Mount Salt No. 1 Well: Otway Basin Drilling Log and Stratigraphic Analysis

Mount Salt No. 1 Well was drilled to a depth of 10,044 feet between May and September 1962 to test the petroleum potential of Cretaceous sediments. The well recorded traces of crude oil and a gas show from 9830 to 9848 feet, with one successful drillstem test recovering 4070 feet of saline water. This dataset from Geoscience Australia details the stratigraphy, logging, and testing results from this subsidized exploration well in South Australia.

Use Cases

• Modeling Cretaceous sediment stratigraphy based on described sequences of sands, siltstones, and clays.
• Analyzing historical petroleum exploration results based on recorded oil traces and gas shows.
• Correlating geological formations like the Paaratte or Waarre Formations using the described depth intervals.
• Studying subsidized exploration programs under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959-1961.

Strengths

• Contains specific operational details: drilling depth of 10,044 feet and exact dates from May 9 to September 21, 1962.
• Includes concrete geological findings: traces of crude oil and a gas show recorded from a specific 18-foot interval.
• Documents a full program of logging, testing, and coring undertaken during the operation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-03-25 16:40:04.810085; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Data gathered from a full program of logging, testing, and coring during the drilling operation.

Time Range

Drilling occurred from 9th May 1962 to 21st September 1962.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 16:40:04.810085.

Geography

Otway Basin, approximately twelve miles south-west of Mount Gambier, South Australia.