Arafura Basin

Sedimentary: dolostone, limestone, sandstone, siltstone, basalt, coal.

Epoch Min:

Carboniferous.

Epoch Max:

Neoproterozoic.

Age Min:

298 Ma.

Age Max:

1000 Ma.

Summary:

A pericratonic basin, extending from the Arnhem Land coastline to West Irian. Permian sequences present in offshore sections of the basin.

Relationship:

Overlies Proterozoic rocks of the Pine Creek Orogen and McArthur Basin, and is unconformably overlain by the Mesozoic Money Shoal Basin.

Thickness:

3 km onshore  deepening to 15 km offshore.

Economic:

Nine petroleum wells have been drilled offshore within the region (through Money Shoal and Arafura basin successions); several of these intersected significant oil shows in both carbonate and clastic sequences.

Metamorphism:

Unmetamorphosed.

Main Reference:

Ahmad M and Munson TJ, 2013. Chapter 35: Arafura Basin: in Ahmad M and Munson TJ (compilers) ‘Geology and Mineral Resources of the Northern Territory’. Northern Territory Geological Survey, Special Publication 5