Canning Basin Crude Oil Biomarker Data for Paleo-Environmental Reconstruction

A study of diagnostic biomarker hydrocarbons derived from carotenoid pigments in crude oils and source rocks from the Paleozoic Canning Basin. The data was implemented by GeoMark Research and builds upon earlier work published by Edwards et al. (2013) and Spaak et al. (2017, 2018). It focuses on Ordovician-, Middle to Late Devonian-, and Early Carboniferous-sourced oils to clarify paleo-depositional environments and water stratification.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing paleo-depositional environments based on carotenoid-derived biomarker distributions.
• Assessing water column stratification in ancient epicontinental seaways based on the presence of biomarkers from green sulphur bacteria.
• Characterizing source rock organic matter diversity for petroleum system modeling.
• Correlating oils to specific source rock intervals based on biomarker signatures like beta-carotane and aromatic carotenoids.
• Informing future exploration strategies by mapping source rock formation and distribution.

Strengths

• Focuses 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.
• Builds upon and extends previously published geochemical studies for continuity.

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 bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on specific fields and terraces.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

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

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-16 21:00:51.332742; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia, including the Lennard Shelf, Fitzroy Trough, and flanking terraces.