Lord Howe Rise Geophysical Survey and Petroleum Prospect Analysis

Geoscience Australia Data provides a preliminary analysis of petroleum prospects on the Lord Howe Rise, a 2000 km long submarine feature in the Tasman Sea. The report details sediment-filled basins up to 4000 m thick and interprets potential source rocks and traps based on seismic profiles and DSDP site data.

Use Cases

• Analyze sediment thickness data (up to 4000 m) within 20-40 km wide basins to model hydrocarbon potential.
• Interpret seismic profiles indicating Late Cretaceous wave-base erosion to reconstruct paleogeographic environments.
• Evaluate petroleum trap structures against boundary faults of grabens and interpreted Late Cretaceous/Paleocene reefs.
• Correlate shallow marine silts and clays from DSDP Site 207 with palaeogeographical reconstructions to assess source rock presence.

Strengths

• Report details a major submarine feature 2000 km long and 300 km wide with specific water depth ranges (750-1200 m).
• Identifies sediment-filled basins containing up to 4000 m of sediment, providing concrete scale for geological modeling.
• Integrates multiple data sources including R.V. Sonne cruise survey data, seismic profiles, and DSDP Site 207 findings.

Limitations

• Data is preliminary and interpretive; the relationship of basins to pre-Tasman Basin rifting remains conjectural.
• Primary file formats are HTML and PDF, limiting direct machine-readability and quantitative analysis without extraction.
• No raw tabular data or column definitions are provided, restricting use to qualitative review and manual interpretation.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Analysis based on R.V. Sonne cruise survey data, seismic profiles, and Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 207 data.

Time Range

Focus includes Late Cretaceous and Paleocene geological periods.

Freshness

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Geography

Lord Howe Rise, Tasman Sea, approximately 600-1200 km off the east coast of Australia.