The geology of the Warburton Basin in South Australia

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Warburton Basin is an Early Palaeozoic sedimentary basin underlying the Cooper, Pedirka, and Eromanga Basins in northern South Australia. It extends into the Northern Territory and Queensland and lies within the southwestern edge of the Thomson Fold Belt. The Middle and Late Cambrian Kalladeina Formation is either flat‐lying or gently folded and rests on presumed Early Cambrian Mooracoochie Volcanics of the Gidgealpa Volcanic Arc; the latter may be a northern extension of the Mt Wright Volcanic Arc of northwest NSW. The Ordovician Dullingari Group, a sequence of sandstone, siltstone, shale, and black pyritic shale, was apparently affected by the Benambran Orogeny. The gently dipping ‘Innamincka Red‐Beds’ of ?Cambrian or ?Devonian age is a thick marine sandstone‐shale sequence. Granite at Moomba has been dated by whole‐rock Kb‐Sr at 333–362 Ma which may be the date of the last cooling of an older rock emplacement. Early Cambrian rocks in the Arrowie Basin area, eastern Officer Basin, and at McDills 1 in the Northern Territory may be marginal to the Warburton Basin. Petroleum potential of the Warburton Basin is demonstrated by the presence of hydrocarbons below the pre‐Permian unconformity, while also noting the possibility of Permian sourcing. Reservoir potential has been proved by testing and recovery of gas and gas‐saturated saline water. This interpretation is intended only as a model and is not nearly as complex as will be shown by future drilling. Extrapolation beyond the known facts was needed in order to make a model which is workable. More recent drilling has so far supported the model.

This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit: