A Paleozoic perspective of Western Australia
A.J. Mory1,2 & P.W. Haines1
Keywords: Paleozoic, Western Australia, biostratigraphy, isopachs, paleogeography
Abstract
Introduction
Inter-basinal correlations for the Cambrian to
Carboniferous successions of Western Australia are mostly
poorly constrained, largely due to unfavourable biogeographic
factors, but also because biostratigraphic studies have been
skewed to certain basins and intervals. By comparison, Permian
inter-basinal correlations have benefited from numerous,
mostly unpublished, spore-pollen studies, but correlations
to the international timescale are poorly constrained because
calibration of the latter is based largely on marine species that are
rare in Australia. Nevertheless, a moderately robust correlation
is possible for intervals of 10–30 m.y. in the Paleozoic, and
reveals broad similarities between basins implying overriding
far-field tectonic influences across west Australia. Devonian–
Carboniferous events in central Australia—grouped together as
the Alice Springs Orogeny—have the most obvious control, at
least on the northern basins, but the underlying mechanisms,
especially for the initiation of the intracratonic basins, remain
obscure. The juxtaposition of west Australia against Greater
India and other continental blocks, now dispersed throughout
southeastern Asia, and the enormous thickness of Mesozoic
successions along the North West Shelf, make unravelling
Paleozoic structural history especially difficult.
Isopach images reveal repeated reactivation of the major
basin elements throughout the Paleozoic, implying continued
propagation of Precambrian basement structures. Even so, the
orientations of the mostly intracratonic northern and central
basins (west-northwest) appear to have been the product of
significantly different stress regimes than the basins on the
western margin of the West Australian Craton (north to northnorthwest). Westerly extension along the western margin of
this craton appears to have commenced in the Devonian,
whereas roughly northeasterly extension associated with events
in central Australia controlled the development of the central
and northern basins throughout the Paleozoic.
Paleozoic strata are preserved over approximately 30%
of onshore Western Australia (Fig. 1), but rocks of this era
have yielded a significantly smaller proportion of the State’s
petroleum and mineral resources. Nevertheless, the resource
status of the Paleozoic is likely to improve given the growing
interest in shale and tight gas, and CO2 sequestration.
This review of the Paleozoic depositional and structural
history of Western Australia utilises a series of state-wide
paleogeographic reconstructions and isopach images derived
mostly from outcrop and well sections, with the correlation
between basins (Fig. 2) constrained by paleontologicalbiostratigraphic studies (summarised in Fig. 3). The review
is mainly concerned with the onshore successions, as the
Paleozoic is mostly deeply buried below Mesozoic and
younger strata offshore.
The first general observations on Paleozoic strata in
Western Australia were published by Gregory (1849) and
von Sommer (1849), who reported on ‘Carboniferous’ fossils
(now known to be Permian in age) from exposures along the
Irwin (Perth Basin) and Lyons (Southern Carnarvon Basin)
rivers. The first paleontological study was Foord’s (1890)
descriptions of material collected by Hardman (1885) from
the Cambrian of the Ord Basin. Systematic paleontological
studies on Paleozoic fossils began in the 1930s, and were
largely based on outcrop studies by university researchers.
From the 1950s to 1980s, further paleontological and
biostratigraphic studies were conducted, following mapping
projects by the Bureau of Mineral Resources (now Geoscience
Australia) and Geological Survey of Western Australia
(GSWA), in part to encourage petroleum exploration. Early
onshore exploration results were disappointing and this,
combined with significant offshore discoveries, inhibited
additional studies onshore, especially of the Paleozoic.
Apart from the Perth Basin, where work since the 1960s has
identified significant gas reserves in Upper Permian rocks,
onshore activities declined until the 1980s, when interest in
the Canning Basin increased due to the Blina discovery and
studies of the Devonian reef complex. Even so, parts of the
Paleozoic have had little company activity since the 1960s
to 1970s.
1
Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain St, East Perth,
Western Australia 6004, arthur.mory@dmp.wa.gov.au
2
University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
1
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
115°
Timor
120°
125°
10°
130°
NORTHERN
BONAPARTE
BASIN
500 km
135°
MONEY SHOAL
BASIN
MONEY SHOAL
ARAFURA
BASINS
Goulbourn
Graben
Petrel S-b
SBB
BROWSE
BASIN
LF
E
SH
15°
ROEBUCK
BASIN
Bro
T
ES
W
NORTHERN
CARNARVON
BASIN
TH
R
O
20°
NORTH
AUSTRALIAN
CRATON
Le
nn
ar
ro
d
y–
S
ome
Gr
eg helf
Pla
o
t
r
f
orm
yT
Wil
lara
ro
ug
S-b
h
CANNING
BASIN
Fit
z
N
Ki
DALY
BASIN
ORD
BASIN
WISO
BASIN
GEORGINA
BASIN
ds
on
S-
b
OFFICER
BASIN
Ga
Pla sco
tfo yne
rm
SOUTHERN
CARNARVON
BASIN
-b
hS
leig
25°
rlin
Me
r
ie
rn orm
Be latf
P
AMADEUS
BASIN
CANNING
OFFICER
BASINS
Byro S-b
Musgrave
Province
EROMANGA
BASIN
ugh
Darling
n Tro
araga
Dand
Coolcalalaya S-b
WEST
AUSTRALIAN
CRATON
PERTH
BASIN
30°
OFFICER
BASIN
Fault
GAWLER
CRATON
Collie
S-b
BIGHT BASIN
Bunbury
Trough
35°
AJM900
04.06.13
Cenozoic–Mesozoic dominant
Trough–sub-basin–graben
Shelf – outlier – interior basin
NT
WA
Platform–ridge
Terrace
SA
Kalkarindji LIP
Milliwindi Dyke
Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic basins
Precambrian terranes
1000 km
Figure 1. Simplified tectonic elements map of Western Australia emphasising Paleozoic structure. SBB = Southern Bonaparte Basin, S-b
= Sub-basin.
2
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
S
N
Lesueur Ss
Early
Woodada Fm
Sabina Ss
Chinty Fm
?
Rosabrook
Coal
Measures
Artinskian
Woodynook Ss
Sakmarian Mosswood Fm
?
Asselian
�Cullens D�
Kennedy Gp
Byro Gp
Carynginia Fm
Irwin River CM
High Cliff Ss
Holmwood Sh
Noonkanbah
Formation
Wooramel Gp
Lyons Gp
Kulshill Group
Reeves
Formation
Bashkirian
Visean
OFFICER3
Moogooree Lst
Hermannsberg Ss
Mimili
Formation
Gneudna Fm
Mellinjerie Fm
Nanyarra Ss
Clapp Ridge Fm
C
Givetian
Parke
Slt
Eifelian
Emsian
Buttons Fm
Ningbing Group
C
Munabia Ss
Sweeny Mia Fm
Cockatoo Group
C
Tandalgoo Fm
Pragian
Kopke Ss
Mereenie
Ss
Wenlock
Carmichael
Ss
Faure
Fm
Coburn Fm
Yaringa Fm
Late
red
beds
Stokes
Slt
Middle
Early
Stairway
Ss
Larapinta Group
Munda Group
Llandovery
Mallowa Salt
Tumblagooda
Ss
Minjoo Salt
Indulkana
Sh
inferred
?
Nita Fm
Goldwyer Fm
Mt Chandler Ss
Willara Fm
Wanna Fm
Horn
Valley
Slt
Pacoota
Ss
485
Ajana Fm
Blue Hills
Ss
Worral Fm
Wilson
Cliffs
Ss
Nambeet Fm
unnamed
Lennis
Ss
? Prices
Creek
Gp Skewthorpe Fm
Clark Ss
Furongian
Pretlove Ss
Elder S-g
Hart Sp Ss
Epoch 3
?
C
?
Precambrian
Wirrildar beds in SA
McFadden Fm/Lungkarta Ss,
Vines Fm and Durba Ss in WA
Terreneuvian
Pertaoorrta Group
Marla Group
Epoch 2
Negri S-g
Tararra Fm
Table Hill Volcanics
541
Pander Gs
Carranya Fm
unnamed
inferred
Goose Hole
Group
Pridoli
Ludlow
444
Antrim
Plateau
Volcanics
Antrim
Plateau
Volcanics
Albert Edward
and
Louisa Downs
Groups
AJM898
17.04.13
Dominant lithotype
Sandstone (conglomerate)
Volcanics
Mudstone
Halite, evaporite
Carbonate�mudstone
Disconformity
Korsch & Kennard (1991), Nicoll & Laurie (1997);
(2003 and references therein);
5
C Conglomerate
Ck Creek
CM Coal Measures
D Diamictite
Carbonate
Mixed sandstone, mudstone and
(Permian only) coal
Figure 2. Correlation of the Paleozoic in west Australia. Principal references:
2
Mahony
Group
Boll C
reef
complexes
Carlton
Group
SILURIAN
Langfield Group
Fairfield Group
Willaraddie Fm
Bonaparte Fm
Late
M
DEVONIAN
Early
Brewer C
Lochkovian
CAMBRIAN
Weaber Group
Williambury Fm
Tournaisian
ORDOVICIAN
Anderson
Formation
Yindagindy Fm
AMADEUS2
Frasnian
Wadeye Group
Harris Ss Quail Fm
359
419
Poole Ss
Grant Group
Moscovian
Famennian
Fossil Head
Formation
Callytharra Fm
Nangetty
Formation
Late
Hyland Bay Subgroup
Liveringa Gp
Carribuddy
Group
PERMIAN
Cisuralian
Pennsylvanian
Wagina�Dongara
Ss
Serphukhovian
Mississippian
CARBONIFEROUS
Kungurian
Osprey Fm
Mount Goodwin Subgroup
Millyit Ss
Redgate CM Beekeeper Fm
Ashbrook Ss
ORD7
Sahul Group
Blina Sh
?
Willespie Fm
Guadalupian
SOUTHERN
BONAPARTE6
Erskine Ss
Locker Sh
Kockatea Sh
Lopingian
299
N
CANNING5
Mungaroo Fm
Lesueur Ss
Middle
S
Dirk Hartog
Group
TRIASSIC
252
SOUTHERN
CARNARVON4
PERTH1
AGE
3
Fm
Gp
1
Formation
Group
Gs Greensand
Lst Limestone
S-g Subgroup
Sh
Sp
Shale
Spring
Ss
Sandstone
Crostella & Backhouse (2000), Mory & Iasky (1996);
Haines et al. (2008), Jackson & van de Graaff (1981), Morton (1997);
Haines (2004, 2009), Allen (pers. comm., 2012), Playford et al. (2009), Mory (2010);
6
4
Mory et al.
Mory & Beere
(1988), Gorter et al. (1998, 2005, 2008); 7 Mory & Beere (1988).
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
3
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
S
252
TRIASSIC
PERTH
N
SOUTHERN
CARNARVON
S
CANNING
N
SOUTHERN ORD INTERVALS
IN THIS STUDY
BONAPARTE
Middle
~250
Early
Lopingian
249±2
?
243±5
middle�upper
Permian
(Fig. 11b)
~265
?
lower
Permian
(Fig. 11a)
Artinskian
Sakmarian
Asselian
?
Pennsylvanian
lowermost Permian
(Fig. 10b)
z 297±7
Late
z 306±8
Moscovian
upper
Carboniferous
(Fig. 10a)
Bashkirian
Serphukhovian
Mississippian
CARBONIFEROUS
299
Kungurian
269±0.09
270±0.4
269±8
Alice Springs Orogeny
PERMIAN
Cisuralian
Guadalupian
Visean
Tournaisian
AMADEUS�
OFFICER
z 352±8
359
Late
Famennian
M
DEVONIAN
Givetian
Eifelian
Emsian
Early
uppermost
Devonian�
Carboniferous
(Fig. 9a)
middle�
upper
Devonian
(Fig. 8b)
Frasnian
lower
Devonian
(Fig. 8a)
Pragian
z 412±6
Lochkovian
419
lower
Carboniferous
(Fig. 9b)
Pridoli
SILURIAN
Ludlow
Silurian
(Fig. 7b)
Wenlock
Llandovery
444
?
ORDOVICIAN
Late
middle�upper
Ordovician
(Fig. 7a)
467±6
Middle
?
lower
Ordovician
(Fig. 6b)
Early
485
Furongian
upper
Cambrian
(Fig. 6a)
CAMBRIAN
Epoch 3
~500�
510
509±2.5
Epoch 2
Terreneuvian
541
Ediacaran
Petermann
Orogeny
509.1±2.2
middle Cambrian
(Fig. 5b)
lower
Cambrian
(Fig. 5a)
King
Leopold
Orogeny
~530�
560
~530�580
AJM899
Span of local zones
Biostratigraphic resolution
International zone
Radiometric ages (Ma)
Period
Extrusion or tuff
Substage
No internal evidence
Intrusion
Stage�substage
Disconformity
Basement heating
event
z
Stage
21.02.13
Youngest zircon date from
provenance study
Epoch
Figure 3. Summary of biostratigraphic resolution for west Australia (based on Fig. 2), also showing the intervals for the paleogeographic
maps and isopach images, and available radiometric dates.
4
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
Regional structure
Before exploration extended offshore, differentiation of
Western Australia’s basins (Fig. 1) initially depended largely
on their separation by Precambrian terranes. Extrapolating
basin nomenclature offshore through the Mesozoic succession
is unsatisfactory due to the lack of clear structural features
along which the basins can be partitioned. Offshore Paleozoic
basins are effectively masked by the thick Mesozoic section.
Despite the relatively little information on offshore Paleozoic
successions, the BMR Palaeogeographic Group (1990) inferred
that they onlap the shelves on the margins of these basins
(especially along the North West Shelf where Cretaceous
strata usually are unconformable on Precambrian basement).
This inference is followed here, with the proviso that the areas
shown as non-deposition or erosion (see key in Fig. 4) on the
paleogeographic maps and isopach images (Figs 5–11) are not
necessarily continental. An implication of such onlap is that
the Paleozoic had a relatively low thermal maturity along these
margins prior to Mesozoic deposition, as is typical onshore
where Paleozoic strata onlap Precambrian basement.
Onshore basin subdivisions of equivalent status are
amalgamated where they adjoin in Figure 1. Some of these
boundaries are arbitrary, and most likely did not represent
discrete structural domains during the Paleozoic. The Upper
Carboniferous to Lower Permian succession formerly included
in the Gunbarrel Basin, for example, is now considered a
southern extension of the Canning Basin on sedimentological
grounds. The underlying lower Paleozoic section is returned to
the Officer Basin (as in Iasky, 1990), and the Gunbarrel Basin
is confined to the Mesozoic section between 23°S and 30°S (R.
Hocking, pers. comm., 2012).
The major Ordovician–Silurian depocentres in Western
Australia were the Kidson-Willara sub-basins (Canning Basin)
and Gascoyne-Bernier platforms (Southern Carnarvon Basin).
By contrast, the Merlinleigh-Byro sub-basins and Coolcalalaya
Sub-basin (Southern Carnarvon and northern Perth basins),
plus the Fitzroy Trough and Gregory Sub-basin (Canning
Basin) were largely active in the Devonian to Early Permian.
To the north, the Petrel Sub-basin (Southern Bonaparte Basin)
appears to have been active throughout most of the Paleozoic,
although the succession pre-dating the Upper Devonian is
poorly understood. In the south of the State, the Dandaragan–
Bunbury troughs of the Perth Basin represent a southern
extension of the Permian depocentre formed along the eastern
margin of the Southern Carnarvon Basin. Further afield, the
Arafura Basin (Fig. 1) contains up to 7 km of Paleozoic strata
within the Goulburn Graben, a trough with a similar westnorthwesterly orientation to the Fitzroy Trough (Struckmeyer,
2006). To date, relatively little data is available, as just seven
wells have intersected Paleozoic strata within this graben.
Hocking (1994) cautioned that onshore basin boundaries
reflect the limits of preservation rather than inferred limits
of deposition, and that currently-used basin subdivisions
refer to “presently expressed tectonic elements”. This implies
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
that subdivision descriptors, such as ‘platforms’, ‘shelves’
and ‘troughs’ “do not necessarily have a paleogeographic
connotation” (Mory & Hocking, 2011, p. 5) and ‘present
structural configuration … should not be taken to imply
paleogeography’ (Mory & Haig, 2011, p. 6). Nevertheless,
thermal maturity studies lend credence to the longevity of
such features: for example, low maturities across the Gascoyne
Platform (Southern Carnarvon Basin) imply it remained at a
relatively high level at the same time as a Permian succession,
up to 5 km thick, was deposited in the adjoining sub-basins to
the east (Mory et al., 1998). Similarly, the low maturity of the
Ordovician section across the Broome Platform and Willara
Sub-basin in the Canning Basin (Nicoll, 1993) indicates
significant segregation from the deposition of up to 5 km of
post-Ordovician strata in the Fitzroy Trough. Typically, ‘shelf ’
and ‘platform’ basin subdivisions have low organic maturities,
thereby implying some longevity to their ‘present structural
configuration’. Although these areas have significance in terms
of limited sediment accumulation, they do not necessarily
coincide with the distribution of paleoenvironments. Note
also that the outlines of the structural subdivisions on the
paleogeographic maps and isopach images (Figs 5–11) are
meant as a guide to location, and do not always signify that
these sub-basins were tectonically active at those times.
Biostratigraphic controls
Faunal and floral studies of diverse Paleozoic groups from
Western Australia, of which there have been several hundred,
underpin biostratigraphic correlations: without such systematic
studies, age determinations and correlations are inherently
unreliable. However, not all fossil groups are useful for detailed
biostratigraphy, and this review briefly assesses the groups
most useful for regional correlations. The biostratigraphic
resolution of successions in each basin is ranked from high
(where international zones can be recognised) to none (for
units with no internal age evidence; Fig. 3). Overall, interbasin correlation of the mid-Devonian to Permian is the most
robust, as marine facies are more prevalent during this time
than in the lower Paleozoic.
A useful summary of Australian Paleozoic biostratigraphy
is given by Young & Laurie (1996, especially chapters
2.1–2.6). Despite being overshadowed by changes to the
international timescale (Gradstein et al., 2012 is followed
here), the notes in Young & Laurie (1996) provide a good
summary of each period. Geoscience Australia’s biozonation
and stratigraphy charts (e.g. Nicoll et al., 2009a, b; Mantle et
al., 2010) link biostratigraphic zones to regional stratigraphy,
but do not discuss the distribution of biozones within rock
units, in spite of providing extensive reference lists. Although
the main emphasis on Australian faunas and floras in Wright
et al. (2000) is paleobiogeographic, they also include useful
insights into biostratigraphy. The most recent summaries of
described Western Australian Paleozoic faunas and floras are
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
5
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
Skwarko’s (1987a; 1987b; 1988a; 1988b; 1993) compilations
on the fossils of the Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian,
Carboniferous and Permian respectively. Only the Permian
volume was published, but the unpublished reports can be
consulted through the Department of Mines and Petroleum’s
library in Mineral House, East Perth.
Cambrian
Lower Cambrian sections in Western Australia can only
be inferred by extrapolation from eastern Amadeus and
Officer basin successions of the Northern Territory and
South Australia, respectively. Both of those areas contain
predominantly clastic facies between Ediacaran and Epoch 2
ages, which has been dated using archaeocyathids. The base
of the Cambrian and Fortunian (Early Terreneuvian) in the
central and eastern Amadeus Basin is well established based on
the presence of the Phycodes pedum ichnozone (Walter et al.,
1989). This ichnozone (now referred to by various authors as
Trichophycus pedum, Treptichnus pedum, or Manykodes pedum)
also defines the base of the Cambrian at the GSSP (Global
Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) in Newfoundland
(Gradstein et al., 2012, fig. 19.4). Equivalent lower Cambrian
strata possibly extend into the western Amadeus and Officer
basins in Western Australia, but outcrop there is poor and
needs to be re-evaluated. Possible lower Cambrian strata are
also present in the east Kimberley region, but no fossils have
been reported from these rocks.
Fossiliferous upper Cambrian strata in Western Australia
are only known in the Southern Bonaparte and Ord basins,
and these assemblages show strong links to the Wiso and
Georgina basins to the east, in the Northern Territory. The
last work on the paleontology of the Southern Bonaparte
Basin was that of Shergold et al. (2007) who documented
the trilobite faunas previously only listed by Öpik (1969). In
the report on the Ord Basin by Kruse et al. (2004) the older
‘Ordian’ faunas are regarded as ‘earliest Middle Cambrian’
(close to the Epoch 2/Epoch 3 boundary). Argon-argon dating
of the underlying Kalkarindji LIP (Large Igneous Province;
including the Antrim Plateau and Table Hill Volcanics) by
Evins et al. (2009) has been recalculated as c. 509 Ma, close to
the present estimate for the base of Epoch 3, thereby pointing
to the ‘Ordian’ lying mostly within Epoch 3 if the 509 Ma age
for the base of that epoch is verified. Nevertheless, the relative
ages of these successions remain unchanged.
The suggestion by Retallack (2009) of a possible Cambrian
age for the lower part of the Tumblagooda Sandstone in the
Carnarvon Basin is uncertain as it relies on the correlation
of soil profiles. Conodonts from a similar lithofacies in
Wandagee 1 (core 5), 400 km north of the outcrop belt,
indicate an Early Ordovician age (Mory et al., 1998), but it
is unclear if this age applies to the Tumblagooda Sandstone as
a whole or if it points to the presence of an older succession
equivalent to that inferred from seismic data offshore from
Kalbarri (Iasky et al., 2003).
6
Ordovician
The most comprehensive paleontological record for the
Lower to lower Middle Ordovician is from the Canning Basin,
for which Nicoll (1993) identifies conodont assemblages based
on descriptions by McTavish (1973) and Watson (1988). Other
groups, such as graptolites and trilobites (Legg, 1978; Laurie &
Shergold, 1996), are also useful for this interval, but overall play
a much smaller role in Ordovician age determinations. A minor,
lowermost Ordovician section in the Southern Bonaparte Basin
has an abundant Tremadocian conodont assemblage (Jones,
1971). Conodonts of this age have been reworked into the Upper
Devonian, and Darriwillian (upper Middle Ordovician) fossils
have been recovered from Visean (Early Carboniferous) strata,
indicating that the preserved Ordovician section is incomplete
(Nicoll, 1995). A study of Middle Ordovician conodonts from
an isolated outcrop in the western Amadeus Basin is in progress
(R. Nicoll, written comm., 2012).
Paralic facies in the upper Middle and Upper Ordovician
(Carribuddy Group) of the Canning Basin are poorly
constrained biostratigraphically. Acritarch assemblages are
long-ranging, and the rare conodonts recovered, some of which
may be reworked, have not been studied in detail. The Mallowa
Salt has been assigned a Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian
age based on the occurrence of the land-plant crytospore
Tetrahedraletes medinensis (Foster & Williams, 1991).
The only other significant section deduced to be
Ordovician from its stratigraphic position is the Tumblagooda
Sandstone (Southern Carnarvon Basin; Mory et al., 1998); we
consider the internal evidence for the age of this unit (Trewin
& McNamara, 1995; Retallack, 2009) to be ambiguous.
