DEPOSITIONAL CONDITIONS OF THE NORTHERN ONSHORE PERTH BASIN (BASAL TRIASSIC)

Abstract

An oil-source rock correlation has been established for the northern onshore Perth Basin (Western Australia) based on unusual aromatic and polar biomarkers attributed ultimately to a green sulphur bacterial source. Several of these biomarkers have been identified throughout the entire Sapropelic Interval of a proven petroleum source rock intersected within a recently discovered marine Permian- Triassic Perth Basin borehole (Hovea–3) and several Perth Basin crude oils. Today, green sulphur bacteria live in the anaerobic zones of stratified lakes or in marine environments with restricted water circulation, where the upper sulphide limit coincides with the lower limit of oxygen. The presence of photosynthetic pigments and carotenoids of green sulphur bacteria, or their diagenetic alteration products in sediments provide unequivocal evidence for photic zone euxinic conditions in the paleowater column. Multiple lines of evidence for photic zone euxinia and euxinic depositional conditions for the Hovea–3 source rock have been obtained from biomarker analyses. Photic zone euxinia is usually associated with the widespread deposition of organic-matter-rich sediments that constitute important source rocks for petroleum deposits that are being exploited today. With the exception of the Perth Basin, such organic-matter-rich sediments are virtually absent from Upper Permian and Lower Triassic sediments globally. Several lines of evidence indicate localised surface ocean productivity may have played a key role in the deposition of a petroleum source rock at this location, although photic zone euxinia was globally more widespread during the Permian-Triassic Superanoxic Event.