THE GEOLOGICAL EXPRESSION OF EUSTACY IN THE EARLY TERTIARY OF THE GIPPSLAND BASIN

Abstract

In the non-marine to marginal marine environments of the Latrobe Group, distinct sedimentary sequences are recognised on seismic records and these sequences are often expressed in wells by palynological zones, changes in E-log character and lithology.

The succession of sequences represents variations in sea level, many of which are interpreted aseustatic. Eustatic falls are represented by unconformities and channel formation along the seaward margin and by hiatuses (frequently with dolomite cementation of underlying sands) landward in deltaic and non-marine sections. Eustatic rises are represented by dinoflagellate ingressions over truncated surfaces at sequence boundaries, followed by outbuilding of deltaic environments at the stillstand towards the end of each cycle.

During the Paleocene and Eocene very little sediment was deposited beyond the limits of the marginal marine environments except within channels where the Flounder and Turrum Formations are found. In this time interval they was an overall landward encroachment of successive sequences reflecting an overall sea level rise. The interaction of rising sea level and limited deposition beyond the marginal marine edge meant that successive sequences became more restricted seaward such that within the marine environment the area of non-deposition increased. The surface thus defined, modified locally by channel erosion, constitutes the unconformity at the top of the Latrobe Group. This unconformity surface was preserved when deposition of fine-grained open marine sediments of the Lakes Entrance Formation commenced in the Oligocene.

In the Tasman Sea a succession of terrigenous silts and clays present in the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 283 can be correlated with periods when fine-grained sediments bypassed the Gippsland shelf. The stratigraphy of this site can be interpreted as a record of availability of sediment from the southeastern Australian continental shelf. The times of commencement and termination of stratigraphic units and disconformities at Site 283 correlate with timing of eustatic cycles. Thus the stratigraphy of Site 283 is a record, as is the Latrobe Group, of how eustacy interacts with basin morphology to modify distribution of sediments.