Low stand seismic facies ? a Carnarvon-Browse Basin comparison

Abstract

Similarities between eleven Mesozoic and Cainozoic supercycles in the Carnarvon and Browse Basins of Western Australia may be exploited in exploring for low stand turbidites, located just above sequence boundaries. Seismic and well sequence analyses are the tools used. Local well calibration is vital as geometrically similar units are being tested which are lithologically dissimilar, namely slumped shale slope units versus low stand clastic fans. Most low stand fans are associated with tectonically influenced base level drops, especially in the late Jurassic and Neocomian ? supercycles 3 and 4. These packages are the synrift phases of two major rift periods on the west coast. A particular boundary may have a low stand unit but its details can be quite different between basins.