Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt

The evolution of faults and paleodrainage patterns on the southwestern Australian passive margin during and after the breakup of Gondwana in the Early Cretaceous remains poorly understood. This contribution investigates the fault and paleodrainage evolution in the southern Perth Basin with the use o...

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Main Authors: Olierook, H., Timms, Nicholas Eric, Merle, Renaud, Jourdan, F., Wilkes, P.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor and Francis Ltd. 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20574
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author Olierook, H.
Timms, Nicholas Eric
Merle, Renaud
Jourdan, F.
Wilkes, P.
author_facet Olierook, H.
Timms, Nicholas Eric
Merle, Renaud
Jourdan, F.
Wilkes, P.
author_sort Olierook, H.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The evolution of faults and paleodrainage patterns on the southwestern Australian passive margin during and after the breakup of Gondwana in the Early Cretaceous remains poorly understood. This contribution investigates the fault and paleodrainage evolution in the southern Perth Basin with the use of the ‘Bunbury Basalt’, the only lava flows known to be synchronous with continental breakup. New aeromagnetic data have been integrated with well intersections and outcrop constraints to establish the first 3D model of the Bunbury Basalt. The model reveals that flows are up to 100 m thick and are predominantly confined to two north–south-trending paleovalleys and their tributaries situated in the Bunbury Trough in the southern Perth Basin. The Donnybrook Paleovalley flow ponded in a paleovalley proximal to the Darling Fault and is truncated by the two later flows within the Bunbury Paleovalley, which is positioned centrally in the Bunbury Trough. Offsets of the Bunbury Basalt have been used to identify new northeast- and northwest-trending faults in the southern Perth Basin, and broad folding is interpreted as a consequence of drag into the Darling and Busselton faults. The model has been used to determine post-basalt net displacements for the Darling and Busselton faults of 370 and 210 m, respectively, and <175 m for the northeast and northwest-trending faults. The source vents for the Bunbury Basalt were probably located at extensional jogs at intersections between the Darling Fault and subordinate oblique faults. These results challenge the views on longstanding quiescence of the post-breakup western Australian passive margin.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-205742018-07-31T02:50:25Z Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt Olierook, H. Timms, Nicholas Eric Merle, Renaud Jourdan, F. Wilkes, P. The evolution of faults and paleodrainage patterns on the southwestern Australian passive margin during and after the breakup of Gondwana in the Early Cretaceous remains poorly understood. This contribution investigates the fault and paleodrainage evolution in the southern Perth Basin with the use of the ‘Bunbury Basalt’, the only lava flows known to be synchronous with continental breakup. New aeromagnetic data have been integrated with well intersections and outcrop constraints to establish the first 3D model of the Bunbury Basalt. The model reveals that flows are up to 100 m thick and are predominantly confined to two north–south-trending paleovalleys and their tributaries situated in the Bunbury Trough in the southern Perth Basin. The Donnybrook Paleovalley flow ponded in a paleovalley proximal to the Darling Fault and is truncated by the two later flows within the Bunbury Paleovalley, which is positioned centrally in the Bunbury Trough. Offsets of the Bunbury Basalt have been used to identify new northeast- and northwest-trending faults in the southern Perth Basin, and broad folding is interpreted as a consequence of drag into the Darling and Busselton faults. The model has been used to determine post-basalt net displacements for the Darling and Busselton faults of 370 and 210 m, respectively, and <175 m for the northeast and northwest-trending faults. The source vents for the Bunbury Basalt were probably located at extensional jogs at intersections between the Darling Fault and subordinate oblique faults. These results challenge the views on longstanding quiescence of the post-breakup western Australian passive margin. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20574 10.1080/08120099.2015.1030774 Taylor and Francis Ltd. restricted
spellingShingle Olierook, H.
Timms, Nicholas Eric
Merle, Renaud
Jourdan, F.
Wilkes, P.
Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt
title Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt
title_full Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt
title_fullStr Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt
title_full_unstemmed Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt
title_short Paleodrainage and fault development in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia during and after the breakup of Gondwana from 3D modelling of the Bunbury Basalt
title_sort paleodrainage and fault development in the southern perth basin, western australia during and after the breakup of gondwana from 3d modelling of the bunbury basalt
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20574