Geological Evolution of the Canning Basin, Western Australia

10,000 meters of sedimentary rock underlie the Canning Basin, which covers an area of approximately 430,000 km² onshore and 165,000 km² offshore in Western Australia. The geological sequence is divided into 11 informal basin-wide intervals, spanning from the Lower Ordovician through the Cainozoic, detailing major structures like the Fitzroy Graben and sub-basins such as Kidson and Bedout. This dataset provides a detailed stratigraphic framework for understanding the basin's evolution through periods of marine transgression, regression, and tectonic activity.

Use Cases

• Analyzing basin-scale stratigraphy based on the 11 defined geological intervals.
• Mapping major structural features like the Fitzroy Graben and Broome Arch.
• Studying depositional environments from turbidites to evaporites across different geological periods.
• Correlating tectonic events, such as the Alice Springs Orogeny, with sedimentary records.
• Assessing offshore depocentres like the Rowley Sub-basin for resource potential.

Strengths

• Provides a detailed geological framework with 11 defined stratigraphic intervals.
• Covers a vast spatial area of approximately 595,000 km² (combined onshore and offshore).
• Describes a significant vertical rock column of about 10,000 meters.
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au suggests official curation and importance.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, file size, and license are unavailable.
• The dataset is described as a publication (Bulletin, PDF/HTML), which may limit direct machine-readability of the underlying data.
• The last update date is listed as 2026, which is a future date and may indicate a metadata error or placeholder value.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

null

Time Range

Lower Ordovician to Cainozoic

Freshness

2026-05-14 08:47:27.969124

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia (onshore and offshore)