1887
1st Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference – Exploration Innovation Integration
  • ISSN: 2202-0586
  • E-ISSN:
PDF

Abstract

800-2400 km long transcontinental paleovalleys straddle the modern landscape of Western Australia (WA). These valleys formed following emergence of the Canning Basin at the end of the Lower Cretaceous, and reached their greatest development during Eocene time. They owe their preservation to limited erosion/burial and to an overall drying climate since the Upper Cretaceous. They represent the largest network of inactive valleys visible at the Earth’s surface.

These valleys debouch at their downstream ends into well-dated depocentres and paleo-shorelines, which provide age constraints and firm milestones of their temporal and spatial evolution. Drainage network evolution and valley long profiles constrain the timing of long (~1000 km) to intermediate wavelength (~200 km) variations in uplift and subsidence rates over the continental interior. We use these data to decipher the respective contributions of regional tectonics and dynamic topography to the evolution of the Northwest Shelf. Upon emergence uplift determined the shape of the initial drainage that started to drain the emerging landmass. Later, a changing field of surface uplift triggered drainage rearrangements in the early Cenozoic. Rearrangement resulted in piecemeal rerouting of water and sediments towards the North West Shelf.

Increasing aridity during the Neogene contributed to the tectonic defeat of some of these rivers. We use the surface model developed by the Basin Genesis Hub to quantify sediment and water delivery to the North West Shelf during the lifespan of the drainage. Further, there is some debate regarding the chronology of aridification in the continental interior. We use the modelling to derive the first quantitative estimates of the water balance to see if numeric water balance assessments can reconcile discrepant sets of paleoclimatic proxies.

© 2018 ASEG
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1071/ASEG2018abP049
2018-12-01
2026-01-18