Possible Ordovician strata in the western Officer Basin are
only loosely constrained by their stratigraphic position to the
middle Cambrian to Carboniferous; a tentative Ordovician age
is suggested for these rocks based on detrital zircon provenance
data (Haines et al., this volume).
Silurian
In Western Australia only two areas with Silurian ages
have been identified, in the Southern Carnarvon and Canning
basins. The age determinations for both successions depend
on limited conodont assemblages. Mory et al. (1998) list
four assemblages (#2–5) spanning the mid-Llandovery to
Pridoli in the former, whereas Nicoll et al. (1994) describes
an Early–Middle Llandovery fauna from the Canning Basin
based on five samples from Acacia 1 and Boab 1. The only
other potentially useful Silurian fossils in Western Australia are
thelodont scales from Kemp Field 1 (Canning Basin; Turner,
1993) but they need to be verified.
Devonian
Early Devonian fossils are rare. In the Carnarvon Basin,
a single element of Ozarkodina pandora, a conodont species
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
restricted to the lower Pedavis pedavis Zone, indicates an
early Lochkovian age for the base of the Kopke Sandstone
(Mory et al., 1998). In the Canning Basin, the thelodont
Turinia australiensis, a widely distributed species of the
Lower Devonian of eastern Australia, was described from the
Tandalgoo Formation in core 5 of Wilson Cliffs 1 by Gross
(1971), although it is unclear if the fossils are from this core or
core 8 (Worral Formation).
Middle Devonian age determinations are uncertain as
they depend largely on low diversity acritarch assemblages
with long ranging species (such as Geminospora lemurata) that
extend into the Frasnian (Young, 1996). Consequently some
formations assigned Middle Devonian ages in the southerncentral Canning Basin may be partially equivalent to Upper
Devonian units further north in that basin.
Late Devonian ages are best known from the Canning
Basin reef complexes, in which the Frasnian is divided into
13 Palmatolepis conodont assemblages similar to those from
the Montagne Noir in southern France (Klapper, 2009). In
addition, this section contains abundant, diverse goniatite
assemblages that have been divided into 19 zones (Becker
& House, 2009)—implying a biostratigraphic resolution
of less than one million years. However, these detailed
biostratigraphic subdivisions, devised from outcrop of deeper
water facies along the northern basin margin, have only been
sporadically applied to the subsurface due to unsuitable facies
and irregular sampling. Frasnian conodonts are also known
from the Gneudna Formation in the Southern Carnarvon
Basin (Seddon, 1969) and the Cockatoo Group in the Southern
Bonaparte Basin (Druce, 1969), but these assemblages were
insufficient to assign to international zones. Famennian
conodont assemblages in the Canning Basin are dominated
by taxa of the genus Polygnathus, but the lack of agreement
on species-level taxonomy and the prevalence of endemic
forms limits their biostratigraphic usefulness (Klapper,
2009). Despite this, 14 Famennian goniatite zones have been
recognised covering the Famennian (duration ~1 m.y. each)
through to the Middle Palmatolepis gracilis expansa conodont
Zone (Becker & House, 2009). By comparison, Famennian
conodonts from the Southern Bonaparte Basin only provide
general ages due to reworking (Druce, 1969).
Ammonoids are rare in the uppermost part of the
Famennian, and conodont assemblages are from shallowwater biofacies, limiting their biostratigraphic value (Druce,
1974; Nicoll & Druce, 1979). However, the uppermost
Famennian also contains a distinctive miospore assemblage
characterised by Retispora lepidophyta, the upper limit of
which is considered close to the Devonian/Carboniferous
boundary (Playford, 2009). The lower age limit of this
assemblage is poorly defined in Australia, but Young (1996)
correlates it with the base of the Palmatolepis perlobata postera
Zone. This is a zone earlier than Streel (2008) indicates for
Europe, and implies its first appearance in the Canning Basin
is from a level equivalent to the uppermost part of the reef
complex.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
Carboniferous
Biostratigraphic studies of the Mississippian have been
based on conodonts, ostracods, foraminifera, brachiopods
and palynomorphs, especially in the Canning and Southern
Bonaparte basins. Of these, the ostracods offer the best
biostratigraphic resolution at present, with eight assemblages
forming an ‘interim biostratigraphic scheme’ covering the
Tournaisian almost to the end of the Visean (Jones, 1989;
2004). However, there have been no ostracod studies in the
Southern Carnarvon Basin, largely due to unsuitable facies
and the paucity of subsurface sections. Other groups are of
limited biostratigraphic value, due to poor resolution, facies
dependence, or the limited number of sections studied. In the
Southern Bonaparte Basin, Jones’ (1989, 2004) ages depend
on those determined by Mamet & Belford (1968) based on
foraminifera. However, many ostracod taxa are cosmopolitan
(e.g. Paraparchitidae; Jones, 2004), and their short-ranging
species are useful for international correlations. After Mamet
& Belford (1968), the only published study on Western
Australian Carboniferous foraminifera was by Edgell (2004)
on material from the Canning Basin. However, work is
underway to describe calcareous algae and foraminifera from
the Yindagindy Formation (Southern Carnarvon Basin), with
the former group indicating a Holkerian (early late Visean)
age (D. Vachard & D. Haig, written comm., 2013). Although
calcareous algae have the potential for good biostratigraphic
resolution, the existing studies on the Southern Bonaparte
Basin are reconnaissance at best (Veevers, 1970; Mamet &
Roux, 1983), limiting their use at present.
The conodont studies of Druce (1969) and Nicoll & Druce
(1979) from the Southern Bonaparte and Canning basins
respectively, yielded few of the deeper-water Tournaisian forms
(such as Siphonodella and Gnathodus) on which identification
of the international zones depend. The dominance of
shallow-water forms (such as Bispathodus, Clydagnathus,
Polygnathus and Pseudognathodus) in these assemblages hinders
correlation, even locally, as their stratigraphic ranges are not
well established and are strongly facies influenced. Although
Visean conodont assemblages are biostratigraphically more
useful, they have been recovered from relatively few levels.
Conodonts, including Declinognathus noduliferus inequalis
from the Arco Formation in Lesueur 1 (Gorter et al., 2005),
are the youngest marine Carboniferous fossils (no older than
basal Pennsylvanian) recovered in west Australia, and show
that the Spelaeotriletes ybertii spore-pollen zone ranges into the
Bashkirian.
The spore-pollen zonation of Kemp et al. (1977) for the
Tournaisian and Visean has in part been refined by Playford
(1976; 1985; 1991), but still remains of low resolution, as
these Mississippian zones approximate stages in duration. The
Pennsylvanian contains just two spore-pollen zones that appear
to have significant temporal overlap (Mory, 2010). Largely due
to the paucity of marine fossils, the Pennsylvanian is poorly
constrained, and the position of the Carboniferous/Permian
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
7
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
boundary remains elusive in Australia. The only Carboniferous
zone of apparently short duration—the Grandispora maculosa
zone—is problematic as its late Visean to early Serpukhovian
range in Western Australia (Gorter et al., 2005) barely overlaps
with its early−late Visean range in New South Wales (Fielding
et al., 2008, supplementary paper).
Although there is a well-described brachiopod succession
in the Southern Bonaparte Basin, with nine Tournaisian
assemblages and one Visean (Roberts, 1971), there are few
species in common with the other two basins containing
strata of these ages (Canning and Southern Carnarvon basins;
Skwarko, 1988b). In the Tournaisian, just one brachiopod
species (Punctospirifer plicatosulcatus) is known from all three
basins, with three other species present in two of the basins,
limiting the usefulness of this group for interbasin correlation
in Western Australia. In the Visean, none of the known
brachiopod species are known to extend between basins.
Permian
Permian paleontological studies have included a large
range of groups for which biostratigraphic schemes have been
proposed, including brachiopods, ammonoids, foraminifera,
bryozoa and spore-pollen. Of all these groups, ammonoids
reputedly allow the best correlation to international stages (e.g.
Glenister & Furnish, 1961), but their rarity is a significant
limitation. Furthermore, due to the dominance of endemic
ammonoid species, many age determinations are based on
implied—and therefore questionable—phylogenetic affinities
(Boiko et al., 2008; Leonova, 1998; 2011).
On the whole, the spore-pollen zonation, first established at
Collie (Fig. 1) by Backhouse (1991) and later extended to other
basins (Backhouse, 1993; 1998; Mory & Backhouse, 1997),
offers the best overall biostratigraphic control. This is largely
because palynological studies have been carried out on most
exploration wells, many of the deeper government water bores,
and some mineral exploration bores, although much of this
work is unpublished (e.g. see the summary of Canning Basin
by Mory, 2010). This zonation is based on an evolutionary
lineage, but suffers from relying on relatively few species and,
apart from in the upper Kungurian to upper Capitanian, its
resolution is limited, possibly due to the influence of cool
climates in the Cisuralian and evolutionary conservatism in the
mid-Capitanian to Lopingian. Unfortunately, palynomorph
recovery from outcrop is rare due to oxidisation, so correlation
to the subsurface, where identifiable macrofossils are scarce, is
hindered by the difficulties in matching ages obtained from
different fossil groups. Other difficulties include inconsistencies
due to changing species concepts and the limited revisions of
older work, especially material from petroleum exploration
wells. In addition, comparing zircon dates from tuff beds with
associated spore-pollen zones between eastern and Western
Australia reveals some late Early–Middle Permian zones are
either of short duration or diachronous (T. Kelly, written
comm., 2013). Nevertheless, correlations based on palynology
8
and supported by macrofossils are likely to be moderately
reliable as significant barriers to floral and faunal dispersal
are unlikely, at least in the west of the continent based on its
passive margin tectonic setting.
Although brachiopod assemblages have been well studied,
with 18 identified assemblage zones spanning the Permian
(Archbold, 1993; 1998), these studies have been largely
restricted to outcrop sections and the faunal succession is
incomplete in each basin. Strong facies control is likely,
especially for the eight brachiopod assemblages in the Byro
Group (Southern Carnarvon Basin) most of which are
confined to a few beds in one formation of the eight within
the group (Mory & Haig, 2011, Fig. 7).
Early studies of foraminifera by Crespin (1958) identified
eight assemblages spanning the Permian, but more recent work
in Western Australia has so far concentrated on paleoclimatic
and paleoecological controls (e.g. Haig, 2003; Dixon & Haig,
2004) rather than refining the biostratigraphy. Nevertheless,
studies underway show that foraminifera can provide new
insights on the Permian: the Beekeeper Formation (northern
Perth Basin), for example, contains Guadalupian foraminifera
of Tethyan aspect (D. Haig, pers. comm., 2010).
Most bryozoan studies were by Crockford (1957, and
references therein), but this work requires updating due to
significant changes in the phylum’s systematics. Ongoing
studies support the biostratigraphic potential of this group,
in part based on the resolution achieved in other parts of the
Tethyan Realm (Ernst et al., 2008, and references therein) and
for Tasmania (Reid, 2003). The utility of other groups, such
as conodonts (Nicoll & Metcalfe, 1998), suffers because of
rarity, both in number of specimens and stratigraphic levels
from which they have been recovered, and the predominance
of endemic forms.
Radiometric dates
Available radiometric dates are shown on Figure 3. Apart
from the mid-Cambrian Kalkarindji LIP (dated as 509
± 2.2 Ma from the Antrim Plateau Volcanics; recalculated
by F. Jourdan pers. comm., 2012, based on Evins et al.,
2009), Paleozoic extrusive volcanic rocks are rare in Western
Australia. The Milliwindi Dyke in the west Kimberley, dated
as 510.52 ± 0.32 Ma from U–Pb CA-TIMS, is considered comagmatic with the Kalkarindji LIP (Jourdan et al., 2012). In
the Canning Basin, the lower Middle Ordovician Goldwyer
Formation contains at least three tuff beds, with another one
in the Willara Formation, but only one bed from the Goldwyer
Formation has been dated (at 467 ± 6 Ma) using the SHRIMP
U–Pb method on zircons (M. Wingate written comm., 2013).
