COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
1: 250,000 GEOLOGICAL SERIES-EXPLANATORY NOTES TOWNS VILLE QUEENSLAND
SHEET SE/55-14 INTERNATIONAL INDEX
Compiled by D. H. Wyatt (Geological Survey of Queensland)
Issued under the authority of the Hon. David Fairbairn, Minister for National Development ·
BUREAU OF MINERAL RESOURCES, GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS CANBERRA 1968 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTEa: THE HON. DAVID FAmBAII\N, D.F.C., M.P. SECR.ETAlW: R. W. BOSWELL, 0.B.B.
BUREAU OF MINERAL RESOURCES, GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS DmE'cro1t: J.M. RAYNEll, 0.B.E.
THESE NOTI!S WEllB PllEPAll£D IN TIil! OEOLOOICAL BllANCH ASSISTANT DtllECTOll: N. H. FISHEil
Printed in Australia by the Commonwealth Government Printer, Cant:erra Compiled by D. H. Wyatt
Explanatory Notes on the Townsville Geological Sheet
The Townsville 1 :250,000 Sheet is bounded by longitudes 145 ° 30' and 147° O' E. and latitudes 19° and 20° S. It covers the coastal areas north and south of Townsville, the second largest city in Queensland, and the hinterland west to beyond the Burdekin River. Access within the area is good, but routes are frequently circuitous owing to natural barriers such as the Coane Range in the north, the Paluma, Hervey, and Leichhardt Ranges in the east, and the Burdekin River in the west and south. The main roads are the Bruce Highway (Hwy 1) along the coast, the Flinders Highway (Hwy 78) south from Townsville to Reid River thence southwest to Charters Towers, and the Ewan-Paluma road, which joins Highway 1 just north of the Sheet area. A system of subsidiary shire roads connects cattle stations with these roads, and station tracks connect neighbouring stations, outstations, and watering sites. Rail services connect Townsville with Brisbane and Cairns by the North Coast Railway, and with Mount Isa by the Great Northern Railway. Air services extend north and south from Townsville to most coas·tal towns, and west of Townsville services extend to most inland towns as well as Mount Isa and Darwin. A few station properties are serviced regularly by light aircraft, and many properties have landing strips suitable for light aircraft.
Climate The climate is warm and dry in winter, and hot and wet in the summer. The wet season, which is not always reliable, lasts from November to March. Rare frosts occur on the inland uplands. West of the Paluma and Hervey Ranges, rainfa11 is between 20 and 30 inches per annum; east of that line it ranges between 30 and 50 inches, except for a small area in the extreme north, where it is over 50 inches.
Vegetation Most of the area is covered by open forest, woodland, or savannah; the higher ranges near the coast are covered by tropical rain forest.
Previous and Contemporary Investigations The first geological observations in the area were made by Leichhardt (1847) who recorded limestone at Terrible Creek (probably the present Arthur 1
10713/ 68-2 Creek) near Burdekin Downs. Jack made four reconnaissance traverses through the area between 1879 and 1887. On the first of these (1879a), he described the Star Beds, the Dalrymple-Dotswood Beds, the limestone at Burdekin Downs, the pre-Devonian granite and metamorphics, and the strata now assigned to the Collopy Formation. During his second traverse later in 1879 ( 1879b), he described volcanics between Keelbottom Creek and Fanning River, which are now assigned to the Carboniferous, and the limestones at Fanning River and Reid River. As the result of his third traverse in i 886, when he described the silver mines at Argentine, he equated his Star and Dotswood Beds (1886f). In 1887 he briefly described the geology of the Continong-Dalrymple-Dotswood area ( 1887b). As a result of these traverses the broad outline of the regional geology was established. L~ter work . was directed mainly towards individual mineral deposits. How ever, Maitland (1891) made brief mention of the limestone near Ewan, and described strata of the present Kangaroo Hills Formation, which be assigned to the Devonian. Jack in 1892 mentioned the limestone at Ewan more fully in his description of the associated silver-lead deposits. In 1892, Maitland described the geology of the Townsville/Stuart/Magnetic Island region (1892a, b).In 1893 he made brief mention of the geology between Charters Towers and Hillgrove while reporting on silver deposits in the Stockyard Creek area. Jack (in Jack & Etheridge, 1892) summarized the geology of the area. Since 1900, numerous reports on mineral deposits, mainly in the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field, have been made by officers of the Geological Survey of Queensland; they are listed in the Bibliography. The limestones in the Reid Gap area have been described on numerous occa sions, especially since 1955, when Carruthers made a reconnaissance geologi cal survey of the area l}955a). Morton (1928) had previously delineated many of the limestones. Most of the later reports deal specifically with reserves of individual limestone occurrences. A survey of the land characteristics of the Townsville-Bowen Region was carried out by CSIRO in 1950. The report on the survey (Christian et al., I 953) contains a reconnaissance geological map (by D. M. Traves) which takes in the Townsville Sheet area about as far west as longitude 146° 40' E. The systematic geological mapping of the Sheet area was begun in 1960 by the Geological Survey of Queensland, and continued during 1961 and 1962. The mapping was completed by a joint Geological Survey of Queensland and Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Resources field party in 1963. A report on the results of this mapping is in preparation (Wyatt et al., in prep.). 1 : 250,000 geological maps and explanatory notes for the adjoining Sheet areas are either available or in preparation, as follows: Ingham ( de Keyser ~t al., 1965), Clarke River (White, 1962), Charters Towers (Clarke, in prep.), Ayr (Gregory, in prep.) and Hughenden (Vine & Paine, in prep.).
PHYSIOGRAPHY The Townsville Sheet area is divisible into three main physiographic units: Coastal Lowlands, Coastal Hills and Mountains, and Inland Uplands (Fig. 1). 2 The Coastal Lowlands extend east from the foot of the Paluma, Hervey, and Leicbbardt Ranges. They consist essentially of_outwash plains formed by an old distributary river system. Close to mountainous country_ the plains merge into alluvial fans. North of the Ross River most streams flow directly to the sea in deeply incised channels with relatively straight· courses. South from the Ross River valley, between Frederick Peak and Mount Stuart, the low lands form a corridor between the Hervey Range and the Coastal Hill Country, and link the plains of the Haughton River in the south with those of the Bohle and Black Rivers in the north. This corridor is drained by tributaries of the Ross River, Landsdowne and Five Head Creeks, which flow north from a low, almost imperceptible divide at Woodstock. This divide separate.s them from the tributaries of Major Creek, which flows southeast to the Haughton River. The divide was probably an eminence in the original surface of deposition, and is not due to subsequent erosion.
~::=-J Undulating country 0 10 20 Miles
INLAND UPLANDS f:f~~J')ij Dissected low ploteoux G .j Coastal lowlands k;~t j Ronges l''\c·/c:J Coastal hills and mountains Fig. 1. Pbyslograpblc Units.l East of the Coastal Hill Country, the lowlands consist of outwash plains and fans merging with tidal flats in which streams have meandering courses, pro bably due to the iryfluence of tidal currents and aggradation on the present coast. A detailed study of the coastal lowlands about Townsville was made by Hedley ( 1925). The Coastal Hills and Mountains consist of residuals surrounded by the Coastal Lowlands. The highest point is Mount Elliot ( 4025 feet), the highest peak in the Townsville Sheet area, but generally the elevation is less. The Inland Uplands occupy the greater part of the Sheet area. They consist primarily of a dissected peneplain which, over most of the area, has a regional westerly slope. Elevations in this region vary considerably, and are closely related to rock-type. Relief also varies considerably, and is related to rock-type and the degree of fracturing or faulting. The uplands are divisible into three subunits: ·
Undulating country occupies the central and southern parts of the uplands. It has generally low relief, although in places it may be rugged. It corresponds generally to the outcrop areas of the Ravenswood Granodiorite, and the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous sequences.
Dissected low plateaux of Cainozoic rocks occupy the southwestern part of the region. The plateaux are not greatly elevated above the undu.lating country; in fact they may be termed plateaux only with regard to the immediately adja cent country, for a few miles farther east much of the undulating country is higher than the plateaux. In the Cainozoic sedimentary areas, the low plateaux, which are between 20 and 60 feet above the surrounding country, are much dissected by stream erosion. In the Cainozoic basalt areas the plateau margins are only 10 to 20 feet above the surrounding country, but the plateau formed by the N ulla Basalt (Nulla Plateau of White, 1962) is dome-shaped so that its central part is some 300 feet higher than its margins. The basalt plateaux are less dissected than the sedimentary plateaux, but many of the streams are deeply incised. The Cainozoic basalt flows had a marked influence on drainage in the south west For example, some of the flows were confined by the course of the Burdekin River, whose old channel can be traced by their remnants. With the filling in of the stream course by basalt, the river was forced to find a new course farther to the east. The Basalt River also appears to have found a new course to the north of its old one, as indicated by basalt flows. The recent Toomba Basalt bas also modified the drainage. For example, in the Lolworth and Fletcher Creeks area, extensive ponding has resulted in the formation of shallow lakes and swamps. The main streams draining the plateaux are Hann, Lolworth, Fletcher, and Allingham Creeks and the Basalt·River. Ranges occupy the northwestern, northern, and eastern parts of the region. The ranges constitute the highest parts of the Inland Uplands and range from 500 to J 000 feet above the plateaux or undulating country. The highest country is about Mount Halifax (3486 feet) in the Paluma Range. The ranges include the mountains about Mount Oweenee, the Perry, Coane, Paluma, Hervey, Leichhardt, and Grasshopper Ranges, and the high country about Ben Lomond East. Most of the range area is rugged, especially in the Paluma and Hervey Ranges, where there has been much faulting. It was along some of these faults that movements in the Cainozoic elevated the Inland Uplands above the Coastal Lowlands, and produced the fault scarp still evident in the Hervey Range area. 4 The ranges form a semicircular catchment in which rise many of the major tributaries of the Burdekin River, e.g. Star River, Keelbottom Creek, Fanning River, and Kirk River.
STRATIGRAPHY The rocks probably range from Precambrian to Cainozoic in age. Strata believed to be Precambrian occur in the centre, west, and north. Early Palaeozoic sediments occupy the northwest as an extension of sediments laid down in the Kangaroo Hills Deep (White, 1962). Late Palaeozoic sediments and volcanics occupy much of the northern, central, and south eastern parts of the area. Sediments possibly of Mesozoic age form The Bluff, near Mingela, and Cainozoic sediments and basalt flows occupy the south west.
Almost half the rocks exposed are intrusive or extrusive, and the ages assigned to most of them are tentative. A programme of isotopic dating of igneous and metamorphic rocks from the Townsville Sheet area is being carried out by A. W. Webb at the Australian National University.
The geology is summarized in Tables 1-3 and 6.
Precambrian(?) (Table 1) The Running River Me,taroorphics and the Argentine Metamorphics are believed to be Pre,cambrian. Their interrelationships are unknown, but, because of the lithological similarity of ampbibolites in the two formations, it is suggested that they are, in part, equivalent. These formations are mapped as Precambrian because the Running River Metamorphics are over lain with an angular unconformity by the early Palaeozoic (Silurian?) Ewan Beds.
