Vertebrate micro-remains with new thelodont and acanthodian taxa from the Devonian Parke Siltstone of the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory, Australia

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 182404, “Unconventional-Resources Exploration and Development in the Northern Territory—Challenges From a Regulator’s Perspective,” by M. Rezazadeh, J. van Hattum, and D. Marozzi, Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy, prepared for the 2016 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, 25–27 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed. The production of conventional onshore oil and gas in Australia’s Northern Territory began in 1983 from the Palm Valley Field (gas) in the Amadeus Basin. Until 2010, the industry relied on conventional oil and gas development technology, but, in recent years, the focus of the industry has shifted to unconventional-resource exploration. This paper outlines the key issues that must be addressed from a regulatory perspective in regard to the development of an onshore unconventional-gas industry in the Northern Territory. Introduction In the Northern Territory, the Department of Mines and Energy (DME) is the agency responsible for regulating the exploration and production of oil and gas and the administration of petroleum tenures and petroleum pipelines onshore and in designated coastal waters up to 3 nautical miles seaward from the Territorial Sea Baseline of the Northern Territory. The DME’s role is to ensure that best-practice regulatory principles are applied for the sustainable and safe exploration and production of natural resources in the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory, hydraulic fracturing has taken place since 1967, mainly as a process to enhance hydrocarbon production from conventional reservoirs with vertical wells. Since 2011, however, hydraulic fracturing has been carried out during exploration for unconventional hydrocarbons. Until now, developmental drilling has taken place only in producing fields in the Amadeus Basin. In the McArthur, Bonaparte, South Georgina, and Pedirka Basins, exploration activities are ongoing. Onshore Northern Territory oil production comes from the Mereenie and Surprise Fields. Until November 2015, onshore gas production in the Northern Territory came from the Mereenie and Palm Valley Fields. In December 2015, the Dingo Field began producing gas. In 2015, 3,703 MMscf of gas was produced from the three fields. Current Northern Territory Onshore Petroleum Regulatory Framework The Northern Territory Petroleum Act is the principal existing legislation regulating oil and gas exploration and production. The DME currently uses the Schedule of Onshore Petroleum Exploration and Production Requirements (referred to here as the Schedule) to regulate petroleum activities; this guideline is similar to that which Western Australia previously used. In 2015, Western Australia replaced the Schedule with its Petroleum Resource Management and Administration Regulations. The Schedule is used to provide requirements to regulate and audit all petroleum activities.

[Extract] The Sandy Inland Mouse Pseudomys hermannsburgensis and the Delicate Mouse P. delicatulus are two closely allied members of the largest genus of Australian rodents (Watts and Aslin 1981). Currently 22 species are recognised in the genus Pseudomys (Cole and Woinarski in press), though the taxonomy of this large group has variably been considered repository for species hard to classify (Watts and Aslin 1981). Taxonomic reassessment of the group is ongoing (Breed and Aplin 1995; Breed 1996; F. Ford, pers. comm, 2002. James Cook University), Pseudomys hermannsburgensis and P. delicatulus occur widely in Australia in sparsely grassed open woodlands, shrublands. Triodia grasslands and sand-plains. with P. hermannsburgensis more typical in treeless environments. Both are small to intenmediate sized (6-18 g. 55-90 mm) burrowing rodents, P. hermannsburgensis being slightly larger (Cole and Woinarski in press), Pseudomys delicatulus is widely distributed in eastern Queensland. and though P. hermannsburgensis is widespread in central Australia, it has only recently been confirmed as occurring in Queensland, despite long-held expectations of its presence (Covacevich and Easton 1974). Specimens collected in 1936 near Longreach and identified as P. minnie f1avescens (P. australis) have been recently reassigned as P. hermannsburgensis (S. Van Dyck. pers, comm, 2001. Queensland Museum) and the species has been captured frequently in long-term studies in southwest Queensland (Murray et al. 1999; Dickman et al. 1999). The two species were considered to be mutually exclusive in distribution, with P. delicatulus noted to have an almost perfect Torresian occurrence (Braithwaite and Covacevich 1995). with P. hermannsburgensis Eyrean by default. They are morphologically similar. and considered difficult to distinguish on external characteristics (Cooper 1993). Some workers have suggested distribution alone as an appropriate surrogate for identification (Covacevich and Easton 1974; Watts and Aslin 1981), Both species derived from a common ancestral Pseudomys form entering from New Guinea between 5-lO million years ago, with the subsequent evolution of P. hermannsburgensis into an inland species during a period of Pleistocene aridity and divergence (Baverstock 1982). Pseudomys delicatulus, P. novachollandiac and P. hermannsburgensis are all closely related (Baverstock et al. 1981). Despite earlier contentions of the exclusive distribution patterns of these two species, evidence exists for sympatry between P. hermannsburgensis and P. delicatulus in Western Australia (How et al. 1991) and the Northern Territory (J. Cole pers. comm. 2002, Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment). In Western Australia, both were trapped together in three sites at the Abydos-Woodstock Reserve, in very low open Eucalyptus and Acacia woodland, with Triodia spp. ground cover and sandy soils (How et al. 1991). In the Northern Territory distributions overlap in a band about 180 km wide. They are sympatric in the Mitchell Grass Downs Bioregion (Astrebla pectinata grasslands), and within 5 km of each other in the Gulf Fall Uplands Bioregion (Eucalytus leucophloia low open woodland with Trioda sp.) and in the Tanami Bioregion (mixed Triodia/Plectrachne spp. grasslands) (J. Cole pers. comm. 2002, Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment). This note reports on the opportunistic capture of P. hermannsburgensis in Queensland, identifying an eastern range extension and possible areas of overlap with P. delicatulus.