The only other radiometrically-dated tuffs are Kungurian–
Wordian (269 ± 8 Ma & 273 9 Ma, late Early to Middle
Permian) beds from the Binthalya Formation (Southern
Carnarvon Basin; Lever & Fanning, 2004), and levels from
the Lightjack Formation (269 ± 0.09 Ma and 270 ± 0.4 Ma,
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
dated using ID-TIMS in the Canning Basin; Mory et al.,
2012). Attempts to date tuffs from the Artinskian (mid-Early
Permian) Irwin River Coal Measures (northern Perth Basin)
have only yielded Precambrian ages to date (V. Davydov, pers.
comm., 2011).
Paleozoic intrusive rocks are known from the northwestern
Canning Basin (Reeckmann & Mebberson, 1984) and in
Edel 1 on the Edel Terrace, Southern Carnarvon Basin (Gorter
& Deighton, 2002). The available K–Ar dating (265–250 Ma
and 253–249 Ma, respectively) is open to interpretation, but
at the very least indicates heating events in the Late Permian
to Early Triassic (Fig. 3). Stratigraphic constraints are poor
as all but two examples intrude pre-Permian strata, raising
the possibility of several episodes of intrusion. Geochemical
analysis and new dating are required to reveal the affinities of
these intrusions and to better constrain their ages. Similarly,
K–Ar dates of 510–500 Ma and 560–530 Ma obtained from
the northern margin of the Canning Basin reveal that heating
events continued into the Cambrian (Shaw et al., 1992), and
Rb–Sr biotite ages of 500–430 Ma from the southwestern
margin of the West Australian Craton are interpreted to
represent early Paleozoic cooling during uplift (Libby & de
Laeter, 1979; de Laeter & Libby, 1993). In the Musgrave
Province, K–Ar, Rb–Sr and Sm–Nd metamorphism and
cooling ages of 580–530 Ma are attributed to the Petermann
Orogeny (Edgoose et al., 2004; Howard et al., 2011).
A third source of radiometric dates is from zircon
provenance studies in which the youngest zircons are within the
stratigraphic age of the unit. At present, we know of just four
such dates, all from the Canning Basin (Fig. 3): 412 ± 6 Ma
from low in the Tandalgoo Formation, 352 ± 8 Ma from low in
the Anderson Formation (Haines et al., this volume), 306 ± 8
Ma from high in the Reeves Formation and 297 ± 7 Ma low in
the Grant Group (J. Martin, written comm., 2013). Although
the errors in these analyses limit their value relative to the
biostratigraphy, they imply igneous activity throughout the
Paleozoic, most likely in eastern Australia, Cimmeria and/or
Antarctica.
Paleozoic evolution of Western Australia
Approach
Biostratigraphic resolution (discussed above) also
imparts a measure of marine influence—albeit affected by
paleoecological and paleoenvironmental controls, including
currents and latitudinal changes—and connectivity to typical
Tethyan faunas. Such faunas are generally mid-latitude to
equatorial in aspect, but Tethyan elements are usually rare in
west Australian Paleozoic assemblages, indicating restricted
access to open marine circulation—hardly surprising given
the dominantly intracratonic position of most west Australian
basins and the continent’s distance from Tethys during this era
(Metcalfe, 1996; 1998; Cocks & Torsvik, 2013).
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
Marked climatic changes or local tectonic events can limit
detailed interbasin correlations: in Western Australia, climatic
variations are not always obvious because faunal and facies
changes may be equally attributed to oceanic circulation
patterns or the nature of barriers along the Cimmerian
continent between west Australia and Paleo-Tethys. For
example, extensive Upper Ordovician evaporitic facies in the
Canning Basin (once considered Devonian, e.g. Lehmann,
1984, or Silurian, e.g. Brennan & Lowenstein, 2002)
imply near-equatorial conditions. Although consistent with
paleogeographic reconstructions, this does not give a clear
explanation of why evaporites are absent in this basin during
the Silurian but present in the Southern Carnarvon Basin at
the same time. To explain this apparent Silurian anomaly, it
is necessary either to invoke a barrier that restricted oceanic
waters accessing the Canning Basin but not the Southern
Carnarvon Basin, or to seek a local tectonic explanation.
Clearly the two explanations are not mutually exclusive and
illustrate how ambiguous the geological record can be. A
clearer example of a climatic difference is the abundance of
hummocky cross-stratification in the Kungurian (late Early
Permian) of the Southern Carnarvon Basin and the seeming
absence of this facies in the Canning Basin. The difference
can be interpreted as a latitudinally restricted storm belt akin
to the ‘roaring forties’ (D. Haig, pers. comm., 2011), even
allowing for possible differences in continental topography
windward of these basins.
Selection of intervals to depict the Paleozoic evolution
of Western Australia was primarily based on biostratigraphic
resolution (Fig. 3), but other considerations such as regional
stratigraphic events (e.g., the end of glacial conditions in
the late Sakmarian; Fig. 2) and interval duration were also
given some weight. Thus, the Cambrian was divided around
the c. 509 Ma Kalkarindji LIP, itself assigned an interval to
isolate volcanic from sedimentary facies. The Ordovician
was separated into early and middle–late (Fig. 3) based on
significant facies change and local breaks close to that level
in the Canning and eastern Amadeus basins, whereas the
Silurian interval is approximate at best given the extremely
poor biostratigraphic control (see above).
The major Devonian succession with good age control is
the Middle−Upper Devonian, with the reef complexes in the
Canning and Southern Bonaparte basins ending late in the
Famennian. Although there are local breaks in these successions,
data are insufficient to show if any extend beyond one basin.
Thus, the Lower Devonian interval was chosen more or less by
default, and the uppermost part of the Devonian (i.e. the postreef complex succession) is included with the Tournaisian on
sedimentological grounds. In Western Australia the Devonian/
Carboniferous boundary is not associated with a significant
change in facies and has only been recognized with reasonable
precision in one section (in the Canning Basin), but published
accounts (Talent et al., 1993; Young, 1996, p. 107) are brief.
In the Southern Bonaparte and Canning basins the upper
part of the Tournaisian (Early Carboniferous) is absent due to
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
9
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
a disconformity, but the presence of this break in the Southern
Carnarvon Basin is uncertain as the Williambury Formation
(previously shown as extending from the Tournaisian into the
Visean; Hocking et al., 1987) has no internal age evidence.
Similarly, the upper limit of the Visean coincides with a
disconformity in the Southern Bonaparte and Canning basins,
but it is unclear if the units of similar age within the Southern
Carnarvon Basin (Harris Sandstone and Quail Formation)
correlated with units above or below this break. The ‘upper’
Carboniferous
(Serpukhovian–Pennsylvanian)
interval
presented is subjective as the position of the Carboniferous/
Permian boundary has not been identified clearly in Western
Australia (discussed by Mory, 2010). However, a basal
Permian disconformity is present on the margins of most
basins, with upper Carboniferous strata mostly restricted to
local depocentres. The Permian is divided into three intervals
based on two widespread spore-pollen/sedimentological
datums: the Pseudoreticulatispora confluens/P. pseudoreticulata
boundary coinciding with the end of glacial deposition in the
Sakmarian (Early Permian), and the Praecolpatites sinuosus/
Microbaculispora villosa boundary coinciding with a change
from marine to deltaic facies near the end of the Kungurian
(late Early Permian).
Apart from the mid-Cambrian interval covering the
Kalkarindji LIP (duration <5 m.y.), the duration of the other
intervals averages 22 m.y. with a 10–30 m.y. range. The
maximum sediment thickness preserved within each interval
ranges from 1 to 3.5 km, and averages 2.1 km. Depocentre
shifts through time are such that the maximum thickness in
any basin is less than 15 km.
�on-deposition � erosion � �land
�laya�evaporitic includin�
sabkha
Thickness
(m)
0
Alluvial
Cambrian
�luvial � red bed � eolian
Lower delta-plain
1000
Shoreface�beach
Shallow marine
Shallow-marine carbonate
dominated
2000
Glaciomarine
Glaciofluvial
3000
Tectonism�intrusives
Extrusive volcanics
Dykes
AJM901a
03.04.13
Figure 4. Key to paleogeographic maps and isopach images.
10
Figure 4 provides a key to the paleogeographic maps
and isopach images. The former follow the style of maps
produced by the BMR Palaeogeographic Group (1990), and
are considerably idealized as they each cover a relatively long
interval. Although the edge of depositional environments
identified in the paleogeographic maps coincide with
the preserved edge on the isopach images, there is little
to indicate the original extent of various environments,
especially shorelines and shallow-marine facies, across areas
with limited or no sedimentary record. The isopach images
have been generated mostly from well data with some input
from outcrop and seismic sections. Note that the scale is the
same for all isopach images (right-hand side of Figs 5–11),
with the greatest thickness (3500 m) in the upper Ordovician
interval of the Southern Carnarvon Basin, as well as in the
middle−upper Devonian of the Fitzroy Trough and possibly
the Petrel Sub-basin. The section in the centre of the Petrel
Sub-basin attributed to the Carboniferous–Permian by
Geoscience Australia (Nicoll et al., 2009a, line 100/03) is
almost 7 seconds TWT (i.e. about 20 km thick) but has little
to constrain its age. Although it is possible this section was
deposited on a rapidly subsiding continental margin, it is
anomalous compared to other Paleozoic basins in Western
Australia, and the implied thickness is not accepted, at least
for this study.
Four main phases of basin evolution are evident from
the series of paleogeographic maps and isopach images: (a)
Cambrian intracratonic deposition, probably associated with
the Centralian basins, followed by three extensional phases:
(b) Ordovician to Lower Devonian rifting, possibly also
intracratonic; (c) Middle Devonian to mid-Carboniferous
renewed extension, apparently associated with the Alice Springs
Orogeny in central Australia, and (d) mid-Carboniferous
to Permian rifting, with a strong east–west component of
extension opening a narrow seaway along the western margin
of the continent. These phases are discussed below.
The late Ediacaran to early Cambrian was a time of
orogenesis in central and northwestern Australia, with
the locus of uplift in the Musgrave Province separating the
Amadeus and Officer basins. The Petermann Orogeny (580–
530 Ma) in this area was probably at least partly coeval with
the Paterson Orogeny along the northern margin of the West
Australian Craton and the King Leopold Orogeny just north
of the Canning Basin (Tyler et al., 2012). Orogenesis probably
extended through much of the intervening area now covered
by the Canning Basin, although basement events have not
been dated there.
Petermann Orogeny uplift was accompanied by clastic
sedimentation in deltaic, fluvial, alluvial and eolian settings in
the adjacent Amadeus (Korsch & Kennard, 1991) and Officer
(Morton, 1997) basins (Fig. 5a), but the general lack of
fossils precludes differentiating the late Ediacaran from early
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
a)
115°
120°
115°
125°
120°
125°
15°
15°
?
?
20°
?
25°
25°
30°
30°
35°
35°
b)
115°
120°
?
20°
125°
115°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
120°
125°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
35°
500 km
3000
01.03.13
AJM901
Figure 5. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) early Cambrian; and b) mid-Cambrian volcanics.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
11
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
Cambrian components, except in the more marine central and
eastern Amadeus Basin. The thickest syn-Petermann strata
of deltaic to alluvial facies are preserved in a foreland-basin
setting in the western Amadeus Basin, immediately in front of
the Petermann thrust zones (Haines et al., 2012a, b). Coeval
eolian sedimentation in the western Officer Basin implies
that the uplifted mountain range generated a climatic divide
with a rain shadow to the southwest. In the East Kimberley,
significant parts of the ~3.7 km thick Louisa Downs Group
above the Ediacaran Egan Formation, and ~1.6 km of the
Albert Edward Group above the Boonall Dolomite (partially
equivalent to the Egan Formation), may be lower Cambrian
in age (Figs 2, 5a) in spite of the lack of obvious ichnofauna
and the apparent lack of shelly fossils (based on descriptions
by Dow & Gemuts, 1969).
