Uranium in Australian Organic-Rich Shales for Hydrocarbon Potential

Australian marine organic-rich shales from the Mesoproterozoic to Cretaceous periods show uranium concentrations ranging from less than 5 to over 500 ppm. The dataset examines the correlation between uranium content and total organic carbon (TOC) to calibrate hydrocarbon potential. It covers examples from the Greater McArthur, Georgina, Eromanga, and Bight basins.

Use Cases

• Predicting Total Organic Carbon (TOC) content based on uranium concentration or gamma-ray logs.
• Calibrating hydrocarbon potential of source rocks using U-TOC correlations.
• Analyzing relationships between uranium content and kerogen type or maturation (Tmax) via Rock-Eval data.
• Investigating secular and spatial controls on uranium enrichment in anoxic marine sediments.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific geochemical relationship (Uranium-TOC) with practical application for hydrocarbon prediction.
• Covers a wide geological time range, from the Mesoproterozoic to the Cretaceous.
• Includes data from multiple major Australian sedimentary basins.

Limitations

• Column names and dataset structure (e.g., row count, file size) are not provided in the source metadata.
• License, author, and precise data collection methodology are unspecified.
• The description is repeated across entries, suggesting the underlying data files may not be directly accessible.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Likely compiled from published geochemical analyses of shale samples.

Time Range

Mesoproterozoic to Cretaceous

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-16 according to the most recent platform entry.

Geography

Greater McArthur, Georgina, Eromanga, and Bight basins in Australia.