The Carnarvon Basin is a geological basin located in the north west of Western Australia.[1] This is the main geological feature that makes up the North West Shelf.
The onshore part of the Carnarvon Basin covers about 115,000 km² and the offshore part covers approximately 535,000 km² with water depths up to 3,500 metres.
It is separated into two major areas - the Northern Carnarvon Basin, and the Southern Carnarvon Basin.
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The Northern Carnarvon Basin includes the Exmouth Plateau, Wombat Plateau (on the northern part of the Exmouth Plateau), Investigator Sub-basin, Rankin Platform, Exmouth Sub-basin, Barrow Sub-basin, Dampier Sub-basin, Beagle Sub-basin, Enderby Terrace, Peedamullah Shelf and the Lambert Shelf.[2]
The main sub-basins for petroleum exploration in the basin have been Dampier, Exmouth and Barrow.[3]
The Southern basin consists of the Gascoyne, Merlinleigh, Bidgemia and Byro Sub-basins and Bernier Platform and is flanked to the east by the Archaean Pilbara Block.[2]