The Kalkarindji LIP erupted in a brief event at about
509 Ma, approximately coeval with the Epoch 2/Epoch 3
boundary (Evins et al., 2009; Jourdan et al., 2012). Basalt
flows in the Ord (Antrim Plateau Volcanics) and Officer
(Table Hill Volcanics) basins reach a maximum thickness of
about 1500 m in the former suggesting its proximity to a
major eruptive centre (Fig. 5b). Geochemically related dykes
are present well to the west of preserved flows and the event
can be traced as far east as western Queensland, attesting to
its continental significance. Flows were channeled along dune
corridors in the southern Officer Basin, implying eruption
during continuing arid environments of deposition there.
Subsidence following the eruption of the Antrim Plateau
Volcanics led to shallow-marine to tidal inundation in the
Southern Bonaparte and Ord basins, with deposition of
mostly marine siliciclastic sediments continuing to the end
of the Cambrian in the north (Fig. 6a). The faunas imply
a link to the Wiso and Georgina basins to the east, but a
more northerly marine connection is also possible. A similar,
though intermittently marine, succession was deposited in the
eastern Amadeus Basin in the Northern Territory, but a lack
of fossil assemblages and identifiable time markers such as the
Kalkarindji LIP makes tracing this succession to the western
Amadeus Basin equivocal, especially in Western Australia
where apparently coeval sections are entirely non-marine. In
the Southern Carnarvon Basin, deposition of up to 1500 m
of sediment is estimated entirely from seismic data (Iasky et
al., 2003).
Ordovician to Lower Devonian
The Ordovician to Lower Devonian is grouped together
largely based on the high level of uncertainty in interbasin
correlations. Apart from the Ordovician in the Canning Basin,
much of this interval has little age control (Fig. 3); some parts
depend on seismic interpretations with little, if any, well (or
outcrop) data (e.g. the ?lower Ordovician in the Southern
Carnarvon Basin, Iasky et al., 2003; the ?upper Ordovician
in the Southern Bonaparte Basin, Mory, 1991). Fault control
along the northeastern and southwestern margins of the West
12
Australian Craton is evident over this period (Figs 6b, 7a, b,
8a). For the Southern Carnarvon Basin, the inferred downto-the-east movement (from thicknesses along the western
margin of the Merlinleigh Sub-basin) is opposite to that in the
Permian (Figs 10b, 11).
The Early Ordovician onset of deposition in the Canning
Basin contrasts with the Southern Bonaparte Basin, where
deposition continued without an obvious break from the
Cambrian (Jones, 1971), as well as in the Arafura Basin
(Struckmeyer, 2006; Zhen et al., 2012). A similar situation is
inferred for the Southern Carnarvon Basin (Iasky et al., 2003).
Whether the Nambeet Formation and Wilson Cliffs Sandstone
(with thicknesses exceeding 775 m and 731 m, respectively)
extend into the upper Cambrian is uncertain at present.
The best-known Ordovician sections are from the
Canning Basin, with the most marine interval corresponding
to the Tremadocian−Darriwilian (Early−Middle Ordovician;
e.g. Haines, 2004). Although these sections have clear
correlatives in the Amadeus, Wiso and Georgina basins to the
east, whether or not they were connected via the supposed
Larapintine Seaway remains conjectural. Despite having a
wide acceptance (e.g. Webby, 1978; Nicoll et al., 1988; Cook
& Totterdell, 1990), Haines & Wingate (2007) indicate that
the evidence for this seaway is weak, but concede it may
have had a short-lived presence. In our view, evidence for
the seaway requires a detailed comparison of non-pelagic
shelly fossils between the Amadeus and Canning basins, but
existing systematic studies of these Ordovician successions
are far from complete. By comparison, an early Ordovician
non-marine connection, via the Officer Basin into South
Australia, seems more likely (Fig. 6b) assuming the Lennis
Sandstone in Western Australia is of this age.
By the late Ordovician, marine influence waned and
deposition became paralic in the Canning Basin, but was
widespread in the Southern Carnarvon Basin and probably
across much of the Petrel Sub-basin of the Southern Bonaparte
Basin (Fig. 7a). Evaporitic conditions were periodically
established in the Canning Basin, forming thick halite
accumulations (Haines, 2009); the salt-bearing succession in
the Bonaparte Basin is inferred to be coeval (Fig. 7a; note that
Mory, 1991, suggested a Silurian to Early Devonian age).
Barriers allowing intermittent ingress of seawater presumably
developed near the northwestern ends of these basins, or
across the Cimmerian continent. The sandy red beds in the
Southern Carnarvon Basin (Tumblagooda Sandstone) show
elements of marine influence in the ichnofauna (Hocking,
1991; Trewin & McNamara, 1995) but, as with the other
basins, connections to Tethys could only have been indirect
at this time.
Silurian deposition appears to have been restricted to the
Southern Carnarvon and Canning basins (Fig. 7b). Mory et
al. (1998) inferred long periods of isolation from Tethys at this
time, based on limited conodont assemblages from the Dirk
Hartog Group (Southern Carnarvon Basin). Even fewer ages
are available from the apparently coeval Worral Formation in
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
a)
115°
120°
125°
115°
15°
15°
20°
20°
120°
125°
?
?
?
25°
?
25°
?
?
30°
30°
35°
35°
b)
115°
120°
115°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
120°
125°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
35°
500 km
3000
01.03.13
AJM902
Figure 6. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) late Cambrian; and b) early Ordovician.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
13
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
a)
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
35°
35°
b)
115°
120°
125°
115°
120°
125°
115°
120°
125°
15°
ba
rri
er
15°
20°
?
ba
rri
er
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
35°
500 km
3000
06.03.13
AJM903
Figure 7. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) middle–late Ordovician; and b) Silurian.
14
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
the Canning Basin, but this lack does not necessarily mean
the basin was less-connected with Tethys than the Southern
Carnarvon Basin at this time. The overall similarity in
lithology (apart from the lack of salt in the Canning Basin),
inferred restricted marine conditions for both basins, and low
overall deposition rate (<50 m/m.y.), indicates comparable
intracratonic controls, in many ways similar to those for the
Early Devonian.
In the Early Devonian, deposition fluctuated between
very shallow-marine and sabkha, and fluvial–eolian
conditions in the Southern Carnarvon Basin, whereas
fluvial–eolian conditions dominate in the Canning Basin
(Fig. 8a). In spite of the likelihood that both regions lay
in the same climatic belt, no direct connections between
the two can be demonstrated for this epoch. According to
Cocks & Torsvik (2013), rifting between Sibumasu and
South China-Annamia (Indochina) commenced in the Early
Devonian approximately parallel to the present North West
Shelf, whereas previous extension and subduction in the
region is shown as virtually orthogonal to this direction.
However, this change is not obvious in northwestern
Australia, where northerly extension is indicated throughout
the Paleozoic based on the west-northwesterly orientation of
major depocentres within the Canning, Southern Bonaparte
and Arafura basins.
Middle Devonian to mid-Carboniferous
The Middle−Late Devonian (Fig. 8b) saw the widespread
development of carbonate platforms and reefs, albeit locally
interrupted by thick clastic deposits along the faulted margins
of the Southern Carnarvon, Canning and Bonaparte basins
(e.g. Hocking et al., 1987; Playford et al., 2009; Mory &
Beere, 1988; respectively). Evidence for interbasin connection
is clear for the first time in the Paleozoic, with fluvial clastic
deposition in the Ord Basin linked with deltaic deposition in
the northeastern Canning Basin (Mory & Beere, 1988), and
the likely extension of carbonate deposition around the margin
of at least part of the North Australian Craton (Playford et al.,
2009). In the Canning Basin, the Late Devonian probably had
the most direct connection to Tethys oceanic circulation of any
part of the Paleozoic, based on faunal similarity with that of
Laurentia (see above). Although terranes such as Sibumasu,
and other blocks within the Cimmerian continent, lay between
Laurentia and west Australia (Baillie et al., 1994; Metcalfe,
1998, 2013; Cocks & Torsvik, 2013), they presumably did not
hinder oceanic circulation into the Canning Basin at this time.
Influxes of siliciclastic sediment were locally dominant
throughout the Frasnian of the Southern Bonaparte Basin,
intermittent for the entire Late Devonian in the Canning Basin,
and dominant throughout the Famennian in the Carnarvon
Basin. These deposits are inferred to be synorogenic in origin
following Haines et al. (2001), and are likely related to the
Alice Springs Orogeny in central Australia. In the case of the
Southern Bonaparte and Ord basins, strike-slip movements
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
along the Halls Creek Mobile Zone were probably related to
north-south shortening (Thorne & Tyler, 1996), but other
coarse-grained clastic deposits, especially in the Southern
Carnarvon Basin, are too remote from central Australia to be
explained so easily. Compared to the basin margins, the thick
mudstone sections in the depocentres have been inadequately
investigated, partly as they are buried relatively deeply, and
seismic data are ambiguous. Nevertheless, at least 3.5 km of
sediment accumulated over relatively wide areas during this
period, most notably in the Fitzroy Trough and possibly also
in the Petrel Sub-basin (Fig. 8b), denoting an episode of
significant extension.
By the end of the Devonian, carbonate deposition declined,
even though carbonate banks were still present locally,
especially in the Canning Basin (Fig. 9a), and sedimentation
contracted markedly into the Petrel, Fitzroy-Gregory and
northern Merlinleigh sub-basins (Figs 9a, b). This period was
also characterised by rapid deposition (~240 m/m.y. in the
latest Devonian to Tournaisian), implying continued tectonic
control, and presumably is related to late phases of the Alice
Springs Orogeny.
Mid-Carboniferous to Permian
The onset of glacial conditions in the mid-Carboniferous
was also marked by high rates of sedimentation in elongate
zones, such as the half-grabens along the western rift margin
of the West Australian Craton, the Fitzroy Trough and Petrel
Sub-basin. However, the elongate zone of deposition in
the centre of Western Australia (Fig. 10a) is more likely to
represent an intracratonic sag, as there is no clear structural
control and deposits are relatively thin. The relationship
between glaciation and tectonics has been explained as a
by-product of the merging of Gondwana and Laurasia, and
uplift along the present position of the Gamburtsev Subglacial
Mountains in East Antarctica (Veevers, 2009). Widespread
deposition across the centre of west Australia in the earliest
Permian (Fig. 10b) implies a decrease in glacial conditions,
freeing sediment caught up in, or trapped by, ice in the late
Carboniferous. This episode produced the most widespread
deposits of the Paleozoic, with significant onlap onto the West
and North Australian cratons.
The establishment of sedimentation along the entire length
of the narrow western rift during the Late Carboniferous to
Early Permian indicates strengthening of east-west extension,
presumably associated with the rifting and separation of the
Cimmerian continent from Gondwana (Baille et al., 1994;
Metcalfe, 1998; 2013; Cocks & Torsvik, 2013). East-west
extension continued to dominate throughout the remainder of
the Permian in the western basins, whereas sedimentation in
the northern basins contracted into long-lasting depocentres
(Figs 10b, 11a, b). However, Guadalupian (Middle Permian)
foraminifera of Tethyan aspect from the northern Perth Basin
imply a more direct seaway around west Australia at this time,
bypassing the earlier interior seaway (Fig. 11b). Although poorly
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
15
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
a)
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
35°
35°
b)
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
115°
120°
125°
115°
120°
125°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
35°
500 km
3000
01.03.13
AJM904
Figure 8. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) early Devonian; and b) middle–late Devonian.
