Geology ofQueensland

Why buy Geology of Queensland?Geology of Queensland is a vital tool for all geoscientists—exploration professionals, researchers, teachers and students. Any scientist studying aspects of the physical world, such as the environment, soils, water and landscapes, will welcome this book.

What does Geology of Queensland offer?This all-new publication examines Queensland’s major geological components—cratonic areas, orogens and major post-orogenic basins. It also describes the overlying sedimentary basins and the igneous associations within these components. The authoritative text, edited by Dr Peter Jell, is complemented by full-colour photographs, diagrams and maps. The 59 contributors include geoscientists from the Geological Survey of Queensland, Geoscience Australia, and Australian universities, museums and industry.

Chapters on regional geology cover:

• the North Australian Craton• the Thomson Orogen• the Mossman Orogen• the New England Orogen• the Kennedy Igneous Association• post-orogenic Mesozoic basins and volcanic activity• Paleogene and Neogene Queensland• Quaternary Queensland.

Thematic chapters address seismicity, groundwater, engineering geology, impact structures and meteorites and geological heritage. Also, the text reviews the State’s mineral and energy resources from geological and economic perspectives.

Cost: A$91.00 plus postage (4 kg weight) (A$82.73 plus postage if purchased and delivered outside Australia)

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The publication of Geology of Queensland is a major milestone in geological knowledge.Geology of Queensland offers a modern, comprehensive description and detailed analysis of Queensland’s geology.

Geology influences the State’s development because it underpins our mineral resources, underground water, landscape and soils. In its rigorous examination of all aspects of the geology of the State, Geology of Queensland recognises the great wealth being generated in Queensland by mining.

520

Geology of QueenslandChapter 7 Post-orogenic Mesozoic basins and magmatism

521

into the lower Yappar Member and upper Coffin Hill Member,

both of which suggest fluvial to marine deposition. The Yappar

Member is possibly Late Jurassic at its base and contains a

Valanginian–Hauterivian flora (Burger 1982). However, Oosting

(2004) regarded the upper Yappar Member in BMR Mossman 1

as Barremian – early Aptian spanning the Muderongia australis –

Ovoidinium cinctum zones of Helby, Morgan and Partridge (1987).

Deposition commenced in fluvial environments with increasing

marine influence up-section. Scattered marine, mollusc-

dominated macrofaunas and ichnofaunas in the upper parts

(Etheridge in Jack & Etheridge 1892; Dickins 1960; Cook &

Stilwell 2005; Cook 2008) and a rich palynoflora indicate

increasing marine conditions near the top and a late Aptian age

for the upper Coffin Hill Member (Price & Filatoff 1988; Oosting

2004). Minor macroflora is Early Cretaceous (White 1957).

The Gilbert River Formation is overlain by the basin-wide and

volcanogenic Rolling Downs Group. A major marine transgression

in the late Aptian is marked by the Wallumbilla Formation,

which was widely deposited across the Carpentaria, Eromanga

and Surat basins. In the Carpentaria Basin, the Wallumbilla

Formation conformably overlies the Gilbert River Formation

and is <500 m thick. It is dominated by thick successions of

sporadically nodular siltstone with lesser glauconitic sandstone

and silty limestone. It contains, particularly in its upper parts,

a rich marine fauna dominated by molluscs, mainly ammonites

in meandering to braided fluvial environments. An equivalent

unit is thickest in the Carpentaria Depression. The unit overlies

Proterozoic basement nonconformably and elements of the

Olive River Basin disconformably, and is overlain conformably

by the Gilbert River Formation.

In the southern Staaten Subbasin, the Middle–Late Jurassic Eulo

Queen Group was deposited in palaeotopographic depressions.

It is divided into the lower Hampstead Sandstone and upper

Loth Formation. The Hampstead Sandstone comprises 30–60 m

of quartzose sandstone and conglomerate deposited in low-

sinuosity fluvial environments. The thicker Loth Formation

(50–100 m) comprises micaceous clayey quartzose sandstone

with subordinate siltstone and claystone, deposited in restricted

fluvial conditions within depressions and valleys. The Eulo Queen

Group extends into the northern Eromanga Basin.

The Gilbert River Formation covers most of the Carpentaria

Basin except the far northeastern Weipa Subbasin. The unit

is diachronous, with deposition commencing in the north and

progressing southwards to form a sheet-like unit conformably

overlying the Garraway Sandstone and unconformably overlying

the Eulo Queen Group. In the northeastern Weipa Subbasin

it interfingers with the upper Helby beds. The Gilbert River

Formation is 30–123 m thick and is dominated by clayey

quartzose sandstones, fining upwards into siltstone and

glauconitic sandstone. The Gilbert River Formation is divided

extension of the Carpentaria Basin at the time of maximum

transgression of the Aptian sea. This is because the relatively

thin ‘Inland Belt’ succession is a condensed version of the

coastal stratigraphy with few significant lithological differences

(Munson, Ahmad & Dunster 2012).

7.3.1 Stratigraphy and depositional history

The lithostratigraphy of the Carpentaria Basin is summarised in

Figure 7.5. Deposition commenced in the Middle Jurassic with

downwarp and resultant deposition in the Western Subbasin on

northern Cape York Peninsula of the Helby beds and Albany Pass

beds. The Helby beds (Powell et al. 1976) intercalate with, and

transgress, the Garraway Sandstone (non-marine) in the northern

Weipa Subbasin, but are mostly equivalent elsewhere. In the

upper part, the Helby beds are equivalent to, and interfinger

with, the Gilbert River Formation and thus deposition of the unit

continued into the earliest Cretaceous. The Helby beds comprise

>330 m (possibly up to 600 m) of quartzose sandstone and

minor siltstone, whose bioturbation and microflora indicate a

paralic- to marine-depositional environment. The palynoflora

indicates an upper age of at least Hauterivian, possibly younger

(Burger 1982). The poorly understood Albany Pass beds are

equivalent to the Helby beds, but much thinner (12 m thick)

and probably fluvial.

The Garraway Sandstone is a 38–90 m thick succession of

quartzose sandstone, conglomerate, siltstone and claystone

deposited in the southern Weipa and northern Staaten subbasins

The basin lies on a heterogeneous, but dominantly crystalline

basement of Proterozoic to Paleozoic provinces and a number

of smaller infrabasins including the Millungera Basin, Canobie

Depression, Burketown Depression, Kowanyama, Croydon

and Mount Isa provinces and Olive River Basin, among others

(McConachie et al. 1997a). To the north, the basin has been

considered to pass into the Papuan Basin. The overall structure

of the basin is that of an intracratonic downwarp, with a slight

north-northeast elongation and at least four depocentres, the

largest of which is the Carpentaria Depression, in the offshore

Weipa Subbasin. Maximum thickness to pre-Mesozoic basement

is ~1600 m.

Across the Northern Territory, a thin Cretaceous sedimentary

succession of the ‘Inland Belt’ of Skwarko (1966), extending

from the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf to the Gulf of Carpentaria, has

been recognised (Munson, Ahmad & Dunster 2012) as a large

o18

o30

o24

o12 S

o18

o30

o36

o42 S

o140o152

o158 E

Great Australian Superbasin system

LauraBasin

MaryboroughBasin

Coral Sea Basin

WhitsundayVolcanic Province

TasmanBasin

Cato Trough

o12 S

o146

5000

Kilometres

o140o152 Eo146

o42 S

Cenozoic intraplatemafic volcanics

118 Ma,108 Ma

111 Ma 111 Ma

101 Ma

101 Ma98 Ma

94 Ma

101 Ma

90 Ma

Otway–Bass–Gippsland Basinsystem

o24

Lord How

e Microcontinent

Capricorn

Basin

CapelFaustbasins

o36

GowerBasin

Moore Basin

KennPlateau

MarionPlateau

QueenslandPlateau

LouisiadePlateau

Cato FZ

Figure 7.3 Location of the Whitsunday Volcanic Province and Early

Cretaceous sedimentary basins of eastern Australia that contain

>1.4 Mkm3 of coeval volcanogenic sediment derived from the Large

Igneous Province (Bryan et al. 1997). Early Cenozoic spreading zone

of the Tasman Sea indicated with deep ocean floor in dark blue. Red

squares are locations of dated igneous rocks (ages in italics) along

the southeastern margin of Australia. Intraplate alkaline volcanism

(80–0 Ma) is shown in black (from Bryan et al. 2012).