Early palaeozoic palaeomagnetism in Australia I. Cambrian results from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia II. Late Early Cambrian results from Kangaroo Island, South Australia III. Middle to early-Late Cambrian results from the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory

The Goldwyer Formation is widely known from the subsurface Canning Basin, Western Australia. Microfossils of acritarchs, chitinozoans, and conodonts, and macrofossil remains, indicate it was deposited in a normal marine environment in late Early to Middle Ordovician times (Late Arenig to Llanvirn). In Exploration Permit areas 143 and 225, the Formation is subdivided into four lithologic members, informally designated Units 1 to 4 in ascending stratigraphic order. Horizons within Unit 4, immediately underlying the prospective reservoir dolostones of the Nita Formation, are organic rich with between 0.5 and 6 per cent total organic carbon. Generative potential of these horizons, determined by Rock-Eval, averages 13 litres of hydrocarbon per tonne. A conservative estimate of the cumulative thickness of source rock with hydrogen index (HI) values of 300-900, using whole core fluorescence intensity, is 10 m. Thus, under optimum maturation conditions there is potential for generation of an estimated 61 × 109 barrels of liquids from Unit 4 within EP 143 and EP 225. These figures are based on an integrated analysis of 44 core samples from four fully cored 'slim holes' and cores from one conventional oil well. Kero-gen types and measures of organic maturity cannot be determined accurately from the standard Rock-Eval HI/Tmax crossplot. The dominant oil-prone kerogen in Unit 4 is Gloeocapsamorpha prisca Zalessky 1917 and palynological and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric studies correlate it with Ordovician kerogens from the Baltic Basin, Michigan and Illinois basins, and Amadeus Basin. Gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric source rock-oil correlations show that oils from the Williston Basin (USA), Canning Basin, and Amadeus Basin are derived predominantly from G. prisca. Palaeogeographic reconstructions suggest that these areas lay within 5° north and south of an Ordovician equator and so provide data for further prediction of possible rich hydrocarbon source areas.

The conodonts documented by Watson form one of the best-known middle Darriwilian faunas from Australia. The present contribution is based on the re-examination of this material. Thirty-one conodont species from the subsurface Goldwyer and Nita formations of the Santalum 1 A drill core section of the Canning Basin, Western Australia are documented and described, including two new species, Belodina watsoni sp. nov. and Scalpellodus percivali sp. nov. The revised fauna is characterized by diagnostic species, namely Histiodella holodentata, Histiodella triangularis, and Eoplacognathus pseudoplanus. It provides compelling evidence to correlate this stratigraphic interval represented by the upper part of the Goldwyer and overlying Nita formations in the Santalum 1 A drill core section to the Histiodella holodentata or Eoplacognathus pseudoplanus biozones of middle Darriwilian age. However, in the Canning Basin, the faunal change signaled by the disappearance of H. holodentata and appearance of E. pseudoplanus reflects shifting of depositional settings from intermediate to outer shelf environments to shallower inner shelf conditions, coinciding with a regional regression event. New taxonomic data also enable more precise regional correlation of middle Darriwilian rocks across the Canning Basin and the Amadeus and Georgina basins in northern-central Australia.Y.Y. Zhen [yong-yi.zhen@planning.nsw.gov.au], Geological Survey of New South Wales, Division of Mining, Exploration and Geoscience, Department of Regional New South Wales, W.B. Clarke Geoscience Centre, 947–953 Londonderry Road, Londonderry NSW, 2753, Australia.

The Devonian of Western and Central Australia consists of sedimentary rocks deposited in intracratonic basins. No igneous activity is known. Devonian rocks are scattered over more than one million square miles and fall into three divisions:5,000 to 10,000 feet of mainly Upper Devonian marine platform limestones and sandstones in the three western basins with laterally equivalent siltstone and shale in the Canning and Bonaparte Gulf Basins;Upper Devonian terrestrial fish-bearing quartz sandstone and associated siltstone and conglomerate in the Amadeus Basin (12,000 feet) and Dulcie (500 feet) and Toko (unknown thickness) synclines; andpoorly known probable Lower and Middle Devonian red-beds and evaporites in the Canning Basin (8,000 feet), barren quartz sandstone in the Amadeus Basin (3,000 feet), and vertebrate-bearing quartz sandstone in the Dulcie (1,500 feet) and Toko (500 feet) synclines.Except fr the Amadeus Basin, all these rocks are flat-lying to moderately tilted, and high-angle faults are the chief structural elements. Metamorphism is wholly absent except adjacent to major faults. Steep dips in the Devonian of the Amadeus Basin are related to folding. The rocks of the first division represent part of a depositional phase which continues into the Lower Carboniferous; divisions (ii) and (iii) are probably the end phases of depositional cycles which started before the Devonian.Interesting features of these rocks are the well-exposed and essentially undeformed carbonate reef complexes of the northern Canning Basin and the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, the thick Frasnian sandstones of the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, and the thick redbed-evaporite sequence of the southern Canning Basin. The reef complexes with their associated basinal facies provide prospects for petroleum production.

The stratigraphic overview presented in this chapter substantially updates and revises the last major review of the Ordovician rocks of Australia and New Zealand published 40 years ago. In the western two-thirds of the present-day continent of Australia, Ordovician sedimentary rocks are restricted to intracratonic basins. The Canning Basin (Western Australia) and Amadeus Basin (central Australia) contain the best known Lower and Middle Ordovician shallow marine successions. The eastern third of the continent, known as the Tasmanides, comprises multiple orogens (i.e. Delamerian, Lachlan, New England, Thomson, Mossman) that formed along the convergent East Gondwana Margin. As a result, volcanic and intrusive rocks are much more common in these orogens than in the intracratonic basins. Their deep-water depositional environments span 31 graptolite biozones. Slope and basinal siliceous sedimentary rocks are constrained by a newly defined set of 12 conodont biozones, complementing the conodont biostratigraphic scheme refined for shallow-water environments from the basal boundary of the Ordovician to the latest Katian. In some places, these conodont biozones are integrated with radiometric ages from tuff interbeds (e.g. Canning Basin). Ordovician graptolitic strata in the Buller Terrane of New Zealand share palaeogeographic links with those in the Bendigo Zone of the western Lachlan Orogen.

Hydroides Gunnerus, 1768 is the largest and one of the economically most important genera of calcareous tubeworms (Serpulidae, Annelida) that includes a number of notorious fouling and bioinvading species. Although the representatives of the genus are typically found in shallow waters of tropical and subtropical areas worldwide, the species composition of the genus in Australia has never been revised. We conducted the first detailed regional taxonomic revision of Hydroides species based both on the historical collections from Australian museums (Australian Museum, Museum Victoria, South Australian Museum, Western Australian Museum, Queensland Museum, and Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory) and newly collected material from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia. In total, 25 species are currently considered valid in Australia, including three new species: H. amri n. sp. from NSW, SA, and Vic (previously referred to as H. cf. brachyacantha), as well as H. glasbyi n. sp. and H. qiui n. sp., both from NT, and two new records of H. furcifera and H. multispinosa for Australia. We have synonymised H. spiratubus with H. albiceps, and H. spiculitubus with H. tambalagamensis in this study. The status of the taxon H. cf. recta remains undecided. An identification key and diagnoses accompanied by original high-quality photographs for all species recorded in Australia are provided. Application of molecular genetics is needed to resolve the status of some problematic species.