The Running River Metamorphics crop out in the valley of Running River and extend northeast from Mount Brown, near Ewan, to beyond Hidden Valley in the adjoining Ingham Sheet area. They were previously included in the 'Ewan metamorphics' named by Bush (1960), which also included the present Ewan Beds. The Argentine Metamorplucs crop out over a roughly triangular area extend ing from the lower reaches of Speed Creek to White Springs near Mount Stockyard and north to the head of the Star River. They were briefly mentioned by Jack (1879a, 1886£), but not formally described.
Early Palaeozoic (Table 1) Charters Towers Metamorphics. In 1926 Bryan applied the name Charters Towers series to the metamorphic rocks near Charters Towers, in the adjoin ing Sheet area, where they occur as large roof pendants in the Ravenswood Granodiorite. Stra·ta which are probably equivalent occur as small roof pendants near Breddan and at Three-mile Creek, 7 miles northeast of Burdekin Downs homestead. 5 TABLE 1. PRE-MIDDLE-DEVONIAN STRATIGRAPHY
Rock unit Lithology Remarks
Lolworth Deeply lateritized porphyritic 'granite'. Overlain by Cainozoic sediments. Small areas near Igneous Complex Fem Springs homestead. Gold ('Big Hit' mine (S-DI) just S. of Sheet area).
;z: Ravenswood Granodiorite, granite, aplite, pegmatite, Intrudes Argentine Metamorphics, Charters Granodiorite adamellite, diorite, gabbro. Towers Metamorphics. Kirk River Beds. In places 0~ (S-Dr), (S-Da) strongly foliated. Age, 420-440 m.y. (3 K/Ar ~ determinations). Q "' Kangaroo Hills Quartz sandstone, shale, lenses of Probably unconformably overlies Tribute Hills ~ Formation greywacke and conglomerate. Sandstone. Unconformably under Clarke River .s (S-Dk) Formation and Sybil Group. Thin beds of quartz arenite and shale, arenite generally current- ~ bedded. ;z: ~ Tribute Hills · Quartz sandstone, siltstone. Possibly equivalent to Pelican Range Formation ~ Sandstone (Clarke River Sheet). 3500--SOOO feet thick. rn= (S-Dt) Greenvale Siltstone, greywacke, subgreywacke, Thickness unknown. Formation silty quartz sandstone, feldspathic (Sg) sandstone, conglomerate.
Ewan Beds Greywacke, lithic and quartzose con- Unconformable on Running River Metamorphics. (Pze) glomerate, sandstone, siltstone, lime- Intruded by Oweenee Granite. Thickness probably stone, andesitic and rhyolitic volcanics. 5000-10,000 feet. Very much fractured. Poorly !:? preserved corals. Tin and copper related to 0 N Carboniferous granite. 0 "'< ,-1 Kirk River Beds Micaceous shale, siltstone, lithic and Intruded by and faulted against Ravenswood < Cl, (Pzk) feldspathic sandstone, arkose. Granodiorite. About 12,000 feet thick. Slumping, ..,), convolute bedding in arenites. Gold at Bunkers Hill. ~ Ill Charters Towers Mica schist, quartz-plagioclase-biotite Roof pendants in Ravenswood Granodiorite. Metamorphics gneiss. Small gold deposits near Charters Towers. {Pzf)
Argentine Mica schist, quartzite, quartz schist, Intruded by Ravenswood Granodiorite. Uncon Metamorphics garnetiferous mica schist and quartzite, formably overlain by Givetian-Tournaisian (pCa) actinolite schist, marble, amphibolite, sequences. Silver at Argentine. G
6 TABLE 2. MIDDLE DEVONIAN-LOWER CARBONIFEROUS STRATIGRAPHY
Rock unit Lithology Remarks
MIDDLE (D-C) Sandstone, shale, conglomerate, Six separate poorly e)(posed areas. Jn plac,es, 01!VONJAN limestone. probably equivalent to Fanning River Group, TO LoWER Dotswood Formation, Star Beds, Clarke River CAltBONl Formation. PEROUS
Clarke River Sandstone, shale, limestone, Equivalent in part to Piccadilly Formation. ..::, :z Formation conglomerate. Unconformable on Kangaroo Hills Forma- 0 < (Cc) tion. Intruded by Oweenee Granite and "'... i1l e: < possibly by diorite (C-Pb}. Thickness probably "'z ~ several thousand feet. Marine and plant fossils. ~= ~ Piccadilly Formation Arkose, feldspathic sandstone, Conformable on Hardwick Formation. 1200- .s~ (Ca) quartz-pebble conglomerate. I 700 feet thick. - -- Game Hill Beds Feldspathic and quartzose Probably equivalent to Star Beds. Uncon- (D-Cg) arenites, shale, mudstone, lime- formable on Argentine Metamorphics. Un- stone, conglomerate, subgrey- conformable or disconformable beneath St wacke. James Volcanics. Intruded by porphyry (C-Pp). About 2500 feet thick. Abundant marine fossils and plants. z ::, "' ~ Calcareous sandstone, shale, oo :c Star Beds Unconformable between Argentine Metamor- "z ...Cl (D-Cs) siltstone, limestone, arkose, phics and Tareela Volcanics. Intruded by
7 TABLE 3. LATE PALAEOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY
Rock unit Lithology Remarks
(.) s (d), (f) Dolerite, microdiorite, felsite dykes. Intrude C- Pv. Some dykes intrude youngest granites (P-Mg). Probably includes two groups of § basic to intermediate dykes separated by felsite ~ dykes and granite (P- Mg). . I: (P-Mg) Chiefly biotite granite and adamellite. Intrude volcanics (C-Pv). Epizonal stocks. Rare ;z gold at Magnetic Island and Mount Elliot. ~ Minor quartz monzonite, quartz ~ syenite, hornblende-quartz gabbro, 2 microgranite.
(C- Pv) Intermediate and acid flows and Stratigraphic relationship with Carboniferous pyroclastics; rare conglomerate, sequence unknown. Probably several thousand sandstone, shale, siltstone, coal. feet thick. Thin seams of coal in Stuart-Antill Plains area.
:z: Kitty O'Shea Andesite. Dykes intruding Frasoian-Tournaisian sediments. ~ lntrusives Probably related to diorite (C-Pb). ~ (an) ,:i.."' (C-Pg), (C- Pb) Granite, adamellite, granodiorite, Intrude Carboniferous and Devonian sequences. .."' diorite . More basic types probably earlier. 3 .s Pall Mall Pink a.nd grey coarse porphyritic lntrudes Tournaisian and older rocks. 0 Adamellite biotite adamellite. .,.. (C-Pa) ;:, 0 (C-Pp) Acid porphyry, grading to micro- Intrudes Devonian sediments, Carboniferous "'...e: :z granite. volcanics, and Argentine Metamorphics. Probably 0 related to granites (C-Pg). :! u~ (C- Pi) Dolerite, microdiorite. Irregular bodies and dykes. Intrude Devonian and C!rboniferous sequences. Intruded by granite "' (C-Pg) ::>"' (f), (an) Quartz-feldspar porphyry, andesite. Dykes intruding Oweenee Granite parallel to Sybil Graben. Possibly related to C-Ph. (C- Ph) Light-coloured rhyolite; minor dacitic lsolated plugs and sills. Gold at Mount Success. intrusion breccia. lntrude Ravenswood Granodiorite, Devono- Carboniferous sequence, and Oweenee Granite.
...~o "' (Pzu) Mica schist, hornfels, gneiss, quartzite; Some areas probably equivalent to Devonian and e: ~ metamorphosed si.ltstone, sandstone, Carboniferous units. Mainly contact meta- :Z:£A- arkose, limestone. morphics. :> ..
(Cuy) Dark rhyolite and dacite; volcanic Probably Upper Carboniferous. May include high- breccia and agglomerate. level intrusives. Intruded by Oweenee Granite and other late Palaeozoic granites. (Cuv) Rhyolitic and aqdesitic flows and Probably Upper Carboniferous. Thickness un- ..;:, pyroclastics. known. 0 "'., !!! Tareela Volcanics Andesitic and rhyolitic flows and Unconformable(?) on Star Beds. 10,000 feet thick. :z 0 (Ct) pyroclastics; minor sediments. "' u"'< Insolvency Gully Subgreywacke, feldspathic sandstone, Faulted against St James Volcanics and Game Hill ., Formation siltstone, mudstone, conglomerate, Beds. lntrud~d by granite (C-Pg) and granodiorite "'... (Ci) chert . (C-Pb). 3500 feet thick. Plant fossils. Animal ::> tracks . St James Andesitic flows and pyroclastics, sub- Unconformable(?) on Game Hill Beds. Faulted Volcanics greywacke, rhyolitic flows and pyro- against Insolvency Gully Formation. Int.ruded by (Cs) elastics. porphyry (C-Pp). Possibly equivalent to Tareela Volcanics. 3000-3500 feet thick. TABLE 3-continued
Rock llnil Lithorogy Remarks
Marshs Creek Conglomerate, subgreywacke, silt· Conformable on Hells Gate Abyolite. Unconform Beds stone, feldspathic sandstone, quartz able beneath laterit.iz.ed Tertiary sediments. At (Cm) • sandstone, shale, tuffaceous and least 4000 feet thick. Fish and plant fossils. siliceous mudstones, limestone, arkosc.
Hells Gate Rhyolitic flows and pyroclastics, Unconformable on Clarke River Formation and Rhyolitc minor tutraceous sediments. Silurian-Devonian sequences. Faulted against (Ch) Oweenee Gran.ite. Thickness variable, max. 3000 feet.
Ellenvale Beds Rhyolitic flows and pyroclastics. Sub ?Conformable on unnamed Carboniferous sedi (Cc) grcywacke, fcldspatbic sandstone, ments and volcanics (C). Faulted against Ravens conglomerate, shale, mudstone. wood Granodiorite and Fanning River Group. Intruded by granite (C- Pg) and porphyry (C-Pp). Probably about I 0,000 feet thick. . Plant fossils.
(C) Shale, chert, limestone, subgreywackc, Conformable on Percy Creek Volcanics. ?Con conglomerate. Andesitic flows and formable beneath Ellenvale Beds. About 3300 feet pyroclaatics. Minor rbyolite and ofsediments and 800 feet of volcanics. Plant fossils. sandstone.
Percy Creek Andesitic flows and pyroclastics. Unconformable on Devono-Carboniferous Volcanics sequence. Conformable beneath unnamed Car (Cp) boniferous sequence (C). At least 600 feet thick.
(Cg) Coarse pink granite, minor por At Townsville, nonconformable beneath Permo phyritic microgranite. Carboniferous sequence; intrusive contact with older rocks not known. Intrudes Silurian-Devonian sequences near Ewan. Tin deposits NE of Ewan.
Oweenee Granite Pink porphyritic granite and micro- Intrudes Silurian-Devonian, Running River Meta (Cgo) granite. morpbics, Devonian and Lower Carboniferous. Faulted against Sybil Group. Tin Sand E of Ewan; tin-copper at Macaulay Creek and Mount Oweenee. Minor wolfram, bismuth, silver, zinc.
10713/ 68-3 Bryan (1926) assigned the metamorphics to the Precambrian, but not the oldest part of the Precambrian. The only definite evidence of age is that they are older than the Ravenswood Granodiorite. They cannot be readily corre lated with the Argentine or Running River Metamorphics, but are comparable to parts of the Cape River Beds in the Charters Towers and Hughenden Sheet areas, which are regarded tentatively as early Palaeozoic.
