Mesozoic Rocks Dredged from the Northern Exmouth Plateau and Rowley Terrace

Forty-two major Mesozoic lithofacies types were recovered from a 1990 dredging program on the northern Exmouth Plateau and Rowley Terrace offshore northwest Australia. The Australian Ocean Data Network hosts this dataset, which provides geological control for seismic interpretations. The rocks document Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous depositional environments, including shelf carbonates, volcanics, and fluvial siliciclastics.

Use Cases

• Modeling Late Triassic reefal petroleum reservoir potential based on described carbonate facies.
• Reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions during the breakup of Australia and Greater India based on volcaniclastic and sedimentary sequences.
• Correlating depositional facies with other southern Tethyan margins based on described foraminiferal and ostracod microfaunas.
• Interpreting seismic data for the Rowley Sub-basin using the geological control provided by the dredged rock samples.

Strengths

• Recovered 42 distinct Mesozoic lithofacies types, providing a detailed stratigraphic record.
• Samples offer direct geological control for a specific offshore region, the northern Exmouth Plateau and Rowley Terrace.
• Description provides a detailed geological history spanning from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the single 1990 dredging campaign.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Dredging program undertaken by AGSO (Australian Geological Survey Organisation) in 1990.

Time Range

Mesozoic era, with specific focus on Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous periods.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 01:54:39.439223; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Exmouth Plateau and Rowley Terrace, offshore northwest Australia.