Mineral potential of western Murray Basin
Baohong Hou & Marc Twining November 2019 Where and What Western Murray Basin Improving recognition & prediction Section 15 Region NSW Q cover Murray Basin Berri Basin
Nadda Basin
Darling Basin SA VIC Basement to the w Murray Basin
Section 15 Eg., Drexel et al., 1993; Drexel region and Preiss, 1995; Cowley, 2010; IUGS Geological Time Scale, 2015. Geology
Late Silurian to Early ? Carboniferous ?
Darling Basin
A ? RENMARK TROUGH A Eg., Alley and Gravestock, 1995; http://www.ga.gov.au / ? ? Geology
? Early Permian
RENMARK TROUGH
Nadda Basin ?
Late Carboniferous A to Triassic drillholes
Eg., Alley, 1995 A ? ? Geology
Jurassic to ? Cretaceous
RENMARK TROUGH Berri Basin
Section 15 Gazettal (2014/000363-2) A ? Eg., Thornton, 1974; Rogers, 1995;
A ? Geology
Section 15 Cainozoic Western Murray Basin hundreds Cainozoic drillholes; but Only a couple of dozen drillholes through the base. Geology Murray Basin W Murray Basin
Eg., Rogers et al., 1995; Stratigraphy -Murray Basin
Stratigraphy of the Murray Basin
HMS
HMS
HMS
HMS
modified from Rogers et al., 1995; Brown and Stephenson, 1991; Hou et al., 2012. Eustatic changes are based on Haq et al. (1987) Evolution -Western Murray Basin
Early Eocene - Oligocene (c.53-24 Ma)
UPPER 141° E ? RENMARK 32°30´ S GROUP
? fluvial ? ? swamp lacustrine
marginal marine
34°30´ S marine Buccleuch Fm 139° E Olney Fm/Warina Sand Olney Fm modified from Miranda Pre-Cainozoic et al., 2009; Fabris, 2002 Bedrock/Basement Evolution -Western Murray Basin
Early - Middle Miocene - (c.33-13 Ma) 141° E 32°30´ S ? MURRAY ? GROUP Olney Fm
marginal marine
Geera Clay Winnambool Fm
Mannum Limestone ? Sea
Gambier Limestone
34°30´ S Murray Group limestones 139° E
Ettrick Fm RENMARK GROUP modified from Miranda Pre-Cainozoic Bedrock/Basement et al., 2009; Fabris, 2002 Evolution -western Murray Basin
Late Miocene - Early Pliocene (c.7-3 Ma) After ~5 Ma erosion/non deposition 141° E ? Loxton Sand 32°30´ S
strandplain Olney Fm with ? lacustrine Loxton- strandlines HMS Parilla Sands
HMS marginal estuarine Blanchetown marine Clay deltaic Winnambool Fm Geera Late Clay Neogene Mannum Limestone Sea Bookpurnong Fm 34°30´ S ?
139° E Murray Gr oup li mestones Gambier RENMARK GROUP Limestone Pre-Cainozoic Ettrick Fm modified from Miranda Bedrock/Basement et al., 2009; Fabris, 2002 Evolution -western Murray Basin
?Late Pliocene - Pleistocene (c.2.4-0.7 Ma)
Mt Gambier coastal plain with strandlines
141° E 32°30´ S
Blanchetown Clay
Nullarbor Cliff ? HMS
lacustrine
Norwest Bungunnia ? Bend Fm Limestone Blanchetown ? HMS 34°30´ S HMS Clay 139° E Loxton-Parilla Sands Bookpurnong Fm
MURRAY AND RENMARK GROUPS modified from Miranda et al., Pre-Cainozoic Bedrock/Basement 2009; Fabris, 2002 Strandlines -Murray Basin
Loxton Sand strandplain with HM- HMS ? bearing strandlines HMS HMS? Mt Gambier coastal plain associated with HMS HMS Bridgewater Fm.
strandplain HMS? HMS identification?
after Ferris, 1999; Fargher, 2000. ? modified from Miranda et al., 2009 Strandlines –Murray Basin
Loxton Sand strandlines in Lake Bungunnia Sedimentary evolution? Post-depositional event?
modified from Miranda et al., 2009 Strandlines -HMS-bearing
Four types of Aeolian HM ? Lake Bungunnia Transgressive HM ? NSW, VIC Regressive HM ? SA Lag HM ? NSW
Littoral and HMS HMS regressive strandlines HMS play important HMS roles in the western HMS Murray Basin. Inferred components –Murray Basin HMS - Loxton Sand strandplain & Mount Gambier coastal plain
Neogene Loxton Sand strandplain; major structural features (black dish lines) controlling the distribution of the Upper Norwest Bend Fm? paleodrainage channels (yellow lines & blue dish line)?; Pleistocene strandplain - Mount Gambier coastal plain; Kanawinka Escarpment (marking the southern edge of the uplifted zone); Padthaway High?. Potential in western Murray Basin -interpretation of HMS-bearing strandlines
SRTM DEM NOAA-AVHRR ntt (1.1km pixel) ASTER nnt (90m pixel) DEM NOAA ntt ASTER ntt ? Landsat 7 ETM+ ntt (900m pixel) Identified strandlines
DEM + satellite ntt images + geology + geophysics? Ntt imagery interpretation of strandlines
ary estu in d la Sea level stan d p Palaeo-strandplain morphology High ran St
Bedrock E Regressive beach and ros shoreface sand ion surf ace
cover sand water table strandline sediments
Cooling feature Theory: temperature variations resulting from moisture
Palaeovalley morphology basin+channel regolith & sand covers sediments basin+channel fault zone sediments
channel /lake fills channel fills BEDROCKS BEDROCKS BEDROCKS Prospectivity -MB -HM sources?
after Ferris, 1999; Fargher, 2000. Keeling et al., 2015 Potential in w Murray Basin ? ?
Silver City Mindarie deposits
?
Murray ? Bridge ?
Keeling et al., 2015 Potential in western Murray Basin Groundwater in W Murray Basin
Four main regional aquifers separated by two confining layers: Quaternary Limestone (unconfined) aquifer (Coastal Section 15 Plain), Pliocene Sands (unconfined) aquifer, Bookpurnong Fm (confining layer), Murray Group Limestone (mostly unconfined) aquifer, Ettrick Formation (confining layer), Renmark Group (confined)
aquifer. Barnett (2015) Potentials beneath W Murray Basin
Energy resources? RENMARK TROUGH
2D / 3D? Murray Basin River System Evolution - Martin Köhler et al. Keep an eye on our webpage/Discovery Day as updated information becomes available
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