Possibly also equivalent to the Cape River Beds are the Kirk River Beds, which occur in the soutbeast, about the head of the Kirk River. The Beds have been assigned to the early Palaeozoic because (i) they are intruded by the late Silurian or early Devonian Ravenswood Granodiorite; (ii) they are similar to known Silurian strata in the Clarke River and Einasleigh Sheet areas; and (ill) they do not seem to be as severely metamorphosed as the ?Precambrian rocks.
The Ewan Beds, which consist of sediments and volcanics, crop out between Ewan and the lower reaches of 0aky Creek. Poorly preserved corals in recrystallized limestone lenses suggest a Silurian age, but no fossils occur elsewhere in the sequence and therefore its age is not well established. In the past the Ewan Beds have usually been regarded as equivalent to the Kangaroo Hills Formation, but in fact the only formation of comparable aspect in the Townsville hinterland which contains both limestones and volcanics is the Lower Silurian Wairuna Formation (Clarke River and Einasleigh Sheet areas). However, it is too distant for a firm correlation to be made.
The Kangaroo Hills Formation and the Tribute Hills Sandstone are continua tions of formations mapped in adjoining Sheet areas. A formation of siltstone, greywacke, and sandstone which crops out south of the Tribute Hills . Sandstone is regarded as more likely to be equivalent to the Greenvale Formation (Clarke River Sheet) than to the Kangaroo Hills Formation, although it is a direct continuation of strata mapped as Kangaroo Hills Formation on the Oarke River Sheet by White (1962). A necessary corollary of White's mapping is that the Tribute Hills Sandstone is folded synclinally within the Kangaroo Hills Formation, but the author believes that the available evidence does not support this, and that the sequence in the Townsville Sheet area comprises three separate formations which crop out in order of superposition from south to north. The author also believes that the Tribute Hills Sandstone is probably equivalent to the Pelican Range Sandstone, which is overlain unconformably by the Kangaroo Hills Formation in the Greenvale-Perry Creek area (Oarke River Sheet). Such an interpretation is consistent with the succession as observed in the Townsville Sheet area.
Devonian arrd Carboni!erous (Tables 2 and 3) Typically developed about Fanning River homestead is the Fanning River Group. The group is distributed in the area between Laroona, V alpre, Burdekin Downs, and Fanning River homesteads, and Calcium railway siding, and this distribution defines the known limits of the Givetian marine sediments deposited in what will here be called the Burdekin Basin. Later 10 transgressions extended the limits of the basin, but by late Tournaisian times it had almost lost its identity, and merged with other areas of continental deposition such as the Clarke River Basin (White, 1965). The relationships of the Givetian-Toumaisian units are given in Table 4.
TABLE 4. RELATIONSHIP OF GIVETIAN-TOURNAISIAN UNITS
Northwest ' North-central Central and Southeast
Piccadilly Formation Clarki: River - ? - ? - ?-?-? - Formation Star Beds -?- ?- ?-?-?- Hardwick Formation
Game Hill Beds Lollypop Formation
I Myrtlevale Beds
Ootswood Formation
Fanning River Group
The Fanning River Group consists of three formations mapped by Wyatt in l 962 but not shown separately on the map which accompanies these notes: the basal Big Ben Ar-kose, the Burdekin Formation, and the Cultivation Gully Formation. A rich fauna, particularly in the biostromal beds of the Burdekin Formation, indicates a Givetian age. The Dotswood Formation, probably of Frasnian age, also ~xtends over the Burdekin Basin. It i,s a typical continental red-bed deposit except in its basal portion, where the buff-coloured sediments are more typical of estuarine con ditions. The only fossils are rare plant remains which occur in the basal sequence. After Frasnian time the basin was submerged until the late Tournaisian, and the sea extended gradually northward beyond the limits of the basin. Within the Burdekin Basin proper the Myrtlevale Beds appear to be wholly Famennian. They contain a.rich marine fauna. They are conformably followed by the Lollypop and Hardwick Formations within the Burdekin Basin and the Star and Game Hill Beds (probably equivalent) in the northern extension of the transgression. The fossil content of these sequences is not sufficiently diagnostic to place them in the Famennian or Tournaisian. By the start of the Tournaisian Stage the marine transgressions had extended still farther north, so that the Toumaisian marine beds, which occur high in the Hardwick Formation and Star and Game Hill Beds, form the basal beds of the Clarke River Formation in the Blue Range. · By 1ate Tournaisian time the Burdekin Basin bad shrunk to a shallow con: tinental depression receiving lacustrine and fluviatile sediments represented u by the Piccadilly Formation. The Piccadilly Formation is equivalent to the upper part of the Clarke River Formation, and possibly to the conglomerates in the upper part of the Star Beds. Areas mapped as 'undifferentiated Middle Devonian to Lower Car boniferous' (D-C), because of structural complexity or partial concealment by younger rocks, probably comprise parts of the Fanning River Group, Dots wood Formation, Myrtlevale Beds, and Lollypop Formation. East of Valpre homestead, they may also contain parts of the Hardwick and Piccadilly For mations. Northwest of Allensleigh homestead, a small area of undifferentiated Devono-Carboniferous is an extension of strata mapped as Clarke River Formation in the Clarke River Sheet area. Here, however, it includes some red-coloured sediments which could be, in part, Devonian. After the Tournaisian the area was uplifted and slightly warped, so that the succeeding strata-volcanics and sediments of terrestrial origin-rest upon the Devona-Carboniferous sequence with a slight angular unconformity or clisconformity, depending on the amount of local warping. The oldest of these rocks are the Percy Creek V olcanics. They are conform ably overlain by a sequence of unnamed sediments and volcanics (C). About 3300 feet of poorly fossiliferous sediments occur at the base, and are overlain by andesitic flows and pyroclastics which are followed by several hundred feet of sediments representing reworked volcanic debris, e.g. in the area 6 to 7 miles northeast of Fanning River homestead. Similar vol canics and sediments occur in the Hervey Range southwest of Frederick Peak. The sequence is followed in the Reid River area by the Ellenvale Beds, apparently conformably. The Ellenvale Beds contain poorly preserved plant remains. In the Argentine area the Saint James Volcanics overlie, probably discon formably, the Game Hill Beds. Immediately to the north, faulted between the Saint James Volcanics and late Palaeozoic granite, is the Insolvency Gully Formation, composed of sediments similar to those of the Ellenvale Beds, and also containing equisetalean stems. · Farther north, north and northeast of Star outstation, are the Tareela Vol canics. The sequence and lithology are similar to those of the Saint James Volcanics, but the sedimentary sections appear to be thinning. In the northwest, occupying the Sybil Graben, is the Sybil Group, consisting of the Hells Gate Rhyolite and the Marshs Creek Beds. The Hells Gate Rhyo lite is probably equivalent to the rbyolites of the Tareela Volcanics, Saint James Volcanics, and Ellenvale Beds. There are no equivalents of the ande s1tic volcanics which underlie the rhyolites in other areas. The sediments of the Marshs Creek Beds contain palaeoniscid fish remains and plant fragments. The relationships of the Upper Carboniferous units are shown in Table 5. North of Insolvency Gully there is a dissected plateau of rhyolitic flows and pyroclastics (Cuv), which appear to overlie andesites which have been mapped as the lower part of the Tareela Volcanics. They may therefore be equivalent to the rhyolites in the upper part of the Tareela Volcanics. How ever, they are darker, and the typical spherulitic and fluidal rhyolites of the 12 · TABLE S. RELATIONSHIP OF UPPER CARBONIFEROUS UNITS
Northwest Southeast
Marsbs Insolvency Creek Gully Sediments Sediments Beds Formation Ellenvale 4000 feet 3500 feet Beds 10,000 feet ?-?-?- ?-?- ?- Sybil Group Hells Gate Rhyolite Rhyolite Rhyolite Rhyolite max. 3000 feet Tareela St James Volcanics Minor Volcanic:s Sediments Sediments I0,000 sediments 3500 feet feet? Unnamed sediments and Andesite Andesite volcanics Andesite (C) 4400 feet Sediments
Percy Creek Andesite Voicanics 600 feet
Tareela Volcanics are absent. Minor andesitic vokanics occur also in places. They have been mapped as unnamed Upper Carboniferous volcanics (Cuv), as have similar volcanics in the Paluma Range and at Taravale homestead.
In the headwaters of the Black River, in the· Paluma district, and at Frederick Peak, are areas of outcrop of dark rhyolite, dacite, and pyroclastics (Cuy). Little evidence of structure can be obtained from these rocks, and their place in the stratigraphic sequence is unknown. Although some of the rocks are undoubtedly extrusive, others appear to be high-level intrusives. They are also intruded by late Palaeozoic granites.
Areas of metamorphics (Pzu) are believed to represent chiefly Devonian and Carboniferous rocks contact-metamorphosed by granite, but some may be older. Metamorphic grade and texture vary widely. Weakly foliated silli manite-garnet gneiss occurs among schists at the head of the Alice River, west of Frederick Peak. Sheared and contact-metamorphosed representatives of the Fanning River Group, including skams, form much of the country around Mount Flagstone. Outcrops of mylonite and phyllonite, developed along major faults in the Ravenswood Granodiorite south of the Haughton River, are also included with the unnamed metamorphics.
Carboniferous-Pennian (Table 3) Unnamed Permo-Carboniferous volcanics (C-Pv) extend southeast from Many Peaks Range to Major Creek. Minor intercalated freshwater sediments contain _poorly preserved remains of Glossopteris sp. The thickness of the sequence is unknown, owing mainly to the lack of structural information. U . TABLE 6. MESOZOIC AND CAINOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY
Rock unit Lithology Remarks
(Qs) Sand, soil. Superficial, chiefly residual. Some transported. (Qa) Sand, silt, gravel. Superficial. Alluvial, colluvial, and outwash deposits. Gravel used as road ballast, concrete aggregate. Groundwater. i (Qr) Sand. Superficial. Coastal dunes representing former ~"' and prese~t shorelines.· ~ 0 (QI) Lacustrine deposits, including Superficial. Deposited in lakes ponded by Toomba diatomaceous earth. Basalt. ToolJlba Basalt Olivine basalt. Superficial. Youngest flow in area. Similar to (Qt) Kinrara Basalt in Einasleigh Sheet area.
Sellheim Formation Sandstone, sandy claystone, pebble Probably remnants of old Burdekin and Fanning (Cze) conglomerate. Rivers alluvium. Nulla Basalt Olivine basalt. Plateau-basalt flows. Erupted W of Bluff' Down.s i (Czn) and Southwick. Flowed E along watercourses. ~ Unnamed remnants of flows and small plugs NE ~ (Czb), (Czy) Olivine basalt, overlying silicified quartz sandstone and conglomerate and E of Nulla Province ('billy'). Lassies Creek Gravels Pebbly argillaceous arkosic sand· Nonconformable on and derived from Oweenee Q,I (Czl) stone, minor conglomerate. Granite.
(Tf) Ferricrete. On Campaspe Beds. j Campaspe Beds Pebbly argillaceous sandstone, rare Disconformable on laterite. Derived mainly from (Tc) siltstone. Lolworth Igneous Complex.
.,. (n) Laterite. On Tertiary sediments, parts of Nulla Basalt, .. Oweenee Granite, Lolworth Igneous Complex, Devona-Carboniferous sequence, Ravenswood ~ Granodiorite, and Charters Towers Meta :i morpbics.
Unnamed Tertiary Sandstone, shale. Lenticular lacustrine deposits derived from and i,ediments (not nonconformable on Ravenswood Granodiorite, on map) Miocene or older.