16
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
a)
115°
120°
125°
115°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
35°
35°
120°
125°
Western Australia
b)
115°
120°
115°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
120°
125°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
AJM905
35°
500 km
3000
01.03.13
Western Australia
Figure 9. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) latest Devonian – earliest Carboniferous; and b) early Carboniferous.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
17
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
a)
115°
120°
125°
115°
120°
125°
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
Ice
20°
20°
25°
25°
Ice
Ice
30°
30°
35°
35°
b)
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
Ice
20°
20°
25°
25°
Ice
30°
30°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
35°
500 km
3000
27.02.13
AJM906
Figure 10. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) late Carboniferous; and b) earliest Permian.
18
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
a)
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
35°
35°
b)
115°
120°
125°
15°
15°
20°
20°
25°
25°
30°
30°
115°
120°
125°
115°
120°
125°
Thickness
(m)
0
1000
2000
35°
35°
500 km
3000
01.03.13
AJM907
Figure 11. Paleogeographic maps (left) and isopach images (right) for the: a) early Permian; and b) middle–late Permian.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
19
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
dated, intrusive volcanic rocks in the Canning and Southern
Carnarvon basins were probably related to rifting along the
western margin of the continent throughout the Permian, prior
to the creation of Meso-Tethys (Metcalfe, 1998; 2013).
Conclusions
Interbasinal stratigraphic correlations underpinning
explanations of the Paleozoic evolution of Western Australia
are mostly reliant on biostratigraphic studies as the influence
of many events evident in the stratigraphic record appears to
have been diminished by the distance between basins, and
their isolation between Precambrian terranes. In addition,
volcanic facies that can be dated radiometrically are rare.
However, biostratigraphic resolution is low largely due to
the Cimmerian continent selectively hindering the spread of
Tethyan biotas into Western Australian basins for much of the
Paleozoic. In spite of some notable exceptions, such as parts of
the Ordovician and deeper water facies of the Upper Devonian
reef complexes in the Canning Basin, overall the Cambrian
to Carboniferous successions are more poorly age constrained
than the Permian. Consequently, only a relatively coarse
subdivision of the Paleozoic into intervals of 10 to 30 m.y.
is defensible to generate paleogeographic maps and isopach
images covering the State.
Evidence for tectonism and basement heating during the
Ediacaran–Cambrian transition is scattered around Paleozoic
basin margins, particularly in the Canning Basin, suggesting
these events influenced later subsidence and deposition.
Future dating of metamorphic overprints around or beneath
the Canning and other basins may further refine the role of
tectonism in basin development for the Paleozoic of Western
Australia.
Paleozoic deposition in Western Australia was largely
intracratonic and appears to have had strong Centralian
influences in the Cambrian, followed by roughly northsouth extension throughout most of the remainder of the
Paleozoic. The main phases of basin evolution following the
Cambrian are: Ordovician to Lower Devonian rifting, Middle
Devonian to mid-Carboniferous renewed extension; and
mid-Carboniferous to Permian rifting with a strong east-west
component of extension.
It is likely that the shallow Precambrian basement areas
around the margins of the West and North Australian cratons,
now largely covered by relatively thin Mesozoic strata, were
also depositional edges throughout most of the Paleozoic, and
that sedimentation continued northwest across the Cimmerian
continent. Onshore, the influence of tectonic events associated
with Cimmeria and other continental blocks along the western
edge of the Australian continent do not become obvious until
the mid-Devonian, coincident with the Alice Springs Orogeny
in central Australia. The opening of a narrow seaway along
the western margin of the West Australian Craton in the late
Carboniferous to Permian was a precursor to Mesozoic rifting
20
along the North West Shelf, when stresses almost orthogonal to
those in the Paleozoic became dominant. This, in combination
with the deposition of thick Mesozoic sedimentary successions,
effectively masks earlier events offshore.
Braun et al. (1991) explains the partitioning of late
Paleozoic compressive stresses in central Australia coeval with
extension to the west as stress decoupling along the Lasseter
Shear Zone, whereas Klootwijk (2013) suggests partitioning
with strike-slip movement is limited to the Halls Creek Fault.
However, the underlying mechanism for such partitioning of
stresses remains ambiguous because of the sparse data available
both to the south (Antarctica) and north (West Papua) of
the continent. Given the lack of data from these regions, it
is doubtful that more detailed modelling of the assembly
and dispersal of continental blocks in the Neoproterozoic to
Paleozoic would allow a more specific explanation. Another
difficulty is that the Cambrian–Permian section in the
Goulburn Graben (Arafura Basin) lies east of the Hall Creek
Fault trend (and the putative Lasseter Shear Zone), but is an
extensional feature, indicating Paleozoic partitioning of the
continent must have involved more than a single structural
feature. A possible explanation for this partitioning is the
interplay of subduction along the northeastern margin of the
Australian continent versus separation of various blocks within
Cimmeria (Metcalfe, 1998, 2013).
Acknowledgements
We thank Bob Nicoll, David Haig, Roger Hocking and
Peter Jones for numerous helpful and stimulating discussions
on the geology of the State; Ted Bowen, Sarah Martin,
Greg Retallack and an unnamed reviewer for improving the
manuscript; and Suzanne Dowsett, Brad Tapping and Alex
Zhan for producing the figures. This paper is published with
the permission of the Director, Geological Survey of Western
Australia.
References
ARCHBOLD, N.W., 1993, A zonation of the Permian
brachiopod faunas of western Australia, in FINDLEY,
R.H., UNRUG, R., BANKS, M.R. & VEEVERS, J.J.,
(Eds), Gondwana Eight Assembly, Evolution and Dispersal:
AA Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 313–326.
ARCHBOLD, N.W., 1998, Marine biostratigraphy and
correlation of the west Australian Permian basins,
in PURCELL, P.G. & PURCELL, R.R., (Eds), The
sedimentary basins of Western Australia 2: Proceedings
of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia
Symposium, Perth, 553–568.
BACKHOUSE, J., 1991, Permian palynostratigraphy of the
Collie Basin, Western Australia, Review of Palaeobotany
and Palynology, 67, 237–314.
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
BACKHOUSE, J., 1993, Palynology and correlation of
Permian sediments in the Perth, Collie, and Officer Basins,
Western Australia, in Professional Papers: Geological Survey
of Western Australia, Report 34, 111–128.
BACKHOUSE, J., 1998, Palynological correlation of the
Western Australian Permian, Proceedings of the Royal Society
of Victoria, 110, 107–114.
BAILLIE, P.W., POWELL, C.McA., LI, Z.X. & RYALL,
A.M., 1994, The tectonic framework of Western Australia’s
Neoproterozoic to Recent sedimentary basins, in PURCELL,
P.G. & PURCELL, R.R., (Eds), The sedimentary basins of
Western Australia: Proceedings of the Petroleum Exploration
Society of Australia Symposium, Perth, 1994, 45–62.
BECKER, R.T. & HOUSE, M.R., 2009, Appendix 2.
Devonian ammonoid biostratigraphy of the Canning Basin,
in PLAYFORD, P.E., HOCKING, R.M. & COCKBAIN,
A.E., Devonian reef complexes of the Canning Basin,
Western Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia,
Bulletin 145, 415–439.
BMR PALAEOGEOGRAPHIC GROUP, 1990, Australia:
evolution of a continent: Bureau of Mineral Resources
Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 97 pp.
BOIKO, M.S., LEONOVA, T.B. & LIN, M., 2008, Phylogeny
of the Permian Family Metalegoceratidae (Goniatitida,
Ammonoidea), Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 42, 585–595.
BRAUN, J., McQUEEN, H. & ETHERIDGE, M., 1991, A
fresh look at the Late Palaeozoic tectonic history of westerncentral Australia, Exploration Geophysics, 22, 49–54.
BRENNAN, S.T. & LOWENSTEIN, T.K., 2002, The
major-ion composition of Silurian seawater, Geochimica et
Cosmochimica Acta, 66, 2683–2700.
COCKS, L.R.M. & TORSVIK, T.H., 2013, The dynamic
evolution of the Palaeozoic geography of eastern Asia,
Earth-Science Reviews, 117, 40–79.
COOK, P.J. & TOTTERDELL, J.M., 1990, The Ordovician
palaeogeography of Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Record 1990/41, 81 pp.
CRESPIN, I., 1958, Permian Foraminifera of Australia:
Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology &
Geophysics, Bulletin 48, 207 pp.
CROCKFORD, J., 1957, Permian Bryozoa from the Fitzroy
Basin, Western Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin 34, 134 pp.
CROSTELLA, A. & BACKHOUSE, J., 2000, Geology and
petroleum exploration of the central and southern Perth
Basin, Western Australia, Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Report 57, 85 pp.
DE LAETER, J.R. & LIBBY, W.G., 1993, Early Palaeozoic
biotite Rb–Sr dates in the Yilgarn Craton near Harvey,
Western Australia, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 40,
445–453.
DIXON, M. & HAIG, D.W., 2004, Foraminifera and their
habitats within a cool-water carbonate succession following
glaciation, early Permian (Sakmarian), Western Australia,
The Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 34, 308–324.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
DOW, D.B. & GEMUTS, I., 1969, Geology of the Kimberley
Region, Western Australia: the East Kimberley: Australian
Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin
120, 135 pp.
DRUCE, E.C., 1969, Devonian and Carboniferous conodonts
from the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, northern Australia, and their
use in international correlation: Australian Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin 98, 242 pp.
DRUCE, E.C., 1974, Australian Devonian and Carboniferous
conodont faunas, in BOUCKAERT, J. & STREEL,
M., (Eds), International Symposium of Belgium
Micropalaeontological Limits: Geological Survey of Belgium,
Publication No. 5, 1–18.
EDGELL, H.S., 2004, Upper Devonian and Lower
Carboniferous Foraminifera from the Canning Basin,
Western Australia, Micropaleontology, 50, 1–26.
EDGOOSE, C.J., SCRIMGEOUR, I.R. & CLOSE, D.F.,
2004, Geology of the Musgrave Block, Northern Territory:
Northern Territory Geological Survey, Report 15, digital
dataset.
ERNST, A., WEIDLICH, O. & SCHÄFER, P., 2008,
Stenolaemate bryozoa from the Permian of Oman, Journal
of Paleontology, 82, 676–716.
EVINS, L.Z., JOURDAN, F. & PHILLIPS, D., 2009, The
Cambrian Kalkarindji Large Igneous Province: extent and
characteristics based on new 40Ar/39Ar and geochemical
data, Lithos, 110, 294–304.
FIELDING, C.R., FRANK, T.D., BIRGENHEIER, L.P.,
RYGEL, M.C., JONES, A.T. & ROBERTS, J., 2008,
Stratigraphic imprint of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age in
eastern Australia: a record of alternating glacial and
nonglacial climate regime, Journal of the Geological Society,
165, 129–140.
FOORD, A.H., 1890, Descriptions of fossils from the
Kimberley District, Western Australia, Geological Magazine
NS, 7, December 3, 98–106.
FOSTER, C.B. & WILLIAMS, G.E., 1991, Late Ordovician–
Early Silurian age for the Mallowa Salt of the Carribuddy
Group, Canning Basin, Western Australia, based on
occurrences of Tetrahedraletes medinensis Strother and
Traverse, 1979, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 38,
223–228.
GLENISTER, B.F. & FURNISH, W.M., 1961, The Permian
ammonoids of Australia, Journal of Paleontology, 35, 673–
736.