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1071/ASEG2018abP049
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alley, N., CLARKET, T., Macphail, M., and Truswell, E., 2009, Sedimentary infillings and development of major Tertiary palaeodrainage systems of south-central Australia: Palaeoweathering, Palaeosurfaces and Related Continental Deposits (Special Publication 27 of the IAS), v. 73, p. 337.
  2. Beard, J., 2002, Palaeogeography and drainage evolution in the Gibson and Great Victoria deserts, Western Australia: Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, v. 85, p. 17-29.
  3. Beard, J. S. P., 1973, The Elucidation of Palaeodrainage Patterns in Western Australia Through Vegetation Mapping. By J (ohn) S (tanley Percy) Beard, Vegmap Publ.
  4. Bourget, J., Ainsworth, R. B., and Thompson, S., 2014, Seismic stratigraphy and geomorphology of a tide or wave dominated shelf-edge delta (NW Australia): process-based classification from 3D seismic attributes and implications for the prediction of deep-water sands: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 57, p. 359-384.
  5. Bunting, J., Van de Graaff, W., and Jackson, M., 1973, Palaeodrainages and Cainozoic palaeogeography of the eastern goldfields, Gibson Desert and Great Victoria Desert: Geological Survey of Western Australia Annual Report, v. 1973, p. 45-50.
  6. Chen, X., and Barton, C., 1991, Onset of aridity and dune-building in central Australia: sedimentological and magnetostratigraphic evidence from Lake Amadeus: Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, v. 84, no. 1-4, p. 55-73.
  7. Clarke, J., 1994a, Evolution of the Lefroy and Cowan palaeodrainage channels, Western Australia: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 41, no. 1, p. 55-68.
  8. -, 1994b, Lake Lefroy, a palaeodrainage playa in Western Australia: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 41, no. 5, p. 417-427.
  9. Cope, R., 1974, Tertiary epeirogeny in the southern part of Western Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia Annual Report for, p. 40-46.
  10. de Broekert, P., and Sandiford, M., 2005, Buried inset-valleys in the Eastern Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia: geomorphology, age, and allogenic control: The Journal of Geology, v. 113, no. 4, p. 471-493.
  11. Dodson, J. R., and Macphail, M., 2004, Palynological evidence for aridity events and vegetation change during the Middle Pliocene, a warm period in Southwestern Australia: Global and Planetary Change, v. 41, no. 3, p. 285-307.
  12. Duclaux, G., Salles, T., and Ramanaidou, E., 2013, Alluvial iron deposits exploration using surface processes modelling-a case study in the Hamersley Province (Western Australia).
  13. English, P., Spooner, N., Chappell, J., Questiaux, D., and Hill, N., 2001, Lake Lewis basin, central Australia: environmental evolution and OSL chronology: Quaternary International, v. 83, p. 81-101.
  14. Frakes, L., Burger, D., Apthorpe, M., Wiseman, J., Dettmann, M., Alley, N., Flint, R., Gravestock, D., Ludbrook, N., and Backhouse, J., 1987, Australian Cretaceous shorelines, stage by stage: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 59, p. 31-48.
  15. Fujioka, T., May, J., Fink, D., Nanson, G., Jansen, J., and Codilean, A., Long-term waterfall dynamics in monsoonal Australia based on cosmogenic Be-10, in Proceedings AMS-13 The Thirteenth International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Aix en Provence, France2014, AMS-13 The Thirteenth International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.
  16. Gallagher, S. J., Wallace, M. W., Hoiles, P. W., and Southwood, J. M., 2014, Seismic and stratigraphic evidence for reef expansion and onset of aridity on the Northwest Shelf of Australia during the Pleistocene: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 57, p. 470-481.
  17. Heim, J. A., Vasconcelos, P. M., Shuster, D. L., Farley, K. A., and Broadbent, G., 2006, Dating paleochannel iron ore by (U-Th)/He analysis of supergene goethite, Hamersley province, Australia: Geology, v. 34, no. 3, p. 173-176.
  18. Hou, B., Frakes, L., Alley, N., and Heithersay, P., 2003, Evolution of beach placer shorelines and heavy-mineral deposition in the eastern Eucla Basin, South Australia: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 50, no. 6, p. 955-965.
  19. Hou, B., Frakes, L., Sandiford, M., Worrall, L., Keeling, J., and Alley, N., 2008, Cenozoic Eucla Basin and associated palaeovalleys, southern Australia-climatic and tectonic influences on landscape evolution, sedimentation and heavy mineral accumulation: Sedimentary Geology, v. 203, no. 1, p. 112-130.
  20. Jaireth, S., Clarke, J., and Cross, A., 2010, Exploring for sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in paleovalleys and paleochannels: AusGeo News, v. 97, p. 21-25.
  21. Jansen, J. D., Nanson, G., Cohen, T., Fujioka, T., Fabel, D., Larsen, J., Codilean, A., Price, D., Bowman, H., and May, J.-H., 2013, Lowland river responses to intraplate tectonism and climate forcing quantified with luminescence and cosmogenic 10 Be: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 366, p. 49-58.
  22. Jones, B., 1990, Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentation on the western margin of the Eucla Basin: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 37, no. 3, p. 317-329.
  23. Kohn, B., Gleadow, A., Brown, R., Gallagher, K., O’sullivan, P., and Foster, D., 2002, Shaping the Australian crust over the last 300 million years: insights from fission track thermotectonic imaging and denudation studies of key terranes: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 49, no. 4, p. 697-717.
  24. Martin, H., 2006, Cenozoic climatic change and the development of the arid vegetation in Australia: Journal of Arid Environments, v. 66, no. 3, p. 533-563.
  25. McGowran, B., Holdgate, G., Li, Q., and Gallagher, S., 2004, Cenozoic stratigraphic succession in southeastern Australia: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 51, no. 4, p. 459-496.
  26. McLaren, S., Wallace, M. W., Gallagher, S. J., Wagstaff, B. E., and Tosolini, A.-M. P., 2014, 12 The development of a climate: an arid continent with wet fringes: Invasion Biology and Ecological Theory: Insights from a Continent in Transformation, v. 106, p. 256.
  27. Muller, R., Dyksterhuis, S., and Rey, P., 2012, Australian paleo-stress fields and tectonic reactivation over the past 100 Ma: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 59, no. 1, p. 13-28.
  28. Nott, J., and Roberts, R. G., 1996, Time and process rates over the past 100 my: A case for dramatically increased landscape denudation rates during the late Quaternary in northern Australia: Geology, v. 24, no. 10, p. 883-887.
  29. Romine, K., Durrant, J., Cathro, D., and Bernardel, G., 1997, Petroleum play element prediction for the Cretaceous-Tertiary basin phase, Northern Carnarvon Basin: The APPEA Journal, v. 37, no. 1, p. 315-339.
  30. Salles, T., Flament, N., and Muller, D., 2017, Influence of mantle flow on the drainage of eastern Australia since the Jurassic Period: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 18, no. 1, p. 280-305.
  31. Sanchez, C. M., Fulthorpe, C. S., and Steel, R. J., 2012, Middle Miocene-Pliocene siliciclastic influx across a carbonate shelf and influence of deltaic sedimentation on shelf construction, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Northwest Shelf of Australia: Basin Research, v. 24, no. 6, p. 664-682.
  32. Sandiford, M., and Quigley, M., 2009, TOPO-OZ: Insights into the various modes of intraplate deformation in the Australian continent: Tectonophysics, v. 474, no. 1, p. 405-416.
  33. Sandiford, M., Quigley, M., de Broekert, P., and Jakica, S., 2009, Tectonic framework for the Cenozoic cratonic basins of Australia: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 56, no. S1, p. S5-S18.
  34. Sit, K., Hillock, P., and Miller, N., The Maitland gas discovery-a geological/geophysical case history, in Proceedings Proc. Pet. Explor. Soc. Aust. Symp., Perth1994, p. 597-613.
  35. Struck, M., Jansen, J., Codilean, A., Fujioka, T., Fink, D., and Kotevski, S., Sediment transport dynamics in central Australian low-gradient landscapes quantified with cosmogenic nuclides, in Proceedings 19th INQUA Congress Nagoya, Japan2015, 19th INQUA Congress.
  36. van de Graaf, W. J. E., Crowe, R. W. A., Bunting, J. A., Jackson, M. J., 1977, Relict early Cainozoic drainages in arid Western Australia: Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, v. 21, p. 379-400.
  37. Whitney, B. B., Hengesh, J. V., and Gillam, D., 2016, Styles of neotectonic fault reactivation within a formerly extended continental margin, North West Shelf, Australia: Tectonophysics, v. 686, p. 1-18.
  38. Zheng, H., Wyrwoll, K.-H., Li, Z., and Powell, C. M., 1998, Onset of aridity in southern Western Australia-a preliminary palaeomagnetic appraisal: Global and Planetary Change, v. 18, no. 3, p. 175-187.
/content/journals/10.1071/ASEG2018abP049
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Drainage evolution; Paleovalleys; Sediment routing; Tectonics; Water Balance; Western Australia

Most Cited This Month Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error