Canning Basin Crude Oil Biomarker Data for Paleo-Environmental Reconstruction

A study of diagnostic carotenoid-derived biomarkers from crude oils and source rocks in the Paleozoic Canning Basin, a large frontier petroleum province. The data likely contains measurements of saturated and aromatic C40 compounds, including beta-carotane, paleorenieratane, and isorenieratane, used to infer paleo-depositional environments. This dataset extends prior geochemical work by Edwards et al. (2013) and Spaak et al. (2017, 2018), implemented by GeoMark Research.

Use Cases

• Characterizing paleo-depositional environments based on biomarker distributions like beta-carotane and aromatic carotenoids.
• Assessing water column stratification in ancient seas using biomarkers from green and purple sulphur bacteria.
• Correlating oils to specific source rock intervals (Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous) based on diagnostic compound signatures.
• Aiding petroleum exploration strategies by clarifying source rock distribution and organic matter diversity.

Strengths

• Focuses on a large frontier petroleum province covering approximately 720,000 km².
• Analyses oils from multiple named fields and wells (e.g., Ungani, Blina, Dodonea 1, Pictor).
• 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 in PDF format, which may complicate automated extraction and analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Geochemical analysis of carotenoid-derived biomarkers from crude oils and source rock samples.

Time Range

Paleozoic era (specifically Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous periods).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 13:42:23.977089; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canning Basin, Western Australia.