INDONESIAPNG

McARTHURBASIN

WESTERNGULF

SUBBASIN

PAPUANBASIN

LAURABASIN

CO

EN

INLI

NE

R

STAATENSUBBASIN

GeorgetownRegion

EUROKA ARCH

(NARROWS)

CAPE

YO

RK

ORI

OM

O R

IDG

E

EROMANGABASIN

BOOMARRASUBBASIN

Mount Isa region

0200100

Kilometres

136°

WEIPA SUBBASIN

PENINSULA BASIN

Cairns

Anchor Cay 1

Grenville High

Bramw

ell Arch

NormantonBurketown

CARPENTARIABASIN

18°

14°

10°

140°144°

148°

Daru-Murry Structural Zone

Figure 7.4 Mesozoic basins of Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf

of Papua. Subbasins of the Carpentaria Basin are shown following

McConachie, Filatoff and Senapati (1990) and the western margin

following Krassay (1994). The Peninsula Basin is an expression of

the Peninsula Trough of Doutch (1976), of which the eastern extent

is poorly understood.CARPENTARIA BASIN

AGE WESTERN GULFSUBBASIN

NORTHERN TERRITORY

WESTERN GULFSUBBASIN

CAPE YORK PENINSULA

WEIPASUBBASIN

NORMANTONFORMATION

ALLARUMUDSTONE

ALLARUMUDSTONE

ALLARUMUDSTONE

ALLARUMUDSTONE

ALLARUMUDSTONE

ROLL

ING

DOW

NS G

ROUP

ROLL

ING

DOW

NS G

ROUP

NORMANTONFORMATION

NORMANTONFORMATION

NORMANTONFORMATION NORMANTON FORMATION

BOOMARRASUBBASIN

CENTRAL NORMANTON

ONSHORE STAATEN SUBBASINSOUTHERN

BURKETOWN

BASEMENTMCCARTHUR BASIN/

GRANITOIDSMETASEDIMENTS/

GRANITOIDSQUARTZITE(?)GRANITOIDS

UNNAMED OFFSHORESEQUENCE

GRANITOIDS GRANITOIDSMOUNT ISAPROVINCE

EULO QUEEN GROUP

GILBERT RIVERFORMATIONGILBERT RIVER

FORMATIONGILBERT RIVERFORMATION

GILBERT RIVER

FORMATION GILBERT RIVER FORMATION

GARRAWAYSANDSTONEGARRAWAY

SANDSTONE

GARRAWAYSANDSTONE

GILBERT RIVER FORMATION

TOOLEBUC FORMATIONTOOLEBUC FORMATION

TOOLEBUC FORMATIONTOOLEBUC FORMATION

TOOLEBUC FORMATIONWALLUMBILLA

FORMATIONWALLUMBILLAFORMATIONWALLUMBILLA

FORMATION

MEMBER 1

MEMBER 2

MEMBER 1

MEMBER 2

MEMBER CMEMBER C

MEMBER B

MEMBER B

MEMBER A

MEMBER II

MEMBER I

MEMBER A

MEMBER C

MEMBER B

MEMBER A

MEMBER C

MEMBER B

MEMBER AWALLUMBILLA

FORMATIONWALLUMBILLA

FORMATION

UNNAMEDTRIASSIC SEQUENCEOVERLYING SCHISTS

JURASSIC

LATEJURASSIC

MULLAMANBEDS

? ?

? ?

? ?

? ?

ROLLING DOWNS GROUP

ALBANYPASSBEDS

HELBYBEDS

TITH

ONIA

N–

OXFO

RDIA

N

EARL

Y CR

ETAC

EOUS

ALBI

AN LATE

MIDEARLY

APTIAN

BARREMIAN

NEOCOMIANUNDIFFERENTIATED

LATE CRETACEOUS

CENOMANIAN

Mudstone, siltstone, minor limestone Quartzose, glauconitic sandstones Lithic glauconitic sandstone Quartzose sandstone

EARLY–MIDDLE

Figure 7.5 Stratigraphy of the Carpentaria Basin and outliers. After McConachie et al. (1997a).

Geology of Queensland will become a standard reference for future generations of geologists.

568

Geology of QueenslandChapter 7 Post-orogenic Mesozoic basins and magmatism

569

1997). The Blackwall Quartz Diorite U–Pb zircon (SHRIMP) age of 132.5 ± 2.4 Ma (Allen et al. 1998) is similar to that of the Hecate Granite.

