G. R. Beardsmore

Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

ABSTRACT: The Thermal State of the Browse Basin, North West Shelf, Australia

A review of published Australian heat flow data reveals a lack of detail over much of the country. It has been almost twenty years since the last coordinated effort at quantifying and publishing geothermal heat flux over the Australian continent (Cull, 1982), and marine heat flux around the Australian margin has never been adequately addressed. Data remain widely spaced and poorly constrained, and only broad, large-scale trends are identifiable. Nevertheless, basin scale heat flow contour maps are required in petroleum exploration regions to accurately model organic maturation within source beds. This discrepancy prompted a study, presented here, of the Browse Basin, a Mesozoic passive margin basin on the North West Shelf off the coast of Western Australia. The aim of the study was to investigate the applicability and limitations of current techniques of determining heat flow density from petroleum exploration well data, and, where necessary, develop new techniques to overcome encountered problems.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado