Petroleum Source Rock Geochemistry for Bowen and Surat Basins

130 core samples and natural gas analyses enable reconstruction of petroleum generation and migration in Australia's Bowen and Surat basins. Biomarker and stable carbon-isotope analysis confirm a Permian-sourced petroleum with minor Triassic contributions, dominated by terrestrial land plants. The data, from Geoscience Australia, includes vitrinite reflectance measurements indicating initial liquid expulsion at 0.65-0.7% Ro.

Use Cases

• Modeling petroleum generation windows based on vitrinite reflectance (Ro) values from 0.65% to 1.05%.
• Correlating oils to source rocks using biomarker analysis confirmed in the description.
• Assessing source rock potential of Permian coals based on described facies differences (lower vs. upper delta plain).
• Differentiating petroleum sources using stable carbon-isotope analysis to identify Permian versus minor Triassic contributions.

Strengths

• Includes 130 core samples from potential source rocks, providing a substantial material basis for analysis.
• Biomarker and stable carbon-isotope analyses provide concrete geochemical fingerprints for source identification.
• Defines specific vitrinite reflectance thresholds (0.65-0.7% Ro) for initial liquid expulsion, offering quantitative maturation metrics.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale statistical modeling.
• Data is provided as PDF/HTML reports, which may require extraction to a structured format for analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Analysis of natural gases and 130 core samples from potential source rocks.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 04:26:09.087229; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bowen and Surat basins, Australia.