Permo-Triassic Sydney Basin, Australia
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Sedimentary Geology, 85 (1993) 557-577 557 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam Longitudinal fluvial drainage patterns within a foreland basin-fill: Permo-Triassic Sydney Basin, Australia E. Jun Cowan * School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie UniL,ersity, N.S. l~ 2109, Australia Received June 10, 1992; revised version accepted December 11, 1992 ABSTRACT Cowan, E.J., 1993. Longitudinal fluvial drainage patterns within a foreland basin-fill: Permo-Triassic Sydney Basin, Australia. In: C.R. Fielding (Editor), Current Research in Fluvial Sedimentology. Sediment. Geol., 85: 557-577. The north-south trending Permo-Triassic Sydney Basin (southern sector of the Sydney-Bowen Basin) is unique compared to many documented retro-arc foreland basins, in that considerable basin-fill was derived from a cratonic source as well as a coeval fold belt source. Quantitative analysis of up-sequence changes in sandstone petrography and palaeoflow directions, together with time-rock stratigraphy of the fluvial basin-fill, indicate two spatially and temporally separated depositional episodes of longitudinal fluvial dispersal systems. A longitudinal drainage-net similar in geometry to the modern Ganga River system (reduced to 60% original size) explains many of the palaeoflow patterns and cross-basinal petrofacies variation recorded in the basin-fill. The Late Permian to Early Triassic rocks reveal a basin-wide southerly directed fluvial drainage system, contemporaneous with east-west shortening recorded in the New England Fold Belt. In contrast, the Middle Triassic strata reveal a change to an easterly directed fluvial system, correlated to a shift in orogenic load to a NW-SE orientation in the fold belt northeast of the basin. The detailed petrofacies variation in the deposits of the second longitudinal fluvial dispersal system reveals vertical jumps in petrofacies compositions, with uniform compositions between jumps. The petrological jumps are interpreted as the result of minor fault adjustments in the fold belt, resulting in changing rates of sediment supply to the foreland basin. Uninterrupted erosion of the same terrain most likely caused the compositional uniformity between jumps. The identification of similar longitudinal fluvial systems, with transverse variation in detrital composition, is likely to help resolve the tectonic history of foreland fold belts elsewhere. Introduction characterised broadly into two categories: longi- tudinal and transverse dispersal systems. The major detrital source of foreland basins is On a basin-wide scale, the orientations of lon- the active fold-thrust belt or magmatic arc (Dick- gitudinal systems are parallel, and transverse sys- inson, 1986). Some studies, however, point out tems are orthogonal, to the coeval orogen (Miall, that foreland basins partly derive material from 1981; Dickinson, 1988; Burbank and Beck, 1991). the cratonic side of the basin as well as the The orientation of the Ganga River system, a tectonieally active orogenic margin (Meckel, 1967; modern longitudinal drainage system, follows the Jones. 1972; Graham et al., 1976; Heller et al., present axis of maximum subsidence that paral- 1988; L6pez Gamundi et al., 1990). Modern allu- lels the thrust-load expressed by the strike of the vial systems reveal such intermixing of bivariant Himalayan fold-thrust belt (Fig. 1). The northern detrital provenance, and the style of sediment tributaries of this large river system receive sedi- dispersal responsible for its deposition can be ment from the fold-thrust belt, whereas the southern tributaries tap the rocks of the Indian shield (cf. Miall, 1981, fig. 1). The resulting detri- * Present address: Department of Geology, University of tal composition of the Ganga River is a mixture Toronto, Toronto, Ont. M5S 3BI, Canada. of two distinct sedimentary provenances; a major 0037-0738/93/$06.00 © 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved 558 C()WAN contribution of sediment from a recycled oro- and the development of the second system in the genic source, and a minor contribution from a Sydney Basin. The orientation of the two disper- cratonic interior source. In contrast, the modern sal systems yields information on the temporal Amazon River system represents a transverse change of thrust-load orientation in the coeval drainage system, characterised by downstream fold belt, enabling structural data from the fold compositional maturity away from the orogen belt to be examined in light of this intormation (Franzinelli and Potter. 