Collopy Formation Micaceous sandstone, arkosic in Nonconformable on Ravenswood Granodiorite. (Mc) places; conglomerate, minor quartz Large-scale cr.oss-bedding. Rare indeterminate sandstone. plants. At least SOO feet thick.
14. Its relationship to the Carboniferous sequence is in doubt owing to Cainozoic cover and faulting in the area where the contact might be expected. The sequence nonconformably overlies granite (Cg), and is intruded by granite of even later Palaeozoic, or possibly even Mesozoic age (P-Mg) . In several places, however, the relationship of this sequence to nearby granites is unknown; such granite outcrops are shown by the symbol C-Pg on the map. Mesozoic (?) (Table 6) Typically developed at Mingela Bluff is the Collopy Formation. It appears to be of freshwater origin and contains rare indeterminate plant fragments. lts age is unknown, but a Mesozoic age has been assigned to it because it resembles the Lower Triassic Warang Sandstone of the Just Range in the Charters Towers Sheet area. Cainozoic (Tables 6 and 7) The oldest Cainozoic sediments recognized are flat-lying claystone, sand stone, and conglomerate containing Eucaly~s sp. These have been lateritized. lt has not been possible to map them, but they occur below the . laterite capping east of Southern Cross Creek. TABLE 7. PROBABLE TIME-RANGES OF CAINOZOIC ROCK UNITS AND EVENTS
Epoch Sediment o t i oo f ossi l s Volconic activity rec t oni c s Process
? P RESEN T Mor ,nt, s ht:11$ ~ Gent,ol oe,,oo of ~ '"""ond o ss o.c...... ,o red dep...osi.ts. .. ] i > Rt fltwe o \IPhtl OICil ' Odoho n inland IX RECENT c( l OC\ISJUl'l t c:l t POS.11s 10 11 Diatoms Too1T1 t>0 8oso11 i z Coot,nueo e•os ,on, IX olluv,uM, ] ~f') Hdep os,tion H~ .. ., •eu cotluvium ond o ll uv,ufl'I w1dupre od "' Mommol,on .. of coostol o•ciu\ c( P LEISTOCENE I 1e!TI0 1M: E,os,on, lo,mo.,on ot ::> I UpllIfT w i t h I H t • re ns,vt outwosh a nd 0 I fcul1in9 - Oiptolodoo I p,,e1.,,o t1 t d eoo, ,r, hL"OSSiU"·· · Cr... t O ....Gro vels i:- oss,t •ood h f t tt1c,e1e oe ve looment P LIOCENE '~ "'" .... ,, HAc 1;,. e•os,on of n,90<, 1-- Como•••• Beas dt po s,tlo" ,n low,
>- MIOCENE I1 IX '"""""" c( 1- unmoooe• seo,menis ~ $ p Stor>llt ~ (eosl of Sou1herr+ Ctoss Cretii) Ptneptono 11 on OLIGOCE NE - I t .. I a: ! I I I EOCENE I "' I .. I
PALAEOCENE - ~ The next oldest sediments are the Campaspe Beds, which overlie, and fill scours in, the lateritiz.ed sediments. The beds are slightly mottled by iron oxides and often have a thin nodular or pisolitic ferr icrete capping. Most of the material forming the Campaspe Beds was derived from the high country of the Lolworth Igneous Complex (Charters Towers and Hughenden Sheet areas) . The Lassies Creek Gravels are as old as or slightly younger than the Campaspe Beds. They occur about the head of Lassies Creek and east of Running Creek, where they have obviously been formed from coarse detritus resulting from weathering of the Oweenee Granite. 15 Bordering the Burdekin and Fanning Rivers is the Sellheim Formation, which is apparently restricted to areas adjacent to major streams. The formation is usually well above present flood levels, and apparently repre sents old fluviatile deposits. The formation contains fossilized wood. Probably much of the coastal plain is underlain by Tertiary rocks. Natural exposures are lacking and little is known from bores. Jack (1886c) recorded up to 109 feet of drift in bores near Stuarts Creek. Vast outpourings of olivine basalt occurred during the Cainozoic. The erup tion centres were in the Nulla Nulla area (Clarke River Sheet area), whence the basalts flowed east to the Burdekin River. These flows are mapped col lectively as the Nulla Basalt. The latest flow, of quite youthful aspect, is the Toomba Basalt, which was erupted 30 miles west-southwe.st of Toomba home stead, and also flowed east to the Burdekin River. Minor flows, possibly of similar age to that of the Nulla Basalt, occur south of the Burdekin River northwest of New Moon homestead, and east of the Burdekin River northeast of Valpr e homestead. Several small plugs of olivine basalt, apparently associated with major faults, crop out farther east between Mingela and Star homestead. Both flows and plugs have been mapped as unnamed Cainozoic basalt (Czb). Possible remnants of lava flows are asso ciated with some of the plugs. As the result of ponding by the Toomba Basalt, numerous lakes were formed in the area between Gainsford and Toomba homesteads. In these lakes sands, silts, and diatomaceous earths accumulated (QI). Fixed dune and beach deposits (Qr) extend up to 2 miles behind the present coastline, and alluvium and colluvium cover the coastal plain (Qa). Alluvium (Qa) borders the .inland streams, and tracts of sandy soil (Qs) occur, for instance, between Mount Boddington and Gainsford homestead. Soil and pebbly rubble (Qs) cover a large area of the confluence of the Star and Little Star Rivers.
INTRUSIVE ROCKS Granite and granodiorite are the commonest intrusive rocks. Intermediate intrusives are of only minor importance, and ultrabasic rocks are rare.
Precambrian (?) Granite. No granite of definite Precambrian age is known, but gametiferous granite and pegmatite in the Dinner Creek and Kittys Creek area in the Star district are possibly of this age. They are so intimately associated with the metamorphics that the two may be genetically related. For this reason they have not been shown on the map. Ultrabasics. In the Six Mile Creek area, southeast of Star homestead, is a narrow belt of serpentinite associated with amphibolite and mica schist of the Argentine Metamorpbics. Its trend conforms with that of the Argentine Metamorphics, but its relationships and origin are obscure.
16 Palaeozoic Granite. At the end of the Silurian or possibly early in the Lower Devonian, but certainly before the deposition of the Fanning River Group, the Ravens wood Granodiorite intruded the Argentine Metamorphics and the Charters Towers Metamorphics. Granodiorite is the dominant rock type in this large, shallow-domed batholith which is centred approximately on Broughton ( Charters Towers Sheet area). The batholith also contains minor gabbro and diorite phases, as well as granite, aplite, and adamellite as late-stage phases. Many of the rocks are foliated. Isotopic age determinations on granodiorite have so far given ages of 420 and 440 m.y. No determinations have yet been made on the later phases of the batholith such as the granites and aplites. In the southwest the northern extension of the Lolworth Igneous Complex consists of porphyritic granite or adamellite, but in the Charters Towers Sheet area it typically consists of banded pegmatitic garnetiferous muscovite · granite and adamellite. A single Kl Ar age determination gave an age of 400 m.y. (Charters Towers Sheet area). In the late Palaeozoic it is probable that there were several ages of granite intrusion extending from the Carboniferous to the late Pennian or early Mesozoic. A middle Carboniferous age is suggested for the Oweenee Granite, and other granites to the northeast believed to be of similar age (Cg), because the Oweenee Granite intrudes the Tournaisian Clarke River Formation (Oarke River Sheet area), and fragments of granite identical with the granites in the northeast occur in the feeders to the Hells Gate Rhyolite. However, an Upper Carboniferous age for the Oweenee Granite just north of Lassies Creek is suggested by a single K/ Ar age of 300 m.y. Further, between Mount Nokomis and Puzzle Creek the granite may be younger, because it appears to intrude late Palaeozoic volcanics, which are probably no older than Upper Car boniferous. Thus the Oweenee Granite as mapped east of the Burdekin River may be a composite mass with several ages of intrusion. A single K/Ar age of 285 m.y. bas been obtained from the Pall Mall Adamel lite, which intrudes the Devono-Carboniferous sequence. The Permian to Mesozoic granites (P-Mg) are all light-coloured and con sist mainly of granite, microgranite, and adamellite. Small occurrences of quartz monzonite, quartz syenite, and quartz gabbro are associated with these bodies in places. Numerous granites whose relationships are uncertain have been mapped as late Palaeozoic granite (C-Pg) on the basis of lithological similarity. Small plutons of hornblende or biotite granodiorite ( C-Pb) are associated with these granites. They appear to be slightly older than the granite phases. A porphy ritic granodiorite about 6 miles northwest of Mount Flagstone has been included in this group. In the northern half of the Sheet area are several quartz-feldspar porphyries (C-Pp) which grade into microgranite. They are probably related to some of the late Palaeozoic granites, but their age and relationships are not fully known. 17 Small masses of microdiorite and dolerite (C-Pi) intrude the Devonian sedi ments northeast of Dotswood homestead, and the Carboniferous sediments north of Fanning River homestead. They are commonly intruded in the axes of folds where the country has apparently been weakened by fracturing. A set of andesitic dykes radiates from a small stock of quartz diorite ( C-Pb) which forms Mount Kitty O'Shea. Dykes and Plugs. Dolerite and felsite dykes are common in the Townsville area, where they intrude the granites and the Permo-Carboniferous sequence. The basic dykes are generally younger than the felsites, but at Huntingfield Bay, on Magnetic Island, there is an earlier set of basic dykes. Most felsite dykes around Townsville are clearly related to the young granites (P-Mg). Felsite dykes which occupy fractures in the Ravenswood Granodio rite, northeast of Mingela, and accompany andesite dykes in the Oweenee Granite, parallel to the Sybil Graben, are all probably late Palaeozoic in age. A number of light-coloured fluidal rhyolite and dacite plugs (C-Ph) crop out within the Sheet area, e.g. at Mount Success; all are post-Devonian.
STRUcrtJRE Folding The development of a strong steeply dipping foliation in the Precambrian rocks has almost entirely obliterated the bedding. Its strike swings from north east in the west, between White Springs and Running River, to northwest in the central part of the. Sheet area between Laroona homestead and Argentine. The early Palaeozoic rocks are tightly folded, but the bedding has not been destroyed. In the Siluro-Devonian formations in the northwest the regional trend ranges between east-northeast and northeast, and generally dips between 60° and 90°. In the southeast the Kirk River Beds strike northwest and dip uniformly to the south-west at up to 45°. The late Palaeozoic sediments are generally folded into irregular open basins and domes, whose axial trends are closely controlled by the proximity of the basement or by faults which developed in the basement, probably contem poraneously. Dips generally range between 10° and 45°, but in a few places steeper dips were noted. This deformation, apart from slight warping at the end of the Tournaisian, took place, at the earliest, after deposition of the late Middle-Upper Carboniferous strata. The Permo-Carboniferous strata of the Townsville area have also been disturbed, probably during earth movements at the end of the Permian or in the Mesozoic. The Collopy Formation, probably Mesozoic in age, is gently dipping ( 10°), but steeper dips occur adjacent to a major east-west fault which displaces the formation. The Cainozoic sediments are flat-lying, except for some initial dips in the Campaspe Beds.
Faulting A striking feature of the Townsville Sheet area is the well defined fault system. The system consists essentially of two sets of faults: one set changes in trend 18 from northwest inland to west near the coast, and the second trends south west and west-southwest. Movements on the first set appear to be dominantly strike-slip in the coastal range area, but mainly dip-slip inland. For example, on the fault 4 miles northeast of Fanning River homestead, displaced parts of the Fanning River Group are now 12 miles apart, and on the fault which disturbed the Mesozoic Collopy Formation horizontal displacements of up to 1 mile occur. Farther inland, the faults which bound the Sybil Graben appear to have had mainly vertical movements. Movements on the southwest set of faults appear to be mainly vertical. North of the Piccadilly mine, the Piccadilly Formation is faulted against the Ravenswood Granodiorite, and there is no marked thinning of the sedimentary sequences which overlie the granodiorite, so that here about 12,000 feet of section is missing. The limited lateral extent of this fault indicates that the 12,000 feet of apparent throw has been mainly in a vertical sense. This particular fault is truncated by the Pall Mall Adamellite, and therefore either antedated it or accompanied its intrusion. The Alex Hill Shear Zone trends west from Horse Camp Mill to Marmy Creek. The zone ranges from 1½ to 4 miles in width, and the degree of shear ing is variable. Where the shear zone transgresses the Ravenswood Granodio rite, phyllonite, schist, and gneiss have been developed, e.g. at Alex Hill, in the hills 3 miles farther west, and south of Mingela Bluff. The shear zone appears to be displaced or truncated by a post-Tournaisian northwesterly fault extending from Exley to Keelbottom Creek. The east-west faults displac ing the Collopy Formation are probably controlled by the shear direction, and indicate that the shear was still a line of weakness, at least to Mesozoic time. Further movements probably occurred along the Alex Hill Shear Zone during Tertiary uplift of the coastal ranges. The shear zone is probably one of the features controlling the distribution of mineralization westward from Grass Hut to Salas Siding, Fanning, and Marmy Creek.
GEOLOGICAL IDSTORY The geological history of the Sheet area is summarized in Figures 2 and 3.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY The Townsville Sheet area, although it contains a wide variety and distribu tion of mineralization, has not been a rich mining district. Amongst the metal liferous deposits, by far the greatest production, both in tonnage and value, has come from tin mining on the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field, but produc tion was small compared with other fields such as Herberton. The greatest production in recent years has been limestone from Calcium.
Tin Most of the tin has come from lodes in the Carboniferous granites in the northwest, in particular the Oweenee Granite, or in sediments and meta morphics adjacent to them. Minor quantities have come from alluvial deposits in the Ewan, Lassies Creek, Running Creek, and Ruxton areas. The main production area is still the southern part of the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field, about Oaky Creek and Running River. Tin has also been 19 SE NW SE NW .. ··---- I
,-2-<-'-· . 1/.!,s:o·~r · . - 4;:·1}((~~--:·;~~> :: :·:· :··:·~·: ·~··:·:···:·.. :::·~· • +-+ ...... Intrusion of Rovenswood Gronodiorire (S-Or) during orogeny i n which the S1'l11rio n ond lower Devonian stroto were folded ond uplifted. Lo/worth Igneous Complex possibly intruded offer orogeny in south - west ( not shown/
Fig. 2. ·precamlJrian to Mesozoic geological history.
P L I 0 C E N E T 0 p R E S f. N T wsw ENE •foombo• M t Nor man Burdek,n R Fanning R Mi']gelo a, i Tc Fer Tc Ffr Cze : Oo Czbf Cze Houghton Volley , Oo Oo ' + + ·L'ot • • + + . . S- Or . ~~· S-Or I + S·Or .. + • ·,+ Pzf + + + + + + C ( I ) Further uplift ruulflng in procticolly complete slfipp1n9 of loterile cover Eruption of Nu/lo Boso/I continues. Boso/ls (C:rb) ,-,, eosl intruded ofong loulls (II l Ferricrete(Fer/ d evefopef/ on Compospe 8t1ds(Tc) (Ill) Sellheim Formolion{C:re) deposited odjocenl lo major srreoms (IV) Oegrodolion i nlond, Compospe Beds, onf/ Sellheim Formation dissected. A99rodotion on cooslo/ towlonds ( V) Erupr,on of Toombo Boso/I. Deposition of r,ver ollun'um etc.
wsw E AR L Y P LI OCENE Southwick Czn Burdekin Juvenile Volley Loi Loi Loi 0-C • u ..:, · x • + + • ~--.:: ~ - • ~=---·-~·=-:..:__ -~·;. • C- Pg X Tc Lot ? ? + + .. ... S-Or • • • • .. + o-c. . . . • + + IX X 8 Up/,// due to foullm9; rejuY111>ol ion of streams resulting 1n f/issecti()n of penep/01n. Compospe Beds/Tc/ d-oos1led 1n west. Erupllon of Nu/la Boso/I fC.,n) begins
L A T E M IOCE N E wsw ENE Fern Springs Mingelo Loi
t. Eros "", with depositi on of T11rliory sediments (T) 1n lowlands, l11af/in9 to p t,neplonotion, followed by laleriti:ration with ,:e,•,::toomen, of ltJlerite flt11) on all exposed r t1 ck typ es Fig. 3. Cafoozolc geologlcaI bktory illustrated by three sectiom along slightly dll'erent section llnei. 20 produced at Tinvale in the Sandy Creek area west-northwest of Hillgrove, and to a lesser extent in the Gowrie area (near Mount Oweenee), near Mount Stockyard, and at the head of Marshs Creek. The ore shoots are small and irregular and in places they occur as pipe like shoots or small leaders in fissure lodes. At the Sardine, the largest producer in the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field, the orebodies are composed of numerous closely-spaced near-vertical tabular lenses. The occurrence of separate shoots of cassiterite ore and stannite-cassiterite ore suggests that there may have been at least two periods of tin deposition. Most ore mined has been cassiterite, except for that from the Sardine, which also produces tin-copper concentrate with a high percentage of stannite. Saint-Smith (1922a, p. 352) tentatively determined stannite in the ores of the Salmon and Goldfish mines 20 chains west-southwest of the Sardine. So it is possible that other deposits besides the Sardine, which is the deepest mine on the field, also contain stannite at depth. Production has fluctuated considerably over the years since the field was first worked for tin in 1883. This was probably due to the smallness and discon tinuity of the orebodies, the poor access to the field (until 1937), fluctuations in the world price of tin, and the influence of economic conditions on prospecting. Total production from the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field is 8298 tons of cassiterite concentrate and 216 tons of stannite concentrate. Although the field extends on to the Ingham Sheet area, most of this production has come from the southern part in -the Townsville Sheet area. Production from the Tinvale area is 674 tons of concentrate, the greater part of which came from the Daintree mine.
Tungsten Wolfram has been mined in several areas, notably in the Ollera district. All deposits are of the high-temperature hydrothermal type, and are in late Palaeozoic granite or quartz porphyry, or in the Running River Metamor phics or Ewan Beds close to their contact with such intrusives. Wolfram is also known from the Oweenee Granite, in the vicinity of Baumans Camp. Associated minerals are molybdenite, fluorspar, garnet, and chalcopyrite. At Ollera, the deposits occur as pipes, but elsewhere they occur as pipe-like shoots or leaders associated with shears, fractures, or joints. Gangue minerals are commonly quartz or chlorite or both. Alluvial deposits have also been worked in the Ollera district. Production has been sporadic, and figures for the late 1800's and early 1900's are incomplete. Total production since 1898 is about 526 tons of wolfram concentrate (including a little bismuth sulphide and oxide). About 290 tons of this can be credited to the Ollera district, where the Belle Vue was the largest producer. The remaining 236 tons came from various deposits in the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field, the most important being the Isabel ( about 70 tons). Molybdenum Molybdenite production from Ollera has totalled about 22 tons.
Copper Although copper is widely distributed in the Sheet area, much of it has been found in deposits which were worked primarily for other minerals, notably tin. Jn most areas the mineralization appears to be related to late Palaeozoic acid porphyries and Carboniferous granites, but the mode of occurrence and the origin of the mineralization in andesitic lavas of the Percy Creek Volcanics (Coppermine Creek) are unknown. Of the more notable mines worked essentially for copper, the Mount Thekla and True Blue occur in the Ewan Beds, the Kennedy and Great Northern (exact location unknown) in the Star Beds, the Rio Tinto in undifferentiated Devono Carboniferous sediments, and the Macaulay group in the Oweenee Granite. With the possible exception of the Great Northern, whose character is unknown, all deposits consist of small veins or shoots in fissure lodes. None proved payable below the zones of oxidation and slight secondary enrich, ment, which extended to an average depth of 100 to 150 feet. In most mines the main workings did not go below this level. Chalcopyrite, but no primary ore of economic grade, was found in deeper workings at the Mount Thekla. Three diamond drill holes, put down by the Department of Mines in 1962 at Rio Tinto, also failed to locate appreciable mineralization below the near surface copper ores. The principal minerals in the mined ore were azurite, malachite, cuprite, and bornite, together with silver-bearing galena and sphalerite. Production is unknown, but is unlikely to have exceeded 500 tons of ore averaging 20 percent copper. Sparsely disseminated chalcopyrite was observed in the course of regional mapping in granite intrusion-breccia at the summit of Mount Stuart.
Gold Much of the Townsville Sheet area is covered by the Charters Towers and Ravenswood Gold and Mineral Fields. However, the area lies north of the rich auriferous parts of those fields, and gold production has been small. The main mining centres and the nature of their deposits, etc., are shown in Table 8. The Grass Hut and Fanning/Salas Sidings deposits, like those of Charters Towers and Ravenswood, are associated with the Ravenswood Granodiorite. In the other centres the mineralization appears to be related to late Palaeozoic intrusives in Devonian sediments, and therefore much of the gold mineral ization in the Townsville Sheet area is probably younger than that at Charters Towers and Ravenswood. Gold is also known to occur at Bunkers Hill (Ravenswood Granodiorite and Kirk River Beds), Horse Camp Creek (Ravenswood Granodiorite), Mount Squarepost (late Palaeozoic granites) (Ridgway, 1946b; Connab, 1953a), Magnetic Island and Mount Elliot (late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic granite, but exact location unknown), Ponto and Argentine Extended ( Argentine Meta morpbics) , and Six Mile (late Palaeozoic granodiorite). 22 TABLE 8. SUMMARY OF GOLD MINING AREAS
Mining centre Main production Mines Country rock Mineralizing agent Type of deposit Associated mineral., years
Piccadilly Piccadilly P.C., Upper Devoni~ sand- (?) Quartz reef. PYrite. 1894-1909 Piccadilly No. IW. stone, shale (Dud).
Far Fanning Several mines on three Upper Devonian sedi- Late Palaeozoic porphyry (a) Quartz leaders in Pyrite, arsenopyrite, rare 1895-1908 main lines of lode. ments (Dud) and late (?) (C-Ph). steeply dipping felsite chalcopyrite. Palaeozoic porphyry (not dykes. shown on map). (b} Gently dipping stock- works.
Mount Success Mount Success. Porphyry (C-Ph) and Late Palaeozoic porphyry Contact replacement. Pyrite, sphalerite. 1895-1906 Fanning River Group of Mount Success (C-Ph). (Dmf).
Golden Valley Golden VaUey P.C., Felsite (C-Ph) and Late Palaeozoic porphyries Quartz reef with felsite Pyrite, sphalerite. 1898-1907, 1922. Golden Valley Block, Ravenswood Granodiorite and felsite of Mount hangingwall and granite 1934 Golden Valley No. JE, (S-Dr). Success (C-Ph). footwall. Golden Valley No. IW, Golden Valley No. 2W.
