Canning Basin Crude Oil Biomarker Data for Paleo-Environmental Reconstruction

A geochemical study analyzes diagnostic carotenoid-derived biomarkers from crude oils and source rocks in the Paleozoic Canning Basin. The dataset likely contains measurements of saturated and aromatic C40 compounds, including beta-carotane, paleorenieratane, and isorenieratane, from oils produced at fields like Ungani, Blina, and Sundown. The research, implemented by GeoMark Research, extends prior work by Edwards et al. (2013) and Spaak et al. (2017, 2018) to clarify paleo-depositional environments and organic matter diversity.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing paleo-depositional environments and water column stratification based on carotenoid biomarker distributions.
• Characterizing source rock formation and organic matter diversity for petroleum system modeling.
• Correlating oils to specific source rock intervals (e.g., Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous) using biomarker signatures.
• Assisting future exploration strategies by mapping the distribution of source rocks within the epicontinental seaway.

Strengths

• Focuses on a large frontier petroleum province covering approximately 720,000 km².
• Analyzes oils from multiple named fields (e.g., Ungani, Blina, Sundown, West Kora) providing spatial coverage.
• Extends prior published geochemical studies, suggesting a foundation in established research.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provided as PDF files, which may require extraction and structuring for analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Geochemical analysis of crude oils and source rocks, implemented by GeoMark Research.

Time Range

Paleozoic era (focus on Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous periods).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 16:28:30.607373; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia.