The Georgina Basin is a large (c. 330,000 km²) intracratonic

sedimentary basin Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subsidence ...

in central and northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, lying mostly within the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and partly within

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

.Smith, KG (1972). "Stratigraphy of the Georgina Basin." Bureau of Mineral Resources, Australia, Bulletin 111. It is named after the

Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georgin ...

which drains part of the basin. Deposition of locally up to c. 4 km of marine and non-marine

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s took place from the

Neoproterozoic The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. It is the last era of the Precambrian Supereon and the Proterozoic Eon; it is subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran periods. It is ...

to the late

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

(c. 850-350 Ma). Along with other nearby sedimentary basins of similar age (

Amadeus Basin The Amadeus Basin is a large (~170,000 km2) intracratonic sedimentary basin in central Australia, lying mostly within the southern Northern Territory, but extending into the state of Western Australia. Origins The Amadeus Basin is named ...

Officer Basin The Officer Basin is an intracratonic sedimentary basin that covers roughly 320,000 km2 along the border between southern and western Australia. Exploration for hydrocarbons in this basin has been sparse, but the geology has been examined f ...

), the Georgina Basin is believed to have once been part of the hypothetical

Centralian Superbasin The Centralian Superbasin is a large intracratonic sedimentary basin which occupied a large area of central, southern and western Australia during much of the Neoproterozoic Era (~830–540 Ma). This superbasin was disrupted by two periods of u ...

, that was fragmented during episodes of tectonic activity.

References

External links

Georgina Basin page at Northern Territory Geological Survey
*http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Minerals_Energy/Geoscience/Content/File/Pubs/Record/NTGSRec2002-004.zip Georgina Basin SEEBASE Project report (April - May 2002) at Northern Territory Geological Survey (zip) Sedimentary basins of Australia Geology of the Northern Territory Geology of Queensland Proterozoic geology Paleozoic geology North West Queensland Cambrian paleontological sites Paleozoic paleontological sites of Australia {{Australia-geology-stub

See also

References

External links