Surat Basin

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The Surat Basin is a part of the Great Artesian Basin of Australia. The Surat Basin extends across an area of 270,000 square kilometres and the southern third of the basin occupies a large part of northern New South Wales, the remainder is in Queensland. It comprises Jurassic through to Cretaceous aged sediments derived from Triassic and Permian arc rocks of the Hunter-Bowen orogeny.

1 Formation
2 Stratigraphy
3 Economic geology
4 References

[edit] Formation

The Surat Basin is an intracratonic basin that covers a sizeable section of New South Wales and southern Queensland. It was formed by fluvial sedimentation of an intracratonic area which underwent sediment sag-loading in the Jurassic to Cretaceous.

[edit] Stratigraphy

The western central parts of the Surat basin unconformably overlies the Palaeozoic igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt. In the east and northern parts of Queensland it unconformably overlies the sedimentary basin rocks of the Hunter-Bowen Orogen. The Surat Basin overlies parts of the Bowen Basin in southern Queensland, and overlies the Gunnedah Basin in central New South Wales.

Palaeozoic basement highs mark the western and eastern boundaries of the Surat Basin. The Nebine Ridge delineates the boundary between the Surat Basin and the Eromanga Basin to the west. The Nebine Ridge is well developed in Queensland and gravity data indicate that the southern extension of the ridge into northern New South Wales is terminated by cross faulting. In Queensland the Kumbarilla Ridge divides the Surat Basin from the Clarence-Moreton Basin to the east.

The basin is a maximum of about 2,500m thick in Queensland, with up to 1,800m preserved in New South Wales.

[edit] Economic geology

Dichrodium fern fossils in silt parting from Triassic coal measures within the Surat Basin

The Surat Basin is not very important a target for oil as the source rocks have not generally been subjected to suitable conditions to evolve oil. There is some slight natural gas potential. Jurassic coal seams have been worked and explored in the Queensland portions of the basin.

[edit] Mines

The basin has a number of mines such as Wilkie Creek Mine where Peabody Pacific mines and then exports coal ^[1].

[edit] Coal Seam Methane

The basin has a number of coal seam methane fields - also known as coalbed methane - developing in the region. These fields presently supply the domestic market, including a number of power stations and the Roma to Brisbane Pipeline. A number of gas companies have recently announced plans to develop liquified natural gas plants in or around Gladstone, Queensland to export Surat Basin gas to international markets.