Geological History of Australia's Outer North West Shelf, Paleozoic to Present

Australia's outer North West Shelf, including the northern Exmouth Plateau and Rowley Terrace, is the focus of this geological synthesis. The paper describes the region's development from the Palaeozoic as part of East Gondwana through its breakup and subsequent sedimentation phases. It was published by the Australian Ocean Data Network and last updated in June 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling tectonic evolution based on described phases of stretching, subsidence, and breakup.
• Analyzing sedimentation patterns from described fluvio-deltaic, carbonate, and siliciclastic deposits.
• Identifying potential petroleum source-rock formations based on described Jurassic organic-rich deposits.
• Studying volcanic activity from described rift volcanics and volcanic buildups like the Wallaby Plateau.

Strengths

• Synthesis covers a long geological time range from the Palaeozoic to the present.
• Focuses on specific physiographic features like the northern Exmouth Plateau and Rowley Terrace.
• Integrates information from multiple scientific papers and the broader literature.

Limitations

• Data is presented as a synthesis paper (PDF/HTML), not as structured, machine-readable data.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Synthesis of information from other scientific papers and the literature.

Time Range

Palaeozoic to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 07:57:54.619398; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Outer continental margin of northwest Australia, including adjacent plateaus and abyssal plains.