The Arckaringa Basin is an

endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

in Australia. It is in size and is located in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The basin surrounds the town of

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

in northern South Australia. It located in the north of the Gawler Block.

Structure

The basin structure features an elevated central platform. There are both glacigene sediments deposited in the upper Carboniferous and Permian coal measures which are mostly covered by Mesozoic sediments. The Boorthana Formation in the east bears diamictite. The eastern boundary of the basin contain some outcrops of pavements which prove

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

. Infills in the Arckaringa Basin are dominated by

mass flow Mass flow, also known as mass transfer and bulk flow, is the movement of fluids down a pressure or temperature gradient,Moyes & Schulte (2008). Principles of Animal Physiology. Pearson Benjamin Cummings. San Francisco, California particularly in ...

deposits.

Resources

Reports as of February 2013 estimate that the oil-bearing shale of the basin may contain between of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

or petroleum equivalent."$20 Trillion Shale Oil Find Surrounding Coober Pedy 'Can Fuel Australia,'"
''The Advertiser'' (Adelaide, Australia), January 24, 2013, www.adelaidenow.com.au/

Structure

Resources

Footnotes

Further reading