<125 Ma plutons: Granites of this group are mainly exposed east of the Connors Subprovince (Ewart, Schon & Chappell 1992; Parianos 1993), but they also include the plutonic rocks at Cape Upstart, Mount Abbot, Mount Pring and Bowen (Allen, Wooden & Chappell 1997; Table 7.6; Figures 7.41, 7.42, 7.43). The Bowen occurrences were included in the Early Triassic Gloucester

traces of allanite. K-feldspar may be pink or white. The Hecate Granite is cut by rare mafic dykes and is locally extensively deformed, with a foliation and partially recrystallised zones. The U–Pb zircon (SHRIMP) age (130.8 ± 3.4 Ma; Allen et al. 1998) for the Hecate Granite is similar to the K–Ar mineral ages (five samples) of ~132–123 Ma (biotite) and ~127–126 Ma (hornblende) reported by Webb and McDougall (1968).Cretaceous intrusions in the Bowen Basin range from quartz

diorite to syenite (Pattison 1990; Allen, Wooden & Chappell

Figure 7.40 Early Cretaceous (130.8 ± 3.4 Ma) Hecate Granite. (a) View looking south from large whaleback (known locally as Sixpenny Hill),

Ida Creek Station. The Hecate Granite is generally deeply weathered and very poorly exposed in the north, but in places it forms very prominent

outcrops. The large whaleback in the right middle distance is known locally as Bald Rock. The prominent hill (Roma Peak) in the background

consists of leucogranite that intrudes the Hecate Granite. (b) Large whaleback ~650 m southeast of Bald Rock. (c) Pale grey, fine- to medium-

grained, porphyritic hornblende–biotite granodiorite with traces of titanite. Sample from large whaleback ~650 m southeast of Bald Rock. (d) Grey

biotite–hornblende quartz monzodiorite (upper part of photograph) cut by pale pinkish grey biotite–hornblende granodiorite. Bed of the Don

River. (e) Cut slab of the biotite–hornblende quartz monzodiorite at (d). Scale bar ~10 mm. (f) Cut slab of pale pinkish grey biotite–hornblende

granodiorite from the eastern flank of Sixpenny Hill. Scale bar ~10 mm.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)(f)

& Chappell 1997), as well as traces of sodic clinopyroxene and aenigmatite.

Discussion: The Cretaceous granitoids are mainly medium-K to high-K, high-temperature I-types and reconnaissance studies indicate little or no inherited zircon (Allen et al. 1998; Murray 2003; Cross, Bultitude & Purdy 2012). They have juvenile isotopic signatures, indicating old continental crust was not

Granite by Allen, Wooden and Chappell (1997). This group, in contrast to the older Cretaceous intrusions, is dominated by biotite leucogranite. Miarolitic cavities (Figure 7.41), pegmatitic patches and microgranophyric textures occur in most units (e.g. Cape Upstart, Horseshoe Bay and Mount Pring granites), in contrast to units of the older age groups, and mafic enclaves are generally scarce or absent. However, Allen, Wooden and Chappell (1997) reported abundant mafic enclaves in leucogranite of the Halliday Bay Granite at Ball Bay. They also noted that the Cape Upstart Granite was closely associated with gabbro, diorite and rare granodiorite (Figure 7.30).

The Mount Abbot Igneous Complex, ~55 km west-southwest of Bowen, consists mainly of quartz syenite and biotite monzogranite, with minor clinopyroxene–biotite–hornblende quartz monzodiorite and rhyolite–microgranite cone sheets and dykes (Paine, Clarke & Gregory 1974; Allen, Wooden & Chappell 1997). The silicic rocks are the richest in alkalis of the Cretaceous intrusions (Allen, Wooden & Chappell 1997), and the quartz syenite borders on being peralkaline. The quartz syenite contains abundant greenish perthitic K-feldspar, minor quartz and arfvedsonite (Paine, Clarke & Gregory 1974; Allen, Wooden (a)

Figure 7.41 Early Cretaceous (119.5 ± 0.7 Ma) Horseshoe Bay Granite.

The unit consists of leucocratic biotite granite, which is relatively

resistant to erosion and forms prominent outcrops. (a) Horseshoe

Bay, Bowen. The line of hills in the left background (Gloucester Island)

consists of the Early Triassic Gloucester Granite (another leucogranite).

(b) Small miarolitic cavities are common in the unit, which contains

abundant K-feldspar (pale pink grains in photograph—elsewhere they

are white to buff). The leucogranite contains traces of fluorite and is

commonly partly altered (‘iron’ stained).

(b)

Figure 7.42 View of the eastern end of Mount Abbot from The Pinnacle.(a)

Figure 7.43 Early Cretaceous Roma Peak Granite. (a) Roma Peak

viewed from the north—fine-grained leucogranite intruding the Hecate

Granite. The leucogranite has not been isotopically dated using robust

techniques and is therefore only tentatively included in the <125 Ma

group of plutons. (b) The unit consists of fine-grained, leucocratic

biotite monzogranite, with traces of allanite and titanite. Eastern flank

of the ridge on the lower part of the peak.

(b)

Geology ofQueenslandEdited by Peter Jell

Geology of

Queensland—

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