Geochemical Comparisons of Southern Australian Asphaltites and Cretaceous Source Rocks

Geoscience Australia Data presents geochemical evidence for the source of southern Australian asphaltites. The dataset compares asphaltites with onshore source rock analogues from the Albian-Cenomanian Blue Whale Supersequence and the Albian Toolebuc Formation. The article was prepared for the Eastern Australian Basins Symposium in 2001.

Use Cases

• Correlating hydrocarbon sources based on carbon isotope signatures described in the study
• Identifying depositional environments using biomarker data such as C30 methylsteranes and C26 norsteranes
• Investigating genetic links between asphaltites and source rocks via artificial pyrolysis data mentioned in the description
• Assessing the influence of terrestrial plant input in marine organic matter as described for the Eyre-1 sample

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific geological comparison between asphaltites and two Cretaceous source rock formations
• Includes analysis of diverse geochemical signatures, such as carbon isotopes and age-diagnostic steranes
• Discusses an unusual biomarker feature, metalloporphyrins, shared between the asphaltites and the Toolebuc Formation

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data freshness should be verified; the underlying article is from 2001

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Geochemical and carbon isotopic comparisons of samples, likely from laboratory analysis.

Time Range

Focuses on Early to mid-Cretaceous source rocks.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 09:17:20.119128; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Australian margin, Bight Basin, and Eromanga Basin.