Jurassic - Early Cretaceous paleogeography and paleoenvironments of the north-eastern margin of Gondwana: insights from the Carpentaria Basin, Australia

Foley, Elliot, Baty, Mason, Knutsen, Espen M., Lignum, John S., and Roberts, Eric M. (2020) Jurassic - Early Cretaceous paleogeography and paleoenvironments of the north-eastern margin of Gondwana: insights from the Carpentaria Basin, Australia. Gondwana Research, 88. pp. 126-149.

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View at Publisher Website: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2020.07.003
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Abstract

Although Jurassic-Early Cretaceous sedimentary systems were extensively developed on northeastern Gondwana, deciphering their paleogeography has been complicated by poor exposure and the lack of a robust chronostratigraphic framework. The southeastern margin of the Carpentaria Basin, northeastern Australia is one of the few regions where these sedimentary systems are extensively exposed. Employing a combination of facies analysis and new data from paleontology and detrital zircon geochronology, we present a temporally and environmentally refined paleogeographic framework for this region. A Late Jurassic, southeasterly directed marine incursion invaded northeastern Gondwana, extending inland across the Carpentaria Basin, as demonstrated by a thin (~30 m), marine influenced (fluvio-estuarine) stratigraphic succession capped by a sequence bounding ~30 myr paraconformity. The depositional hiatus marked the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous uplift of the Euroka Arch, with loss of sedimentary and fluvial connectivity between the Carpentaria Basin and adjoining Eromanga Basin. Subsequent deposition by low-accommodation fluvial systems resulted in a thin, fluviatile depositional package developing during the Early Cretaceous. Paleocurrent and provenance data indicate that the Middle to Late Jurassic (c. 170–160 Ma) fluvial systems predating the paraconformity extended from the Eromanga Basin to the south across the southeastern Carpentaria Basin, transporting sediment from distal sources in the Lachlan Orogen of southeastern Australia. Fluvial systems of the southeastern Carpentaria Basin post-dating the paraconformity and Euroka Arch uplift show a provenance shift to easterly sources in the Mossman Orogen and Kennedy Igneous Association. Previously unrecognised Jurassic-Early Cretaceous igneous activity provided a persistent source of sediment to the southeastern Carpentaria Basin succession due to reworking of air fall tuff from an active magmatic arc located on the continental margin of northeastern Gondwana.

Item ID: 65314
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1342-937X
Keywords: Carpentaria Basin, Detrital zircon geochronology, Fluvial system, Jurassic, Marine, Northeastern Gondwana
Copyright Information: © 2020 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Date Deposited: 16 Dec 2020 22:49
FoR Codes: 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370509 Sedimentology @ 50%
37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370502 Geochronology @ 25%
37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370510 Stratigraphy (incl. biostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and basin analysis) @ 25%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970104 Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences @ 100%
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