--> ABSTRACT: Tectonically Controlled Paleogeographic Evolution of the Barrow Group (Early Cretaceous), Barrow Sub-basin, North West Shelf, Australia, by T. A. (Mac)McGilvery, S. M. Poloinka, and W. E. Galloway; #91021 (2010)

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Tectonically Controlled Paleogeographic Evolution of the Barrow Group (Early Cretaceous), Barrow Sub-basin, North West Shelf, Australia

McGILVERY, T. A. (Mac), S. M. POLOINKA, and W. E. GALLOWAY

The Barrow Sub-basin is one of a series of multiphase rift-basins separating the Exmouth Plateau from the Australian continental margin which evolved during the Mesozoic break-up of the northeast margin of Gondwanaland. Barrow Group deposition was initiated by the increase in sediment supply linked to uplift and rifting between the Indian and Australian plates and terminated by the cessation of that supply at the onset of continental drift. Remnant structurally controlled, paleotopographic highs from a Jurassic (Callovian) rift event persisted as bathymetric features characterized by submarine erosion and bypass which focused gravity-driven and marine tractional sediment dispersal originating from the Exmouth Plateau. Syndepositional rifting along the southern and western margin of the Exmouth Plateau resulted in: (1) reactivation of the Flinders Fault system which initiated development of marginal submarine canyon systems, (2) regional basin tilting which influenced the development of erosional shelf systems along the southern basin margin and (3) deflection of submarine fan systems originating from the eastern margin into a north- south orientation due to north tilting and syndepositional uplift of the Barrow Island structure. The application of the sequence stratigraphic paradigm to signal tectonically active basins such as this must accommodate the three-dimensional context of multiple, coeval structurally controlled sediment dispersal systems. Longitudinal seismic profiles and well log cross sections must be interpreted within the context of probable sediment dispersal in- and out-of-the-plane of section. The three-dimensional interplay between multiple dispersal systems creates characteristic interlap seismic geometries.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91021©1997 AAPG Annual Convention, Dallas, Texas.