1983). for possible correlations. The longitudinal drainage systems, being con- fined within the depositional margins of the fore- Geological overview land basin, not only preserve orogenic and cra- tonic detritus within the basin stratigraphy, but As the southern sector of the mcridionatty petrographic variations may be expected orthogo- orientated Sydney-Bowen Basin, the Permo-- lri- nal to the palaeoflow direction at any given time. assic Sydney Basin is bound presently to the Orogen-sourced transverse drainage systems, on northeast by the northeasterly dipping thrust-sys- the other hand, record down-stream variation in tem of the New England Fold Belt (Glen and detritat composition, and the intermixing of cra- Beckett, 1989). The basin thins to the southwest tonic material does not occur within the confines to an erosional margin overlying the early-middle of the foreland basin, hence the resulting compo- Palaeozoic basement of the Lachlan Fold Bell sition of detritus deposited by transverse disper- (Fig. 2). Contemporaneous with deformation m sal systems is wholly orogenic in origin. the New England Fold Belt, the Sydney Basin In the Sydney-Bowen Basin, a Permo-Triassic was its retro-arc foreland basin, while tile Lach- retro-arc foreland basin, a significant component lan Fold Belt constituted a craton during the of the basin-fill was derived from the cratonic Late Permian to Middle Triassic sedimentation side, as well as the orogenic side of the basin (Jones et al., 1984). (Conaghan et al., 1982; Fielding et al., 1992). The Although generally considered a foreland cross-basinal petrofacies and palaeoflow data basin, the Sydney Basin during the Early Permian from the dominantly fluvial Late Permian to Mid- evolved initially in a back-arc extensional setting dle Triassic strata of the Sydney Basin (southern (Scheibner, 1973; Collins, 1991). The mechanism sector of the Sydney-Bowen Basin) suggest that of basin subsidence during the Early Permian was the sediment dispersal responsible lbr the basin- likely the result of crustal attenuation ff)lh;wed by fill was that of two temporally separate longitudi- thermal subsidence of the lithosphere (Brownlow, nal fluvial systems. This paper examines in detail 1981), during which marine depositional environ-- the waning stage of the first longitudinal system ments predominated (Herbert, 1980). H~reland Fig. 1. Tectonicsetting of the Ganga River system. LONGITUDINAL FLUVIAL DRAINAGE PATTERNS WITHIN A FORELAND BASIN-FILL 559 basin characteristics of the Sydney Basin first latest Early Triassic to Middle Triassic (Cona- developed during the Late Permian at the time of ghan et al., 1982; Jones et al., 1984). It is the the Hunter-Bowen Orogeny (Collins, 1991; Vee- purpose of this paper to evaluate the petrology of vers et al., 1993), at which time coarse clastics these fluviatile sandstones to illuminate the tec- were introduced into a paralic environment from tonic influences experienced by the basin during the New England Fold Belt. Further denudation this waning period of detrital contribution from of the orogen, accompanied by reduction in the the orogen. The fluvial rocks in question are the basin subsidence rate, resulted in a regressive uppermost Narrabeen Group and the Hawkes- succession, culminating in alluvial sedimentation bury Sandstone, exposed along the central coast by bedload streams carrying orogenically derived region of New South Wales near Sydney (Figs. detritus towards the south (Herbert, 1980; Cona- 2-4). ghan et al., 1982; Jones et al., 1987). Dominantly fluvial sedimentation continued Stratigraphy and depositional environments uninterrupted during the Late Permian to Middle Triassic, but contribution of orogenic detritus The coastal stratigraphy of the Lower to Mid- from the New England Fold Belt waned at the dle Triassic succession in the study area has been expense of cratonically derived sediments in the divided into six compositionally uniform strata- sets, referred to as intervals hereafter (A to F in Fig. 3). Boundaries between each of these strati- graphic intervals are sharply defined by laterally extensive discontinuities (> 50 km; Fig. 4) in sandstone composition. In terms of the conven- tional stratigraphic nomenclature applied to this succession south of Broken Bay (Fig. 2), these intervals extend upward from the topmost part of the Bulgo Sandstone through the Bald Hill Clay- stone/Gaffe Formation, the Newport Formation to the Hawkesbury Sandstone (Fig. 3). North of Broken Bay, all rocks except the Hawkesbury Sandstone belong to the Terrigal Formation (formerly Gosford Formation) of the Narrabeen Group (Fig. 3). Initially defined south of Broken Bay, the stratigraphic intervals A to F were traced laterally to the north beyond Broken Bay (Figs. 2, 4) using the petrographic data of McDonnell (1983). The interpreted depositional environ- ments of these intervals are summarised in Table 1. Sandstone petrology of the stratigraphic intervals Petrofacies The subdivision of the coastal