Canning Basin Crude Oil Biomarkers for Paleo-Environmental Reconstruction

The Canning Basin in Australia is a large frontier petroleum province. This dataset contains diagnostic biomarker hydrocarbons derived from carotenoid pigments, analyzed from crude oils and source rocks to reconstruct paleo-depositional environments. The study extends prior geochemical work on Ordovician-, Devonian-, and Carboniferous-sourced oils, implemented by GeoMark Research.

Use Cases

• Characterize paleo-depositional environments based on carotenoid-derived biomarker distributions.
• Assess water column stratification and redox conditions based on aromatic carotenoid presence.
• Identify contributing organic matter sources based on specific biomarkers like beta-carotane and paleorenieratane.
• Correlate oils to specific source rock intervals based on biomarker signatures.

Strengths

• Focus on a large frontier petroleum province covering approximately 720,000 km2.
• Analyzes a diverse range of biomarkers, including saturated and aromatic C40 carotenoid-derived compounds.
• Extends prior published geochemical studies, providing continuity with existing research.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Geochemical analysis of diagnostic biomarker hydrocarbons from crude oils and source rocks.

Time Range

Focus on Paleozoic era, specifically Ordovician, Middle to Late Devonian, and Early Carboniferous periods.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 03:44:29.043678; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canning Basin, Australia.