Carnarvon Basin
The Carnarvon Basin is a geological basin located in the north west of Western Australia.[1] This is the main geological feature that makes up the North West Shelf. The onshore part of the Carnarvon Basin covers about 115,000 km² and the offshore part covers approximately 535,000 km² with water depths up to 3,500 metres. It is separated into two major areas - the Northern Carnarvon Basin, and the Southern Carnarvon Basin.
Northern Carnarvon Basin
The Northern Carnarvon Basin includes the Exmouth Plateau, Exxon Mobil, Wombat Plateau (on the northern part of the Exmouth Plateau), Investigator Sub-basin, Rankin Platform, Exmouth Sub-basin, Barrow Sub-basin, Dampier Sub-basin, Beagle Sub-basin, Enderby Terrace, Peedamullah Shelf and the Lambert Shelf.[2]
The main sub-basins for petroleum exploration in the basin have been Dampier, Exxon Mobil, Exmouth and Barrow.[3]
Southern Carnarvon Basin
The Southern basin consists of the Gascoyne, Merlinleigh, Bidgemia and Byro Sub-basins and Bernier Platform and is flanked to the east by the Archaean Pilbara Block.[2]
Impact crater
The Gnargoo structure, which has remarkable similarities to Woodleigh crater, is a proposed 75 km impact crater on the Gascoyne Platform, Southern Carnarvon Basin with an estimated age of 100-300 Ma.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.ga.gov.au/oceans/rpg_OffNorthWestA.jsp for a regional perspective
- 1 2 Geoscience Australia - Northern Carnarvon Basin (NCB)
- ↑ Geoscience Australia - Petroleum exploration (NCB)
- ↑ R. Iaskty and A. Glikson (2005). "Gnargoo: a possible 75 km-diameter post-Early Permian – pre-Cretaceous buried impact structure, Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia", Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol 52, 2005
Further reading
- Jonasson, Karina E.(2001) Western Australia atlas of petroleum fields. Volume 2. Perth, W.A. Dept. of Minerals and Energy W.A. Petroleum Division. ISBN 1-877065-00-5
External links
Coordinates: 24°48′24″S 115°13′29″E / 24.80667°S 115.22472°E