Geological and geophysical studies in the Amadeus Basin central Australia

The Amadeus Basin is one of Australia's most important sedimentary basins, both scientifically and economically. Scientifically its significance stems from the fact that it contains some of Australia's best preserved and best exposed Proterozoic and Palaeozoic sequences which provide us with a window on the early history of the continent. Economically, it derives its importance from the fact that those same sequences host commercially exploitable oil, gas and groundwater, as well as resources of potential future value such as evaporites and phosphate. Therefore it is not surprising that the Bureau of Mineral Resources has been involved in geological studies in the basin for many years. The first major phase of investigations was undertaken in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when BMR carried out a program of 1:250 000 mapping and geophysical investigations. This work successfully provided the starting point for most subsequent research and exploration in the basin. Since that first phase, however, much new information has been collected by industry, the universities and the Northern Territory Geological Survey Also, some of the earlier ideas were not correct or needed modification and there was obviously a need to bring all the new information together. Additionally, more sophisticated geophysical and remote-sensing techniques potentially provided the opportunity to develop a better understanding of the basin and particularly its deep structure. It was therefore decided in 1983, after consultation with industry and the geoscientific community, to undertake a new and comprehensive multidisciplinary study of the basin in order to provide the best possible basis for resource assessment and exploration in the future. Like all other work in the BMR, it was seen as essential to the success of the project to work closely with industry, the universities and the Northern Territory Geological Survey, and this same approach is evident in this Bulletin, with many of the authors being from outside BMR. The success of any project is inevitably judged on the quality and in part by the quantity of the scientific output. Already the Amadeus Basin Project has produced a large number of scientific papers, and, together with this Bulletin, associated databases, and maps and cross-sections in the soon to be published 1:1 000 000- scale Amadeus Basin Map Folio, it can be judged a great success. However, the ultimate test of the project's success, namely the extent to which it enables us to more successfully explore for, and more accurately assess, mineral, energy and groundwater resources, is perhaps less tangible and much longer term. It may take several years for a viable exploration target to be developed from concepts arising from the current project and even longer before commercial exploitation is possible. For example, more than 20 years was to elapse from the initial geological investigations at the Mereenie Anticline to the first output of commercial oil from that structure. Nevertheless, I am confident that the results and the ideas arising from these recent investigations will indeed have a very positive effect on resource assessment and exploration in the Amadeus Basin for many years to come. I am equally confident that many of the scientific ideas and concepts developed in the Amadeus Basin through this co-operation between industry, academia and government, and outlined in this Bulletin, will find application in many other sedimentary basins in Australia and elsewhere. The bulk of the work in the Amadeus Basin Project was carried out under the auspices of the former Division of Continental Geology and its Chief Dr Peter Cook.

Tags: AU-NT, Bulletin, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, geology, geophysics
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data