Grass Hut Numerous mines on Ravenswood Granodiorite Late phase of granodiorite Quartz reefs in fissures ( ?). 1887-1895 several lodes. (S-Dr). (S-Da).
Fanning-Salas Numerous mines on Ravenswood Granodioritc Late phase of granodiorite (a) Quartz reefs in fissure, PYrite, galena. sphalerite, 1890-1900's. Siding several lodes·. (S-Dr). (S-Da). e.g., Rose of Allandale. argcntiferous tetrahedrite, Some revival (b) Pipe,-like body in chalcopyritc. 1930's-1940's. greiseni7.Cd granodiorite, e.g., Welcome. Total production of gold from all sources in the area is unknown, because returns are included with those of the Charters Towers and Ravenswood Field.
Silver-Lead Silver, as silver-lead, has been worked at Bonnybrook Creek, 2 miles north west of Ewan, in limestones of the Ewan Beds, and at Argentine from deposits in the Argentine Metamorphics, Game Hill Beds, and late Palaeozoic granodiorite. Silver-lead-copper deposits were worked at Stockyard Creek in 1892 (Maitland, 1893), but the location is unknown. At Bonnybrook Creek, the deposits are contact metamorphic lodes related to intrusion of the limestone by late Palaeozoic porphyry. The Argentine deposits are fissure lodes. Little is known of the Stockyard Creek deposits, but they _also probably occur as fissure lodes. Total production of silver from the Townsville Sheet area is about 50,000 fine ounces. Most came from the centres described, but a little was derived as a by~product of gold mining. The production of lead is negligible. Dr P. J. Stephenson (pers. comm.) has reported the occurrence of chloritic alteration zones up to 1 foot wide in granitic rock near the head of Major Creek; the zones have cores of vein quartz which contains pyrite and minor galena. iron Iron ore occurrences are known at Willetts Knob, 24 chains southwest of Mount Moss, north of Ewan; 3 miles northeast of Laroona homestead; and 3 miles southwest of Mount Flagstone, near Woodstock. The Willetts Knob and Woodstock occurrences are contact metasomatic deposits associated with limestone in the Ewan Beds and Fanning River Group, respectively. The iron mineralization is probably related to late Palaeoz.oic granites. The Laroona deposits occur in calcite-actinolite schists of the Argentine Metamor phics, and the mineralization may again be related to late Palaeozoic granite. Magnetite at Willetts Knob, and magnetite and hematite at Woodstock and Laroona, are the chief minerals. Only the Woodstock deposit has been worked. The total output is at present used in the manufacture of cement at Stuart; 1963 production was 3000 tons.
Limestone Limestone deposits have been worked near Calcium and Reid River. Produc tion is from limestone in the Fanning River Group and from earth lime, apparently formed by weathering in situ of andesitic agglomerates of the Ellenvale Beds. The limestone has been used for the production of quicklime for cyaniding at Charters Towers, for lime for use in sugar mills, for agricultural purposes, and for cement manufacture. After cyaniding in Charters Towers virtually stopped about the time of the 1914-18 war, production was erratic until 24 North Australian Cement Ltd began operations in 1955. Since then produc tion has gradually increased. 1n 1963 the production of limestone for cement was 122,856 tons, and for burnt lime 1400 tons. Production of earth lime was 2932 tons. Very large quantities of limestone are available from beds in the Fanning River Group near Fanning River homestead, Burdekin Downs homestead, and Laroona homestead.
Clay Clay for brick manufacture has been dug from deposits in Quaternary Alluvium north and west of Townsville since about 1960. The main produc tion is from Kurukan, where some 6500 tons was produced during 1963. Clay-shale for cement manufacture is quarried at Partingtons Siding, near Stuart. In 1963, production was about 14,500 tons.
Aggregate Near Townsville, aggregate for road metal and concrete is obtained from numerous quarries in upper Palaeozoic granites and volcanics. No production figures are available, and output is cfosely related to the needs of the Townsville City Council.
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G., 1962d-Palaeontological report on collections from the Horse Creek area, Star basin. Rep. geol. Surv. Q/d (unpubl.). MCKELLAR, R. G., 1962e--Palaeontological report on collections from the Corner "creek area, Star basin. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). MCKELLAR, R. G., 1962f-Palaeontological report on collections from the Dotswood 1-mile sheet area referred to in District Geologist's memorandum of 29 August 1962. Rep. geol. Surv. Q/d (unpubl.). MCKELLAR, R. G., 1963a-Palaeontological report on two collections from the Hill grove 1-mile area referred to in District Geologist's memorandum of 29 August 1962. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). MCKELLAR, R. G., 1963b-Palaeontological report on some plant collections from the Ewan and Manton I-mile areas. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). McK.t!LLAR, R. G., 1964---Palaeontological report on further collections from the 'Cultivation Gully Formation', Townsville 4-mile sheet. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). MORTON, C. C., 1928-Reld River limestone deposits-Great Northern Railway. Qld Govt Min. /., 29, 287-90. MORTON, C. C., 1931-Mount Norman gold workings-Townsville district. Qld Govt Min. I., 32, 353-S. MORTON, C. C., 1935-Re subsidy application-I. Rosendahl and party- Alluvial tin, Horseshoe area, Running River. Rep. geo/. Surv. Q/d (unpubl.). MORTON, C. C., 1936a-Re Granite Bar claim-Station· Creek-Hidden Valley. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). 29 MORTON, C. C., 1936b-Belle Vue wolfram mine, Ollera Creek. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). MORTON, C. C., 1938-Wonder Extended claim--Stannouston. Qld Govt Min. J., 39, 225-8. MORTON, C. C., 1939a-Iron ore-Woodstock district. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). MORTON, C. C., 1939b-Gold discovery near Fern Springs--Charters Towers Gold Field. Qld Govt Min. J., 40, 90-1. MORTON, C. C., 1940-Hidden Valley district. Qld Go11t Min. J., 41, 310-2. MORTON, C. C., 1941-Kookaburra claim, Kangaroo Hills Field. Rep. geol. Surv. Q/d (unpubl.). MORTON, C. C., 1943-Blue Duck, Ewan. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). MORTON, C. C., 1944a-Dotswood copper. Qld Govt Min. J., 45, 154-5. MORTON, C. C., 1944b-Daintree mine, Tinvale. Qld Govt Min. J., 45, 266-9. MORTON, C. C., 1946-'Unlimited' wolfram claim, Kangaroo Hills. Qld Govt Min. J., 47, 43. NICHOLSON, H. A., and ETHERIDGE, R., Jnr, 1879-Descriptions of Palaeozoic corals from northern Queensland with observations on the genus Stenopora. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 4, 284. . PAINE, A. G. L., HARDING, R. R., and CLARKE, D. E., 1965-The geology of the north eastem part of the Hughenden 1 : 250,000 Sheet area, Queensland. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. 1965/93 (unpubl.). PAINE, A. G. L., GREGORY, C. M., and CLARKE, D. E., 1966-The geology of the Ayr · 1 : 250,000 Sheet area, Queensland. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. 1966-68. (unpubl.). PAINE, A. G. L., GREGORY, C. M., and CUll.E, D. E. (in prep.)-The geology of the northern half of the Bowen 1 : 250,000 Sheet area, Queensland (with additions to the geology of the southern half). Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. (unpubl.). RANDS, W. H., 1893-Charters Towers Goldfield in Annual progress report of the Geological Survey for the year 1892, Pub/. geol. Surv. Qld, 94, 8-9. RANDs, W. H., 1898-Gold mines at the Fanning and Mount Success. Bull. geol. Surv. Qld, 8, and Publ. geo/. Surv. Qld, 133. RED>, J. H., 1917-The Charters Towers Goldfield. Pub/. geol. Surv. Qld, 256. RED>, J. H ., 1926a-Recent gold discovery, Bunkers Hill, near Ravenswood. Qld Govt Min. I., 27, 202. RED>, 1. H., 1926b-Tbe Wonder Extended tin mine, Stannouston. Qld Govt Min. J., 27, 280-2. RmD, J. H., 1928-Coal measures at Stuart Creek, Townsville. Qld Govt Min. J., 29, 287. RmD, 1. H., 1930-The Queensland Upper Palaeozoic succession. Pub/. geo/. Surv. Qld, 278. RmD, J. H., 1931a--Sardine North mine, Kangaroo Hills. Qld Govt Min. J., 32, 222-4. REID, J. H., 1931b-The Running River silver-lead-lodes, Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Q/d Govt Min. I ., 32, 263-8. RED>, J. H., 1931c--1uggler (or Jugular) mine, Kangaroo Hills. Qld Govt Min. J., 32, 222. REID, 1. H., 1931d-The Shrimp tin mine, Oakey Creek. Qld Govt Min. I., 12,268. REID, J. H., 1932a--Sardine mine, Oakey Creek, Kangaroo Hills Field. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). RlllD, J. H., 1932b-Sardine tin mine. 26th half-yearly report. Sardine Tin Mines NL. REID, 1. H., 1933-Hidden Valley Extended, Running River district. Qld Govt Min. , •• 34, 32-3. RICHARDS, H. C., 1918-The building stones of Queensland. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld, 30, 97-157. RmoWAY, J. E., t946a--Salmon tin mine-Ewan. 0 . Hussey. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). 30 RmoWAY, J. E., 1946b-'Blue Dow' workings, Haughton Valley. Qld Govt Min. J., 47, 339-40. RmoWAY, J.E., 1947a-Waverley. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). RlooWAY, J.E., 1947b-Ollera wolfram field. Qld Govt Min. I., 49, 13-4. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1916-Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field, North Queensland. Qld Govt Min. I., 17, 534-9. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1920a-Woodstock iron lodes. Qld Govt Min. I., 21, 501-2. SAINT-SMITH, B. C., 1920b--Prospecting for gold, Haughton Valley, Great Northern Railway. Qld Govt Min. J., 21, 323. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1921a-Lateritic deposits near Charters Towers. Qld Govt Min. /., 22, 359-60. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., l921b-The (Ewan) Tin Syndicates Leases, Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Qld Govt Min. J., 22, 353-6. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1922a--Oeology and mineral resources of portion of the southern section of Oakey Creek district, Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Qld Govt Min. 1., 23, 309-14, 349-55. ' SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1922b-Notes on some tin mines of the Kangaroo Hills Field Qld Govt Min. 1., 23, 392-3. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1922c--Sardine tin mine, Kangaroo Hills. Qld Govt Min. I., 23, 5-6. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1922d---Canary tin mine, Kangaroo Hills Tinfield. Qld Govt Min. /., 23, 263-4. SAINT-SMITH, E. C., 1923-Tbe present co.ndition of certain Kangaroo Hills tin mines, North Queensland. Qld Govt Min. J., 24, 202-7. SHEPHERD, S. R. L., 1943-Notes on some wolfram and tin occurrences in the Hidden Valley-Waverley section of the Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Qld Govt Min. /., 44, 120. SHEPHERD, S. R. L., 1944a-Unlimited wolfram mine, Williams Creek, Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Qld Govt Min. /., 45, 15. SHEPHERD, S. R. L., 1944b-Isabel wolfram mine near Waverley, Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Qld Govt. Min. 1., 45. Sllnu.BY, J., 1900-Australian vegetation and its geological development. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld, 16, 39-44. STILLWELL, F. L., 1950-Stannite ore from the Sardine mine, Kangaroo Hills, Queens land. Mineragr. Rep. sci. ind. Res. Org. Melb., 433. 'fwIDALB, C. R., 1956--A physiograpbic reconnaissance of some volcanic provinces in North Queensland, Australia. Bull. vole., 2 (18), 3-23. VINE, R.R., and PAINB, A. G. L., (in prep.)-Hughenden, Qld-1 : 250,000 Geological Series. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. explan. Notes SF/55-1. WAUOM, A. B., 1919-Queensland fossil floras. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld, 31, 1-20. W ALKOM, A. B., 1922-Palaeozoic floras of Queensland ( 1). The flora of the Lower and Upper Bowen Series. Publ. geol. Surv. Qld, 270. WILSON, A. L., 1921--Sardine Tin Mines N.L Qld Govt Min. I., 22, 525. WILSON, A. L., 1926--Sardine Tin Mines. Qld Govt Min. I., 27,453. WmTE, D. A., 1962---Clarke River, Qld- 1 : 250,000 Geological Series. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. explan. Notes SE/55-13. WHITE, D. A., 1965-The geology of the Georgetown/ Clarke River area, Queensland. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Bull. 71. WHITB, D. A., BEST, J. G., and BRANCH, C. D., 1959-Progress report on regional geological mapping, northern Queensland, 1958. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. 1959/115 (unpubl.). WmTE, D. A., STBWAll.T, J. R., BRANCH, C. D., GREEN, D. H., and WYATT, D. H., 1959 -Progress report on regional geological mapping, northern Queensland, 1957. Gray Creek, Broken River and Clarke River areas. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. 1959/ 114 (unpubl.). 31 WHITE, D. A., and WYATT, D. H., 1960-The Upper Burdekin river valley in nm GEOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND. J. geol. Soc. Aust., 1, 123-7. WHITEHOUSE, F. W., 1926-Jn Abstract of proceedings. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld, 38 (9). WHITEHOUSE, F. W., 1930a- /n Abstract of proceedings. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld, 41 (7). WHITEHOUSE, F. w., 1930b--The geology of Queensland in HANDBOOK: FOR QUEENSLAND. Aust. Ass. Adv. Sci., Brisbane, 23-29. WoLFF, K. W., 1957-Queensland building and monumental stones. Qld Govt Min. J., S8, 273-91. Wooos, J. T., 1960-/n Memorandum to the District Geologist, Charters Towers, from A. K. Denmead, dated 12 September 1960. WoODS, J. T ., 196la-Preliminary report on collections from Cultivation Gully Forma tion. Referred to in District Geologist's memorandum of 23/ 3/ 61. Rep. geo/. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WOODS, J. T., 1961b-Palaeontological report on Collection Dai. N.E.1 referred to in District Geologist's memorandum of 16 August 1961. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WOODS, J. T., 1962-Notes on the occurrence of Leptophloeum australe (McCoy) in Queensland. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WOODS, J. T., 1963-Palaeoniscid fish remains from the Ewan area. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WYATT, D. H., 19S9--0bservations on the geology of Marsh's Creek, S.W. of Ewan. Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WYATT, D. H., 196la-The Sardine tin mine, Oakey Creek, Kangaroo Hills Mineral Field. Qld Govt Min. I., 62, 482-94. WYATT, D. H., 1961b--Geology of the Dotswood S.E. ½-mile Sheet. Progress report No. 1 (1960). Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WYATT, D. H., 1962--Geology of the Dotswood N. ~mile Sheet. Progress report No. 2 (1961). Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WYATT, D. H., 1963-Notes to accompany progress map of the Townsville Sheet at a scale of 1 : 80,000. Progress report No. 3 (1962). Rep. geol. Surv. Qld (unpubl.). WYATT, D. H., and WHITE, D. A., 1960-Upper Burdekin Valley in THE GEOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND./. geol. Soc. A.ust., 1 , 177-80. WYATT, D. H., PAINE, A. G . L., HARDINo, R.R., and CLARKE, D. E., 196S-The geology of the Townsville I : 250,000 Sheet area, Queensland. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. 1965/1S9 (unpubl.). WYATT, D. H., PAINE, A. G. L., HARDING, R. R., and CLARKE, D. E. (in prep.)-Idem, Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Rep. 127. WYATT, D. H., PAINE, A. G. L., CLAllXE, D. E., GREGORY, C. M., and HARDING, R. G ., 1967-The geology of the Charters Towers 1 : 250,000 Sheet area, Queensland. Bur. Miner. Resour. Aust. Ree. 1967/104.
B1 Authority: A. 1. AUIIUa, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra VVili.llUU~.l V£ O.J.:.l'.U1.• .J.:..L\.r.IUU'l11 .lilW J.G.N.1.!:UU::i AU'J.'l Vl'l'Y, TOWNSVILLE 1 : 250, 000 SHEET AREA ERA PER.IOJ STAGE OR ROCK UNIT LITHOLOGY RELATIOMSHIPS REMARKS REFEREJ)lCES ECONOMIC EPOCH GEOLOGY
Qs Sand and soil Superficial ! Chiefly residual. Some transported. ,.,.. Sand, silt, and gravel, Superficial · ;~:i.1. c< v.i.:1.J., colluvial, Graver used as J.·Uc:.u. -:..a.11asl,, and outwash d!3p.osi ts concrete aggregate. of the coasta1 plain Underground water, and along_water courses.
Sand Superficial Coastal dunes re pres~nting old and present shore- lines.
La.custrine deposits, Superficial Deposited in lakes including diatom ponded by Toomba aceous earth. l3asalt.
Toomba :Basalt Olivine basalt Overlies Seliheim Youngest flow in area.. Twidale Formation, Campaspe Similar to 'Kinrara ( 1956) Qt Beds , Fanning River Basalt, (Einasleigh' Group , and Sheet area). Ravenswood Grano diorite .
Sellheim Sandstone, sandy Nonconformably overlies May be old high-level Jack (1879a) Formation claystone, pebble Ravenswood Granodiorite, gravels related to conglomerate, and perhaps also Burdekin River. (.) Cze Campaspe Beds. A rx1 H Gzb and VJ.1v1ne basaTI, unainerentiated, E-t Czy overlying billy Remnants of flows north col east and east of the 0 H (sili9ified quartz ! sandstone and Nulla Province. Small E-1 plugs in the east ., z ~ l conglomerate) . c.;i lzl I i rx1 I I 8 ; Nulla Basalt Olivine basalt, Unconformably overlies Erupted west of Bluff I ~ 8 Cl) Devone- Carboniferous Dowris , and Southwick. 0 I rx1 H Czn I i r,q f:j sequence. Flowed eastwards along Pi I Nonconformably overlies watercourses. One :z. i r,q : I 0 Ravenswood Granodiorite, sample dated 1. 32 H i 8 Overlies Campaspe Beds million years, but some A H : i probably disconformably, flows older than this. z a : ------!---··------+------~------+------+------t::> 8 i- -·- Nonconformably overlie Material derived from col : ~ 1 Lassie Creek Pebbly, Pi I 'I Gravels argillaoeous sand Oweenee Granite. Oweenee Granite, Weakly I I I stone, gTit, and mottled by iron oxides , Czl (.) ! arkose. -· ------· -· ------l------~--·-- ·-·--···---+------·- ---- · ·-·· --· -·· -- ·-···---· ; Tf Ferricrete Developed on Campaspe Beds , C-• I I Disconformably overlies Material derived mainly a ' Campaspe Beds Argillaceous sand Miocene(?) ferricrete, from Lolworth Igneous I l 8 : stone and rare Complex. Thin ferricrete 'I ·H Tc Nonconformably overlies i siltstone. commonly developed. I ~ I Lolworth Igneous Complex. ! I ... ,, ' ' ------f------...f------·------'------. ·------·------·-·------,··-----1~·------'------! ' Tl Ferricrete and/or Developed on Tertiary l>-< I I laterite. sediment s , possibly parts of Nulla Basalt, p:j ! I I < ! ' Oweenee Granite, Lolvrorth B Igneous Complex, Devono H I 8 I 8 H Carboniferous sequence, ·...:l p:j Pi Ravenswood Granodiorite, ' .Q.nn ('!hgyt+._o.,...c:., 'T',...,.,o~~ ! 0 lzl c., f-, w wz u 0 ~ 2. - ••• -·•-•••·- "'t--- Y- -~-...--,---- . ..-..- - .. , . - --···- •·---• ------... -·-·-.._ __,. ,,._..._...... - --·- · - ---- ,._ . • • ·• •- --·· ., · ------.------: STAGE OR ERA PERIOD EPOCH ROCK UNIT 'LITHOLOOY RELATIONSHIPS REMARKS REFERENCES ECONOMIC GEOLOGY ------Unnamed Tertiary Sandstone, shale. Nonconformably overlie Lateritized. .Morton (1945) Rare auriferous deep I 0 S.ediments (not Ravenswood Granodiorite, Lacustrine. Jack (1879a) leads .at base of ~~ shown on map) Plant fossils. Marks ....( 1913) sequence. (Charters CS:O ON 50 ft. thick. Towers Shee~ area) , Collopy Quartz and Nonconformably overlies · Large-s0ale current Jack (1879a) C'• 0 Formation micaceous sandstone, Ravenswood Granodiorite. bedding. Rare H 0 Mc feld.spathic sand indeterminate plants. ~ stone, arkose, At least 500 ft. ; conglomerate. thick. d , f Dolerite, micro Intrude Permo Possibly two ages of Maitland (1892) diorite, felsite Carbonife rous sedimen basic to intermediate dykes. tary-volcanic sequence dykes, separated by (C-Pv) . Some dykes felsite dykes and 0 intrude youngest granite intrusion H 0 granites (P-Mg) . (P-Mg) . ~ r------t------t------.__-, --t------'-- en --+------__;~------·· - P-Mg Chiefly biotite Intrude Permo Epizonal stocks. Maitland (1892) Rare occurrences of ~ granite and Carboniferous sequence. 0 gold at Magnetic 8 adamellite. Minor Island and Mount quartz monzonite, Elliott. quartz syenite, horn- blende-quartz gabbro, iP-4 micrograni te. Pzp Quartz porphyry, Intrude Devon;i.an Appear to be closely quartz-feldspar sediments and Carbon related to Palaeozoic porphyry, micro- iferous volcanics, late granites. granite. Palaeozoic volcanics - (Pzv) , and Argentine . Metamorphics • Pzi Dolerite and Intrude Devonian and Occur as irregular microdiorite. Carboniferous sequences. bodies and dykes . Intruded by late, Possibly related to -- Palaeozoic granite (Pzug) . the earliest Permo . Carboniferous dykes