GORTER, J.D., 1998, Revised Upper Permian Stratigraphy of
the Bonaparte Basin, in PURCELL, P.R. and R.R., (Eds),
The Sedimentary Basins of Western Australia 2: Proceedings
of Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia Symposium,
Perth, 1998, 213–28.
GORTER, J.D. & DEIGHTON, I., 2002, Effects of igneous
activity in the offshore northern Perth Basin – evidence
from petroleum exploration wells, 2D seismic and
magnetic surveys, in KEEP, M. & MOSS, S.J., (Eds), The
Sedimentary Basins of Western Australia 3: Proceedings of the
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
21
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia Symposium,
Perth, 2002, 875–899.
GORTER, J.D., JONES, P.J., NICOLL, R.S. & GOLDING,
C.J., 2005, A reappraisal of the Carboniferous stratigraphy
and the petroleum potential of the southeastern Bonaparte
Basin (Petrel Sub-basin), northwestern Australia, The
APPEA Journal, 45, 275–296.
GORTER, J.D., POYNTER, S.E., BAYFORD, S.W. &
CAUDULLO, A., 2008, Glacially influenced petroleum
plays in the Kulshill Group (Late Carboniferous Early
Permian) of the southeastern Bonaparte Basin, Western
Australia, The APPEA Journal, 48, 69–114.
GRADSTEIN, F.M., OGG, J.G., SCHMITZ, M.D. &
OGG, G.M., 2012, The Geologic Time Scale 2012: Elsevier
BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1144 pp.
GREGORY, J.W., 1849, Notes on the geology of Western
Australia, Western Australian Almanac for 1849, 107–112.
GROSS, W., 1971, Unterdevonische Thelodontier- und
Acanthodier-Schuppen aus Westaustralien, Paläontologische
Zeitschrift, 45, 97–106.
HAIG, D.W., 2003, Palaeobathymetric zonation of
foraminifera from lower Permian shale deposits of a highlatitude southern interior sea, Marine Micropaleontology,
49, 317–334.
HAINES, P.W., 2004, Depositional facies and regional
correlations of the Ordovician Goldwyer and Nita
Formations, Canning Basin, Western Australia, with
implications for petroleum exploration: Western Australia
Geological Survey, Record 2004/7, 45 pp.
HAINES, P.W., 2009, The Carribuddy Group and Worral
Formation, Canning Basin, Western Australia: stratigraphy,
sedimentology, and petroleum potential: Geological Survey
of Western Australia, Report 105, 60 pp.
HAINES, P.W., HAND, M. & SANDIFORD, M., 2001,
Palaeozoic synorogenic sedimentation in central and
northern Australia: a review of distribution and timing
with implications for the evolution of intracratonic
orogens, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 48, 911–928.
HAINES, P.W. & WINGATE, M.T.D., 2007, Contrasting
depositional histories, detrital zircon provenance and
hydrocarbon systems: did the Larapintine Seaway link the
Canning and Amadeus basins during the Ordovician?, in
MUNSON, T.J. & AMBROSE, G.J., (Eds), Proceedings
of the Central Australian Basins Symposium: Alice Springs,
Northern Territory, 16–18 August, 2005, Northern
Territory Geological Survey, Special Publication 2, 36–51.
HAINES, P.W., HOCKING, R.M., GREY, K. & STEVENS,
M.K., 2008, Vines 1 revisited: are older Neoproterozoic
glacial deposits preserved in Western Australia? Australian
Journal of Earth Sciences, 55, 397–406.
HAINES, P.W., ALLEN, H.-J., GREY, K. & EDGOOSE, C.,
2012a, The western Amadeus Basin: revised stratigraphy
and correlations, in AMBROSE, G.J. & SCOTT, J.,
(Eds), Central Australian Basins Symposium III: Petroleum
Exploration Society of Australia, Special Publication, 6 pp.
22
HAINES, P.W., ALLEN, H.-J., WINGATE, M.T.D.,
KIRKLAND, C.L. & EDGOOSE, C., 2012b, Syntectonic (Petermann Orogeny) deposition tracked through
detrital zircon geochronology, western Amadeus Basin,
central Australia, Abstracts, 34th International Geological
Congress, Australian Geosciences Council, Brisbane, 1091.
HAINES, P.W., WINGATE, M.T.D. & KIRKLAND, C.L.,
2013, Detrital zircon U−Pb ages from the Paleozoic
of the Canning and Officer Basins, Western Australia:
implications for provenance and interbasin connections,
this volume.
HARDMAN, E.T., 1885, Report on the geology of the
Kimberley district, Western Australia, Western Australia
Parliamentary Paper, 31, 32 pp.
HOCKING, R.M., (Compiler), 1994, Subdivisions of
Western Australian Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic
sedimentary basins: Geological Survey of Western Australia,
Record 1994/4, 84 pp.
HOCKING, R.M., 1991, The Silurian Tumblagooda
Sandstone, Western Australia: Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Report 27, 124 pp.
HOCKING, R.M., MOORS, H.T. & VAN DE GRAAFF,
W.J.E., 1987, Geology of the Carnarvon Basin, Western
Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia, Bulletin
133, 289 pp.
HOWARD, H.M., SMITHIES, R.H., EVINS, P.M.,
KIRKLAND, C.L., WERNER, M., WINGATE, M.T.D.
& PIRAJNO, F., 2011, Explanatory notes for the west
Musgrave Province, Geological Survey of Western Australia,
349 pp.
IASKY, R.P., 1990, Officer Basin, in GEOLOGICAL
SURVEY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Geology and
Mineral Resources of Western Australia: Western Australia
Geological Survey, Memoir 3, 362–380.
IASKY, R.P., D’ERCOLE, C., GHORI, K.A.R., MORY, A.J.
& LOCKWOOD, A.M., 2003, Structure and petroleum
prospectivity of the Gascoyne Platform, Western Australia:
Western Australia Geological Survey, Report 87, 56 pp.
JACKSON, M.J. & VAN DE GRAAFF, W.J.E., 1981,
Geology of the Officer Basin, Western Australia: Australian
Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin
206, 102 pp.
JONES, P.J., 1971, Lower Ordovician conodonts from
the Bonaparte Gulf Basin and the Daly River Basin,
Northwestern Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin 117, 98 pp.
JONES, P.J., 1989, Lower Carboniferous Ostracoda
(Beyrichicopida and Kirkbyocopa) from the Bonaparte
Basin, northwestern Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin 228, 96 pp.
JONES, P.J., 2004, Latest Devonian and Early Carboniferous
paraparchitid ostracoda from the Bonaparte Basin, NW
Australia: their biostratigraphy and palaeozoogeographic
links, Memoirs of the Association of Australasian
Palaeontologists, 29, 183–236.
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
JOURDAN, F., HODGES, K., SELL, B., SCHALTEGGER,
U., WINGATE, M., EVINS, L., SÖDERLUND, U.,
HAINES, P. & PHILLIPS, D., 2012, Synchronicity
between the Kalkarindji large igneous province and
the Early-Middle Cambrian extinction, Abstracts, 34th
International Geological Congress, Australian Geosciences
Council, Brisbane, 3999.
KEMP, E.M., BALME, B.E., HELBY, R.A., KYLE, R.A.,
PLAYFORD, G. & PRICE, P.L., 1977, Carboniferous and
Permian palynostratigraphy in Australia and Antarctica: a
review, Bureau of Mineral Resources Journal of Australian
Geology & Geophysics, 2, 177–208.
KLAPPER, G., 2009, Appendix 1. Upper Devonian conodonts
in the Canning Basin, in PLAYFORD, P.E., HOCKING,
R.M. & COCKBAIN, A.E., Devonian reef complexes of
the Canning Basin, Western Australia: Geological Survey of
Western Australia, Bulletin 145, 405–413.
KLOOTWIJK, C., 2013, Middle–Late Paleozoic Australia–
Asia convergence and tectonic extrusion of Australia,
Gondwana Research, 24, 5–54.
KORSCH, R.J. & KENNARD, J.M., (Eds), 1991, Geological
and geophysical studies in the Amadeus Basin, central
Australia: Australia Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology &
Geophysics, Bulletin 236, 594 pp.
KRUSE, P.D., LAURIE, J.R. & WEBBY, B.D., 2004,
Cambrian geology and palaeontology of the Ord Basin,
Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists,
30, 1–58.
LAURIE, J.R. & SHERGOLD, J.H., 1996, Early
Ordovician trilobite taxonomy and biostratigraphy
of the Emanuel Formation, Canning Basin, Western
Australia, Palaeontographica. Abteilung A: Palaeozoologie–
Stratigraphie, 240, 65–144.
LEGG, D.P., 1978, Ordovician biostratigraphy of the Canning
Basin, Western Australia, Alcheringa, 2, 321–334.
LEHMANN, P.R., 1984, The stratigraphy, palaeogeography
and petroleum potential of the Lower to lower Upper
Devonian sequence in the Canning Basin, in PURCELL,
P.G., (Ed.), The Canning Basin, W.A.: Proceedings of
Geological Society of Australia/Petroleum Exploration
Society of Australia Symposium, Perth, 1984, 253–275.
LEONOVA, B., 1998, Permian ammonoids of Russia and
Australia, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 110,
157–162.
LEONOVA, B., 2011, Permian ammonoids: biostratigraphic,
biogeographical, and ecological analysis, Paleontologicheskii
Zhurnal, 45, 1206–1312.
LEVER, H. & FANNING, C.M., 2004, Alunite alteration
of tuffaceous layers and zircon dating, Upper Permian
Kennedy Group, Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia,
Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 51, 189–203.
LIBBY, W.G. & DE LAETER, J.R., 1979, Biotite dates and
cooling history at the Western margin of the Yilgarn Block,
in Annual Report for 1978: Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Perth, Western Australia, 79–87.
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
MAMET, B.L. & BELFORD, D.J., 1968, Carboniferous
Foraminifera, Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Northwestern
Australia, Micropaleontology, 14, 339–347.
MAMET, B.L. & ROUX, A., 1983, Algues dévonocarbonifères de 1’Australie, Revue de Micropaléontologie,
26, 63–131.
MANTLE, D.J., KELMAN, A.P., NICOLL, R.S. & LAURIE,
J.R., 2010, Australian biozonation chart 2010, Geoscience
Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
McTAVISH, R.A., 1973, Prioniodontacean conodonts from
the Emanuel Formation (Lower Ordovician) of Western
Australia, Geologica et Palaeontologica, 7, 27–58.
METCALFE, I., 1996, Gondwanaland dispersion, Asian
accretion and evolution of eastern Tethys, Australian
Journal of Earth Sciences, 43, 605–623.
METCALFE, I., 1998, Palaeozoic and Mesozoic geological
evolution of the SE Asian region: multidisciplinary
constraints and implications for biogeography, in HALL, R.
& HOLLOWAY, J.D., (Eds), Biogeography and Geological
Evolution of SE Asia: Backhuys Publishers, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, 25–41.
METCALFE, I., 2013, Gondwana dispersion and Asian
accretion: tectonic and palaeogeographic evolution of
eastern Tethys, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 66, 1–33.
MORTON, J.G.G., 1997, Chapter 6: Lithostratigraphy and
environments of deposition, in MORTON, J.G.G. &
DREXEL, J.F., (Eds), The petroleum geology of South
Australia. Volume 3: Officer Basin: South Australia,
Department of Mines and Energy Resources, Report Book
97/19, 47–86.
MORY, A.J., 1991, Geology of the offshore Bonaparte Basin,
northwestern Australia: Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Report 29, 47 pp.
MORY, A.J., 2010, A review of mid-Carboniferous to Triassic
stratigraphy, Canning Basin, Western Australia: Geological
Survey of Western Australia, Report 107, 130 pp.
