Grooved Surfaces Indicating Late Palaeozoic Ice Flow in Western Australia

Grooved surfaces in Grant Group rocks provide evidence for glacial ice flow during the Late Palaeozoic glaciation. Analysis of groove orientation and sedimentary structures indicates ice motion from the south-southeast, extending an estimated 400 km from the Pilbara Block into the Canning Basin. This dataset is maintained by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing ice sheet extent using evidence of groove orientation and associated sedimentary structures.
• Analyzing ice flow direction from the south-southeast based on the geometry of grooved surfaces.
• Correlating glacial features with the provenance of banded iron formation pebbles found in marine diamictites.
• Modeling grounding line positions of ice shelves using the facies geometry associated with the grooves.

Strengths

• Provides specific evidence for ice extending 400 km from the Pilbara Block.
• Includes analysis of groove orientation and sedimentary structures for ice flow direction.

Limitations

• Data volume, row count, and specific file sizes are unknown.
• Primary data formats are PDF and HTML, which may require manual extraction for quantitative analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Geological field observation and analysis.

Time Range

Late Palaeozoic period

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Grant Range, Grant Group, Canning Basin, and Pilbara Block, Western Australia.