Rift Evolution in the Capel and Faust Basins, Offshore Eastern Australia

The Capel and Faust basins are located on the northern Lord Howe Rise offshore eastern Australia. Geoscience Australia acquired and analyzed high-quality 2D seismic data, multibeam bathymetry, gravity, magnetic data, and rock samples under government programs from 2003-2011. The analysis improved the definition of depocentres up to 150 km long and identified basin fill with a maximum thickness over 6 km, consisting of syn-rift and sag megasequences.

Use Cases

• Modeling basin evolution based on interpreted syn-rift and sag megasequences.
• Assessing petroleum prospectivity based on seismic data suggesting deltaic and shoreline sandstones.
• Mapping depocentre geometry based on seismic and gravity data indicating structures up to 150 km long.
• Analyzing basement composition based on descriptions of possible Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic successions.

Strengths

• Data includes high-quality 2D seismic, multibeam bathymetry, gravity, and magnetic data.
• Analysis defines depocentres approximately 150 km long and 40 km wide.
• Seismic data suggests basin fill attains a maximum total thickness of over 6 km.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Primary data formats are PDF and HTML, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Acquired under the Australian Government's New Petroleum (2003-2007) and Offshore Energy Security (2007-2011) programs.

Time Range

Data collection primarily 2003-2011; analysis presented in July 2010.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 17:27:21.392034; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Capel and Faust basins, northern Lord Howe Rise, offshore eastern Australia, water depths 1300-2500 m.