Source rocks of the Birrindudu Basin: perspectives from a new sampling program
Grace A. Butcher A * , Emmanuelle Grosjean A , Tehani J. Palu A , Padmasiri Ranasinghe B , Richard H. Kempton C and Siyumini Perera CA
B
C
Grace A. Butcher is a geologist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. She graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 2010 from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Grace is working on northern Australian basins as part of the Exploring for the Future Program. |
Emmanuelle Grosjean is an organic geochemist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. Emmanuelle applies organic geochemistry to assess the hydrocarbon prospectivity of Australia’s offshore and onshore sedimentary basins. Emmanuelle holds a doctorate degree in organic chemistry from the University of Strasbourg, France. |
Tehani J. Palu holds a Master’s in Earth Science with first-class honours from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and has been with Geoscience Australia since 2009. Tehani has been a petroleum systems analyst in the Onshore Energy Systems team since 2014 after working on several other related projects including carbon capture and storage monitoring and offshore acreage release. |
Padmasiri Ranasinghe has over 45 years of expertise in geology, botany and computer science. He specialises in analysing petroleum source rocks. He has produced numerous consultancy reports, provided training in organic petrology, and actively contributes to industry standards through participation in International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology working groups. |
Richard H. Kempton obtained a BSc (Hons) in geology from the University of Melbourne (1992) and a PhD in geology from the University of Western Australia (2000). Richard is a senior research scientist with the Geofluids Team at CSIRO Energy in Perth and has 20+ years’ experience in petroleum systems analysis using fluid inclusions to reconstruct charge histories. Prior to joining CSIRO, Richard worked for the Queensland Gas Company. He is a member of PESA and GSA. |
Siyumini Perera recently obtained her PhD from the University of Queensland, where she focussed on Early Paleozoic biostratigraphy and imaging of microfossils with micro-computed tomography. Since early 2023, she has joined the Geofluids Team at CSIRO Energy in Perth as a research technician and is undertaking fluid inclusion analyses to quantify and characterise geofluids within sedimentary basins and basement. |
Abstract
The Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin straddling the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and is a region of focus for the second phase of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program (2020–2024). Hydrocarbon exploration in the Birrindudu Basin has been limited and a thorough assessment of the basin’s petroleum potential is lacking due to the absence of data in the region. To bridge this data gap, a comprehensive analytical program including organic petrology, programmed pyrolysis and oil fluid inclusion analysis was undertaken on cores from six drill holes to improve the understanding of the basin’s source rock potential and assess petroleum migration. Organic petrological analyses reveal that the primary maceral identified in the cores is alginite mainly originating from filamentous cyanobacteria, while bitumen is the most common unstructured secondary organic matter. New reflectance data based on alginite and bitumen reflectance indicate the sampled sections have reached a thermal maturity suitable for hydrocarbon generation. Oil inclusion analyses provide evidence for oil generation and migration, and hence elements of a petroleum system are present in the basin.
Keywords: Birrindudu Basin, Exploring for the Future, oil inclusions, oil migration, organic petrology, petroleum potential, Proterozoic, source rocks, thermal maturity.
Grace A. Butcher is a geologist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. She graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 2010 from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Grace is working on northern Australian basins as part of the Exploring for the Future Program. |
Emmanuelle Grosjean is an organic geochemist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. Emmanuelle applies organic geochemistry to assess the hydrocarbon prospectivity of Australia’s offshore and onshore sedimentary basins. Emmanuelle holds a doctorate degree in organic chemistry from the University of Strasbourg, France. |
Tehani J. Palu holds a Master’s in Earth Science with first-class honours from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and has been with Geoscience Australia since 2009. Tehani has been a petroleum systems analyst in the Onshore Energy Systems team since 2014 after working on several other related projects including carbon capture and storage monitoring and offshore acreage release. |
Padmasiri Ranasinghe has over 45 years of expertise in geology, botany and computer science. He specialises in analysing petroleum source rocks. He has produced numerous consultancy reports, provided training in organic petrology, and actively contributes to industry standards through participation in International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology working groups. |
Richard H. Kempton obtained a BSc (Hons) in geology from the University of Melbourne (1992) and a PhD in geology from the University of Western Australia (2000). Richard is a senior research scientist with the Geofluids Team at CSIRO Energy in Perth and has 20+ years’ experience in petroleum systems analysis using fluid inclusions to reconstruct charge histories. Prior to joining CSIRO, Richard worked for the Queensland Gas Company. He is a member of PESA and GSA. |
Siyumini Perera recently obtained her PhD from the University of Queensland, where she focussed on Early Paleozoic biostratigraphy and imaging of microfossils with micro-computed tomography. Since early 2023, she has joined the Geofluids Team at CSIRO Energy in Perth as a research technician and is undertaking fluid inclusion analyses to quantify and characterise geofluids within sedimentary basins and basement. |
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