MORY, A.J. & BEERE, G.M., 1988, Geology of the onshore
Bonaparte and Ord Basins: Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Bulletin 134, 184 pp.
MORY, A.J. & IASKY, R.P., 1996, Stratigraphy and structure
of the onshore northern Perth Basin, Western Australia:
Geological Survey of Western Australia, Report 46, 101 pp.
MORY, A.J. & BACKHOUSE, J., 1997, Permian
stratigraphy and palynology of the Carnarvon Basin,
Western Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia,
Report 51, 41 pp.
MORY, A.J. & HAIG, D.W., (Compilers), 2011, Permian–
Carboniferous geology of the northern Perth and Southern
Carnarvon Basins, Western Australia – a field guide: Geological
Survey of Western Australia, Record 2011/14, 65 pp.
MORY, A.J. & HOCKING, R.M., (Compilers), 2011,
Permian, Carboniferous, and Upper Devonian geology
of the northern Canning Basin, Western Australia – a
field guide: Geological Survey of Western Australia, Record
2011/16, 36 pp.
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
23
A.J. MORY & P.W. HAINES
MORY, A.J., NICOLL, R.S. & GORTER, J.D., 1998, Lower
Palaeozoic correlations and thermal maturity, Carnarvon
Basin, WA, in PURCELL, P.G. & PURCELL, R.R., (Eds),
The sedimentary basins of Western Australia 2: Proceedings
of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia
Symposium, Perth, 1998, 599–611.
MORY, A.J., IASKY, R.P. & GHORI, K.A.R., 2003, A summary
of the geological evolution and petroleum potential of the
Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia: Geological
Survey of Western Australia, Report 86, 26 pp.
MORY, A.J., CROWLEY, J., NICOLL, R.S., METCALFE,
I., MANTLE, D., MUNDIL, R. & BACKHOUSE, J.,
2012, Middle Permian (Roadian–Wordian) U–Pb CAIDTIMS isotopic ages from the Lightjack Formation,
Canning Basin, Western Australia, Abstracts, Proceedings
of the 34th International Geological Congress, Australian
Geosciences Council, Brisbane, 3386.
NICOLL, R.S., 1993, Ordovician conodont distribution
in selected petroleum exploration wells, Canning
Basin, Western Australia: Australian Geological Survey
Organisation, Record 1993/17, 136 pp.
NICOLL, R.S., 1995, Reworked Ordovician conodonts lead
to an enhanced mineral and hydrocarbon potential in
the southern Petrel Sub-basin, Western Australia, AGSO
Research Newsletter, 23, 13–15.
NICOLL, R.S. & DRUCE, E.C., 1979, Conodonts from
the Fairfield Group, Canning Basin, Western Australia:
Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology &
Geophysics, Bulletin 190, 134 pp.
NICOLL, R.S. & LAURIE, J.R., 1997, Amadeus Basin
biozonation and stratigraphy. Australian Geological Survey
Organisation, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Chart 6.
NICOLL, R.S. & METCALFE, I., 1998, Early and Middle
Permian conodonts from the Canning and Southern
Carnarvon Basins, Western Australia: Their implications
for regional biogeography and Palaeoclimatology,
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 110, 419–461.
NICOLL, R.S., OWEN, M., SHERGOLD, J.H., LAURIE,
J.A. & GORTER, J.D., 1988, Ordovician event
stratigraphy and the development of a Larapintine
Seaway, Central Australia, in BMR Research Symposium:
Palaeogeography, Sea Level, and Climate: Implications
for Resource Exploration: 8–10 November, Australian
Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Record
1988/42, 72–76.
NICOLL, R.S., ROMINE, K.K. & WATSON, S.T., 1994,
Early Silurian (Llandovery) conodonts from the Barbwire
Terrace, Canning Basin, Western Australia, AGSO Journal
of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 15, 247–255.
NICOLL, R.S., KENNARD, J.M., LAURIE, J.R., KELMAN,
A.P., MANTLE, D.J. & EDWARDS, D.S., 2009a,
Bonaparte Basin biozonation and stratigraphy: Geoscience
Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Chart
33.
24
NICOLL, R.S., LAURIE, J.R., KELMAN, A.P., MANTLE,
D.J., HAINES, P.W., MORY, A.J. & HOCKING, R.M.,
2009b, Canning Basin biozonation and stratigraphy:
Geoscience Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital
Territory, Chart 31.
ÖPIK, A.A., 1969, Appendix 3: The Cambrian and Ordovician
sequence, Cambridge gulf area, in KAULBACK, J.A. &
VEEVERS, J.J., Cambrian and Ordovician geology of
the southern part of the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, Western
Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology
& Geophysics, Report 10, 74–77.
PLAYFORD, G., 1976, Plant microfossils from the Upper
Devonian and Lower Carboniferous of the Canning
Basin, Western Australia, Palaeontographica Abteilung B:
Paläophytologie, 158, 1–71.
PLAYFORD, G., 1985, Palynology of the Australian Lower
Carboniferous: a review, Compte Rendu, Dixième Congrès
International de Stratigraphie et de Géologic du Carbonifère,
Madrid, Spain, 1983, 4, 247–265.
PLAYFORD, G., 1991, Australian Lower Carboniferous
miospores relevant to extra-Gondwanic correlations: an
evaluation, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 120,
85–125.
PLAYFORD, G., 2009, Appendix 3. Review of Devonian
palynology, Canning Basin, in PLAYFORD, P.E.,
HOCKING, R.M. & COCKBAIN, A.E., Devonian
reef complexes of the Canning Basin, Western Australia:
Geological Survey of Western Australia, Bulletin 145, 441–
444.
PLAYFORD, P.E., HOCKING, R.M. & COCKBAIN, A.E.,
2009, Devonian reef complexes of the Canning Basin,
Western Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia,
Bulletin 145, 444 pp.
REECKMANN, S.A. & MEBBERSON, A.J., 1984, Igneous
intrusions in the north-west Canning Basin and their
impact on oil exploration, in PURCELL, P.G., (Ed.), The
Canning Basin W.A.: Proceedings of Geological Society
of Australia/Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia,
Perth, 1984, 389–399.
REID, C.M., 2003, Permian Bryozoa of Tasmania and New
South Wales: systematics and their use in Tasmanian
biostratigraphy, Memoirs of the Association of Australasian
Palaeontologists, 28, 133 pp.
RETALLACK, G.J., 2009, Cambrian, Ordovician and
Silurian pedostratigraphy and global events in Australia,
Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 56, 571–586.
ROBERTS, J., 1971, Devonian and Carboniferous
brachiopods from the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, northwestern
Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology
& Geophysics, Bulletin 122, 319 pp.
SEDDON, G., 1969, Conodont and fish remains from the
Gneudna Formation, Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia,
Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 52, 21–30.
SHAW, R.D., TYLER, I.M., GRIFFIN, T.J. & WEBB, A.,
1992, New K–Ar constraints on the onset of subsidence
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
A PALEOZOIC PERSPECTIVE OF WA
in the Canning Basin, Western Australia, BMR Journal of
Australian Geology & Geophysics, 13, 31–35.
SHERGOLD, J.H., LAURIE, J.R. & SHERGOLD, J.E.,
2007, Cambrian and Early Ordovician Trilobite Taxonomy
and Biostratigraphy, Bonaparte Basin, Western Australia.
Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists,
34, 17–86.
SKWARKO, S.K., 1987a, Cambrian fossils of Western
Australia (2nd edition): Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Palaeontology report 1987/12 (unpublished),
41 pp.
SKWARKO, S.K., 1987b, Ordovician fossils of Western
Australia (2nd edition): Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Palaeontology report 1987/19 (unpublished),
214 pp.
SKWARKO, S.K., 1988a, Devonian fossils of Western
Australia (in 3 parts): Geological Survey of Western Australia,
Palaeontology report 1988/8 (unpublished), 778 pp.
SKWARKO, S.K., 1988b, Carboniferous fossils of Western
Australia (2nd edition): Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Palaeontology report 1988/9 (unpublished),
399 pp.
SKWARKO, S.K., (Ed.), 1993, Palaeontology of the Permian
of Western Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia,
Bulletin 136, 417 pp.
STREEL, M., 2008, Upper and uppermost Famennian
miospore and conodont correlation in the ArdenneRhenish area: Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy
Newsletter, 23, 35–39.
STRUCKMEYER, H.I.M., (Compiler), 2006, Petroleum
Geology of the Arafura and Money Shoal Basins: Geoscience
Australia, Record 2006/22, 65 pp.
TALENT, J.A., MAWSON, R., ANDREW, A.S.,
HAMILTON, J. & WHITFORD, D.J., 1993, Middle
Palaeozoic extinction events: faunal and isotopic data,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 104,
139–152.
THORNE, A.M. & TYLER, I.M., 1996, Mesoproterozoic
and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins in the northern Halls
Creek Orogen: constraints on the timing of strike-slip
movement on the Halls Creek Fault system, in Annual
Review for 1995–96: Geological Survey of Western
Australia, Perth, Western Australia, 156–168.
TREWIN, N.H. & McNAMARA, K.J., 1995, Arthropods
invade the land: trace fossils and palaeoenvironments of
Perth, WA, 18–21 August 2013
the Tumblagooda Sandstone (?late Silurian) of Kalbarri,
Western Australia, Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 85, 177–210.
TURNER, S., 1993, Palaeozoic microvertebrates from eastern
Gondwana, in LONG, J., (Ed.), Palaeozoic Vertebrate
Biostratigraphy and Biogeography: Belhaven Press, London,
UK, 174–207.
TYLER, I.M., HOCKING, R.M. & HAINES, P.W., 2012,
Geological evolution of the Kimberley region of Western
Australia, Episodes, March 2012, 298–306.
VEEVERS, J.J., 1970, Upper Devonian and Lower
Carboniferous calcareous algae from the Bonaparte Gulf
Basin, northwestern Australia: Australian Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology & Geophysics, Bulletin 116, 173–188.
VEEVERS, J.J., 2009, Mid-Carboniferous Centralian
uplift linked by U–Pb zircon chronology to the onset of
Australian glaciation and glacio-eustasy, Australian Journal
of Earth Sciences, 56, 711–717.
VON SOMMER, F., 1849, A sketch of the geological
formations, and physical structure of Western Australia,
Geological Society of London Quarterly Journal, 5, 51–53.
WALTER, M.R., ELPHINSTONE, R. & HEYS, G.R.,
1989, Proterozoic and Early Cambrian trace fossils from
the Amadeus and Georgina Basins, central Australia,
Alcheringa, 13, 209–256.
WATSON, S.T., 1988, Ordovician conodonts from the
Canning Basin (W. Australia), Palaeontographica Abteilung
A: Paläozoologie–Stratigraphie, 3, 91–147.
WEBBY, B., 1978, History of the Ordovician continental
platform and shelf margin of Australia, Journal of the
Geological Society of Australia, 25, 41–68.
WRIGHT, A.J., YOUNG, G.C., TALENT, J.A. & LAURIE,
J.R., 2000, Palaeobiogeography of Australasian faunas
and floras, Memoirs of the Association of Australasian
Palaeontologists, 23, 515 pp.
YOUNG, G.C., 1996, Devonian (Chart 4), in YOUNG,
G.C. & LAURIE, J.R., (Eds), An Australian Phanerozoic
Timescale: Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 98–109.
YOUNG, G.C. & LAURIE, J.R., (Eds), 1996, An Australian
Phanerozoic Timescale: Oxford University Press, Oxford,
UK, 279 pp.
ZHEN, Y.Y., LAURIE, J.R. & NICOLL, R.S., 2012, Cambrian
and Ordovician stratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the
Arafura Basin, offshore Northern Territory, Memoirs of the
Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 42, 437–457.
West Australian Basins Symposium 2013
25