic reconstructions presented give only partial support to the global eustasy hypothesis, with Beagle Sub-basin data from the Anisian to Ladinian and the Rhaetian to Pliensbachian at variance with published global sea level curves. When petroleum geochemical data are superimposed upon the palaeogeographic matrix, it is possible to predict the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the rocks deposited in various spatial and temporal zones. The most important source rocks in the southern and central parts of the Sub-basin are likely to be Triassic and Lower Jurassic lacustrine, fluvial and estuarine sediments in the Beagle and Cossigny Troughs, with hydrocarbon migration into several possible trap types predicted. In the north, the virtually unexplored Outer Beagle Platform contains abundant source, reservoirs and seal, and may be highly prospective, with two separate series of beach-barrier complexes particularly likely to provide high quality, extensive reservoir sands.
- OSTI ID:
- 6862594
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960527-; CODEN: AABUD2
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 5; Conference: Annual convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Inc. and the Society for Sedimentary Geology: global exploration and geotechnology, San Diego, CA (United States), 19-22 May 1996; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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