A new assemblage containing twenty-two species of trilobites and agnostids is described from the Goyder Formation (Cambrian Series 3) in the Ross River Syncline and Gardiner Ranges of the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory, central Australia. New trilobite taxa described include the genus, Trephina gen. nov., and four new species Adelogonus prichardi sp. nov., Hebeia stewarti sp. nov., Liostracina joyceae sp. nov., and Trephina ranfordi sp. nov. Two agnostid taxa previously known only from Antarctica, Ammagnostus antarcticus Bentley, Jago Cooper, 2009 and Hadragnostus helixensis Jago Cooper, 2005, are also documented. Of the two agnostid species, the latter is the most age diagnostic, previously reported from the Cambrian Series 3 (Guzhangian; late Mindyallan; Glyptagnostus stolidotus Zone) Spurs Formation in Northern Victoria Land. This age for the Goyder Formation assemblage is supported by the co-occurrence of the trilobites Biaverta reineri Öpik, 1967, Blackwelderia repanda Öpik, 1967, Henadoparia integra Öpik, 1967, Monkaspis cf. travesi (Öpik, 1967), Nomadinis pristinus Öpik, 1967, Paraacidaspis? priscilla (Öpik, 1967), and Polycyrtaspis cf. flexuosa Öpik, 1967, also known from the late Mindyallan (G. stolidotus Zone) successions of the neighbouring Georgina Basin (Northern Territory and Queensland). The generic assemblage of the Goyder Formation is also similar to those from the Guzhangian (Mindyallan) of other parts of Australia (New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia), in addition to East Antarctica and North and South China.

Stratigraphic and geochronological reinterpretation of late Proterozoic glaciogenic sequences in the Kimberley Region, Western Australia

The vertebrate faunas in limestone samples of the Early and Middle Devonian ages (Pragian, early Emsian, late Emsian, and latest Eifelian) which were collected from five localities in the Barrandian area, Bohemia, include scales, tesserae, bones, and teeth of acanthodians, placoderms, chondrichthyans, and sarcopterygians. Although the vertebrate remains are not abundant the assemblages are significant in being dominated by particular taxa. Apart from undetermined microremains the genera Cheiracanthoides, Laliacanthus, Nostolepis, and Tassiliodus were determined.

Whither the Aborigine

Allen, H.-J., Grey, K. & Haines, P.W., November 2015. Systematic description of Cryogenian Aralka Formation stromatolites, Amadeus Basin, Australia. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518Recognition of stratigraphically constrained stromatolite assemblages has been useful in Australia-wide correlations of Neoproterozoic successions, and in particular in recent Geological Survey of Western Australia and Northern Territory Geological Survey revisions to Neoproterozoic–Cambrian stratigraphy and correlations in the Amadeus Basin, Australia. The Aralka Formation, a proven hydrocarbon source in the Northern Territory, previously mapped in only the northeastern part of the Amadeus Basin, is now recognized across much of the basin. The discovery of new outcrop and drillhole intersections with stromatolite occurrences has prompted systematic revision of stromatolites in the Aralka Formation and analysis of their distribution. The stromatolites include a new Group and Form, Atilanya fennensis, which has a distinctive pillared microstructure giving rise to a characteristic wrinkled lamina pattern of bioherms. The previously defined Tungussia inna is emended to include observations from new localities; robust bridging, columns that rarely develop for more than a few centimetres without interruption as a result of bridges being so profuse, and a wall that ranges from continuous to patchy. In situ occurrences of Tungussia inna are now known from ten localities in the Amadeus Basin, stratigraphically constrained within the Aralka Formation. Likewise, in situ Atilanya fennensis is, thus far, unique to the Aralka Formation, although similar forms elsewhere in the Centralian Superbasin and Adelaide Rift Complex are yet to be investigated.Heidi-Jane Allen [heidi.allen@dmp.wa.gov.au], Kathleen Grey [kath.grey@dmp.wa.gov.au] and Peter Wyatt Haines [peter.haines@dmp.wa.gov.au], Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain Street, East Perth WA, 6004.