0 ... ··-----+------+------H Dykes in Quartz-feldspar Int rude Oweenee Dykes in fractures 0 Oweenee Granite porphyry. Granite. parallel to Sybil N ~ Graben. Possibly E-1 related to intrusive 0 ~ r:c1 E-1 rhyolite, etc. (Pzh). r:i:l Kitty O' Shea Andesite dykes . Intrude Frasnian Appear to be E-1 Intrusives Tournaisian sediments. genetically related < to diorite (Pzb) . H Pzug and Granite, adamellite, Intrude undifferen More basic types are Pzb granodiorite, tiated Fermo -Carbon probably earlier porphyritic grano iferous , Carboniferous, phase. diorite; diorite. and Devonian sequences. i--~---t------+------t------,------r------r------C- Pv Intermediate and acid Stratigraphic relation Thickness unknown, Jack (1892) Thin seams of coal in flows and pyroclastics; ship with Carboniferous probably several Maitland ( 1892) Stuart-Antill Plains rare conglomerate, sequence unknown. thousand feet. Dunstant ( 1905) area. sandstone, shale, coal. STAGECE · ERA PERIOD EPOCH ROCK UNIT LITHOLCX;".f RELATIONSHIPS Pzu Schist, hornf€ls, Largely unknown. Undifferent iated. Jack ~1886b, gneiss, quartzite; Some areas probably 1892) metamorphosed , equivalent to the siltstone, sandstone, Devonian and arkose, and limestone. Carboniferous units. Mainly contact metamorphics,. Pzy Dark rhyolitic and Intruded by Owe,enee Form unknown, may be dacitic flows; Granite and other high- level intrusives agglomerate and late Palaeozoic as well as extrusives. volcanic breccia. granites. \ Pzv Rhyolitic and Probably Carboniferous, andesitic flows and but evidence to pyroclastics. establish ages so far lacking. Thickness- , '°'I llJT _ Tareela Andesitic and Unconformably(?) 10,000 ft . thick. Wyatt (1963) Volcanics rhyolitic flows and overlies Star Beds . Ct pyroclastics. Insolvency Subgreywacke, Faulted against St, 3500 ft.' thick. Plant Wyatt (1963) Gully feldspathic sandstone, James Volcanics and fossils . Animal tracks. McKellar {.) Formation siltstone, mudstone Game Hill Becis . ( 1963b) H Ci conglomerate, chert. Intruded by granite 0 (Pzug) and C.;J granodiorite (Pzb) . 0 -·. l:cl St. James Andesitic flows and Unconformably(?) 3000-3500 ft. thick. Wyat't (1963) ~ Volcanics pyroclastics, overlies Game Hi'l Possibly equivalent to H Cs subgreywacke, Beds . Faulted ~gainst Tareela Volcanics. Oweenee Granite Granite, porphyritic Intrudes Silurian White et al. Cgo Tin deposits south microg:rani te. Devonian sequences near (1959b) and east of Ewan, Sn Ewan, Running River Cu at Macaulay Creek Metamorphics, Devonian and Mount Oweenee anq Carboniferous area. sequences. Faulted against Sybil Group. t------.:...... ;·'------~-----+------,------Jl------+------+------+------Clarke River Sandstone, shale, Unconformably overlies Thickness unknown, White (1959b) Formation limestone, Kangaroo Hills probably several Wyatt and Cc conglomerate. Formation. Intruded by thousand feet. White ,( 1960) Oweenee Granite and Equivalent in part to possibly. cy diorite Piccadilly Formation. (Pzb). Marine and plant fossils. Piccadilly Arkose feldspathic Conformably ove~lies At least 1200 feet Wyatt (1963) Formation sandstone, quartz Hardwick Format ion •. thick, probable Ca conglomerate. maxillium 1700 feet. 1------l----:,--,,.------+--=--=--:-----:---::-----+--:::-::-:-::--:----:-:------:---:-----r-:::-:------·-----£... ~-·------~---4------I D- C Sandstone, shale, Undifferentiated Six separate areas c6nglomerate, equivalents of the where outcrop is too limestone. Fanning River Group, poor to enable I~ Dotswood Formation, formational boundaries . ~~ Star Beds , Clarke ~iver to be mapped. ~ E-1 Format:i;on. \ ' ,4 Gatne Hill Feldspathic and Unconformably overl ies About 2500 fee.t thick. Jack (1886b) Beds Cl.) quartzose arenites, Argentine Metamo:tppics. Abundant marine fossils Wyatt (1963) 8 D-Cg shale, siltstone, Overlain, probably and plants. Probably limestone, unconformably, or at equivalent t o Star ~ conglomerat.e, sub least disconformably, Beds . ~ ~eywacke. by St. James Volcanics. Intruded by porphyry i (Pzp) • Star Beds Sandstone, shale, Unconformably overlies About 2300- 2700 feet 4..., Jack (1879a) Copper .in Copp~rmine ~ D-Cs I.,.:i H siltstone, limestone, Argentine Metamorphics. thick. Abundant Wyatt (1963) Cl.) Creek area probably 0 H . arkose, sub Unconforma.bly overlain marine fossils and related to Oweenee 8 greywacke, conglom by Tareela Volcanics. plants. Granite. erate. Intruded by Oweenee ~ H iE-1 Granite and porphyry ~ (Pzp). 0 ~ E-1 0::: z~ w Ul P.. ::E ~ ::g <( u.. -~----1------__,,.,.....______,,...... ------r------:, . STAGE Qi -___('-.------.------r------r ERA PERIOD EPOCH ROCK UNIT LITHOLOGY RELATIONSHIPS REFERENCES ECONOMIC GEOLOGY Hardwick Feldspathic sandstone, Conformably overlies About 2700 feet Wyatt (1963) Formation arkose, subgreywacke, Lollypop Formation. thick. Marine and ~ D-Ch shale, lime3tone, Conformably overlain plant fossils. C/l H siltstone. by Piccad.illy F,quivalent < · to parts Formation. Intruded of Star and Game by Pall Mall Hill Beds and Clarke I8 Ad.amelli te (Pzug). River Formation. 0 ------'------+------t------+------+------· 8 Lollypop Feldspathi c sandstone, Conformably ov-erlies At least 1500 feet Wyatt Formation conglomerate. (1961, Myrtlevale Beds . thick. No fossils 1963) D-Cl Conform.ably c., overlain so far observed. by Hardwick H Formation. Int 0 ruded by Pall Mall N 1-----+---~------+------t------t------1r------:--i------Adamelli te. 0 Myrtlevale Feldspathic · ------' sandstone, Conformably overlies 900-1000 feet thick. Wyatt ~ Beds siltstone, (1961, shale, Dotswood Formation. Abundant marine 1962, < D.un rare limestone 1963) H , Conformably overlain fossils. Rare plants. conglomerate by < . Lollypop Form.a tion.' · P-. Dotswood Feldspathic sandstone, Possibly d.isconformably About 8000 feet Jack Formation arkose, ( 1879a) Gold at Far Fanning red shale, overlies Fanning River thick. Continental Wyatt Dud siltstone (1961 , diggings. Gold-copper , Group. Intruded by deposits. Rare plant 1962, 1963) conglomerate, tuff Pall at Great Caesar mine . . .Mall Adamellite, fossils. Gold Kit ty O' Shea at Piccadilly Intrusives, mines. and dolerite Copper at Mount and Keel bottom microdiorite (Pzi). . Fanning River Arkose, subgr Nonconformably eywacke , overlies About 1200 feet thick. Jack 1879a,b) Limestone Group coralline limestone, Ravenswood deposits in Granodiorite. Abundant marine Hill (1942) Calcium area. Dmf sandstone, shale. Overlain possibly Gold at f ossils. Limestone is Wyatt (1961, Mount Success and disconformably or with biostr omal reef 1962, 1963) Golden Valley. Gold overlap by Dotswood deposit. prospect Formation. near Calcium. 1-'---+---f---+------+------+------t------+------f----...;..-----Iron near Woodstock. Lolworth Deeply lateritised Overlain by -- Cainozoic Small areas, near Fern Gold ("Big. Hit" mine Igneous Complex porphyritic sediments. Otherwise. Spri~ Homestead. jus t south of Sheet area) . S- Dl "granite". no field relations seen. Correlited with Lolworth Igneous Complex, Hughenden and Char ters Towers 1:250, 000 Sheet areas. Tent atively regarded as Lower Devonian. ., Ra.venswood Granodiorite, granite In , t rudes Argentine Covers about 700 square Jack ( 1879a) Gold Granodiorite aplite, pegmatite, Metamorphics mainly near Charters , Charters miles of the Sheet area. Reid (1917) Towers S-Dr, S- Da ad.amellite, diorite, Towers Metamorphics and si lver-lead , I~ places strongly Wyatt ( 1961, mainly near gabbro. Kirk River Beds Ravenswood . foliated. 420-440 m. y.. - 1962, 1963) in Charters Towers 3 determinations. 1 : 250, 000 Sheet a.r:ea. Kangaroo Hills Q.uart z arenit e, Possibl y overlies Quartz arenite and shale White et al. Formation shale, greywacke, Tribute Hills Sand in thin beds , arenit e S-Dk ( 1959) conglomerate. stone. Unconformably generally current White and overlain by Clarke bedded. __,Wyatt (1960) River Formation and 4 Sybil Group. Tribute Hills Quartz sandstone Doubtful. Possi bly 3500- 5000 f eet thick. White et al. Sandstone and siltstone. equivalent to Perry S-Dt ( 1959b) Creek Formation. If White and so, older than Wyatt (1960) Ka.~roo Hills -,_-,..""""""n.&...: -- 6. STAGE OR ERA PERIOD EPOCH ROCK UNIT LITHOLOOY RELATIONSHIPS REMARKS REFERENCES ECONOMIC GIDLOOY Greenvale Siltstone, gTeywacke, Doubtful. Thickness unknown White et al. Formation subgreywacke, silty owing to tight (1959"b} S-Dg quartz -sandstone, folding. White and feldspathic sandstone. Wyatt (1960) Kirk River .Micaoeous, shale, Intruded by and About 12,000 feet Gold associated with Beds lithic, feldspathic faulted against thick. Slumping, Ravenswood Granodiorite Pzk sandstone, arkose,... Ravens-wood convolute bedding at Bunkers Hill. siltstone. Granodiorite. in arenites • , Ewan Beds Greywacke, lithic and Unconformably ·overlies Thickness unknown Jack (1892) Tin, copper related to Pze quartzose conglomerate Running River probably between Saint- Smith Oweenee Granite and and sands tone, . Metamorphics. Intruded 5000 and 10,000 feet. ( 1922) other late Palaeozoic siltstone, lime~tone, by Oweenee Granite. Very much fractured. Reid (1931) granite (Cg). andesitic a~d rhyolitic Poorly preserved Bush (1960) volcanics. corals. Wyatt (1963) Charters Towers Mica schist, quart~ Intruded by Occurs· as ·small root Ja.ck (1879a) Small gold deposits Metamorphics plagioclase-biotite Ravenswood Granodiorite. pendants- in Reid ( 1917) near Charters Towers. Pzq gneiss. Ravenswood Grano Wyatt (1963) diorite. Thickness 1,Ulk:nown. (I Argentinf Mica schist, quartzite, Intruded by Strongly foliated, Jack (1879a) Silver at Argentine. Metamorphics quartz schist, garnet Ravenswood Grano- trend ranges from E-W Wyatt (1963) Gold in Ponto area. pSa iferous mica schist and diorite. Unconformably to N.N .E. quartzite, actinolite overlain by Givetian schist, marble, Tournaisian sequences. amphibolite, gneiss, migma.tite. Running River Mica schist, Unconformably overlain Strongly foliated, :Bush '( 1950) Small tin deposits Metamorphics quartzite, amphibolite, by Ewanlleds. Intruded trend N.E. Thickness Wyatt (1'963) associate.cl with I p8r by Oweenee Granite. unknown. Oweenee Granite. . ;_,,