Seismic stratigraphy and geomorphology of the Exmouth Plateau, north-western shelf, Australia.

摘要

The Exmouth Plateau is a part of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore northwest Australia. It evolved from a pre-rift in the late Paleozoic, experiencing many tectonic activities, from syn-rift sub-basins in the Mesozoic to a passive margin in the Cenozoic. The study area, located within the Exmouth Plateau, is a gas exploration target named the Chandon Field. The Chandon-1 well was drilled in 2006 and is the only well from the area that provides the data used in this study. The seismic data penetrate up to 5000 milliseconds, covering an area of 875 km2. The information regarding basin evolution in the Paleozoic Age is scarce, as the main exploration interest rests with the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.;The objective of this study is to investigate sequence stratigraphy and geomorphology of the area. In order to understand the evolution of the depositional environments and the paleogeography, 3-D seismic data have been interpreted by means of horizon picking. Furthermore, the outcomes of the study, which are 9 seismic units, 11 horizons, and 10 horizon slices, reveal that the provenance of sediments were derived from various sources from the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Cenozoic ages. The Pre-breakup seismic units were from terrestrial environments, such as fluvio-deltaic environments. On the other hand, the Post-breakup seismic units were derived from a wide range of marine environments, ranging from shallow to deep water.;In this study, most of the time was dedicated to the generation and analysis of horizon slices. In addition, the interpretation of 10 seismic horizon slices overlaid by different seismic attributes, reveals new information which should be investigated further in the future. This information should also be investigated on time slices.