The Ord–Victoria area survey was conducted between 1949 and 1952 though not updated and published until 1970. The survey covered ~232,300 km2 in six physical regions. The survey recognised 50 land systems ranging from ~233 km2 to 41,960 km2 that have between three and eight land units. The report describes the relative area and distribution, landforms, soils and vegetation of 233 units, showing their position in the landscape on block diagrams. The report has seven individual disciplinary chapters: Climate — describes and relates general climatic characteristics to the growth of agricultural plants and pastures, and estimates irrigation water requirements Geology — describes eight periods of geological history and relations between land systems, lithology and stratigraphic units Geomorphology — recognises three major regions, one with six sub-regions, outlines landscape history, and describes 27 mapped geomorphological units Soils — identifies five broad profile types with 37 soil families in 16 great soil groups, shows their relation to land systems and types of pasture land, and discusses agricultural characteristics Vegetation — identifies plant and community types in relation to environments and describes 41 tree shrub and grass layer communities Pasture Lands — outlines key features of the cattle industry and groups land systems to identify and describe 13 classes of pasture lands Agricultural Potential — describes status (in 1970) and incorporates information from the survey and research to assess potential for dryland and irrigated agriculture Map 1 — Land Systems arranged in Pasture Lands of the Ord–Victoria area, Western Australia and Northern Territory, Australia by GA Stewart, RA Perry, SJ Paterson, JR Sleeman, and DM Traves. Scale 1:1,000,000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 28, 1970. Map 2 — Geomorphology of the Ord–Victoria area, Western Australia and Northern Territory, Australia by SJ Paterson. Scale 1:1,000,000. Inset with Geology by DM Traves, PR Dunn and PJ Jones. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 28, 1970. Map 3 — Geological map of the Ord–Victoria Region, Northern Territory and Western Australia by DM Traves based on traverses and air photo interpretation carried out in conjunction with the Land Research and Regional Survey Sction CSIRO in 1949 and 1952. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 28, 1970. Map 4 — Coastline strip map of the Ord–Victoria Region, Northern Territory and Western Australia, illustrating joint control of coastline configuration. Geomorphology by SJ Paterson, CSIRO, 1954. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 28, 1970. Editor's Note: Since the survey, major developments have occurred. The Ord irrigation scheme commenced in 1953 with the current dam, forming Lake Argyle, completed in 1972. The irrigated area, ~12,500 ha in 2011, is projected to reach 45,000 ha. The Argyle diamond resource was discovered in 1979 and the current mine commenced production in 1985. Tourism is also a major industry.

Proterozoic to Devonian age strata with some potential for petroleum accumulations are known from sedimentary basins covering {approximately}1,870,000 km{sup 2} onshore Australia. Portions of these very old basins have not sustained the deleterious effects of deep burial. Explorers with vision continue to target these very old rocks in the MacArthur/South Nicholson, Amadeus, Canning, Adavale, and Bonaparte basins. Approximately 429,000 km{sup 2} of these basins remain under license for petroleum exploration. The oldest known oil in Australia is reservoired within and sourced from the mid-Proterozoic in the McArthur basin. The Early Ordovician Pacoota Sandstone of the Amadeus basin is the oldest formation commercially exploited for oil and gas in Australia. Significant discoveries awaiting development include Dingo, Pictor, and Gilmore. The Tern gas field trap in the Bonaparte basin is related to a salt diapir; the salt probably being Silurian-Devonian in age. Salt probably of the same age has formed diapirs in the Canning basin, too. Cambrian and Proterozoic salt-bearing strata are likewise the cause and core of some anticlinal and diapiric structures in the Amadeus basin. Minor oil shows have been reported from the Cambrian of the Officer basin. The Warburton, Pedirka, Arrowie, Ord, Wiso, Georgina, and Ngalia basins contain Proterozoicmore » and early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks but are ascribed only limited petroleum prospectivity at this time.« less