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Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 108, No. 7 (July 2024), P. 1291-1326.

Copyright ©2024. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/01242423035

Structural inheritance controls crustal-scale extensional fault-related folding in the Exmouth and Dampier Sub-basins, North West Shelf, Australia

Hongdan Deng,1 Ken McClay,2 Hanlin Chen,3 Emma Finch,4 Dariusz Jablonski,5 and Sukonmeth Jitmahantakul6

1School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Structural Research Centre of Oil & Gas Bearing Basin of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, China; Fault Dynamics Research Group, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom; [email protected]
2Fault Dynamics Research Group, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom; Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; [email protected]
3School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Structural Research Centre of Oil & Gas Bearing Basin of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, China; [email protected]
4School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; [email protected]
5Skye Energy, Cottesloe, Western Australia, Australia; [email protected]
6Basin Analysis and Structural Evolution Research Unit, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The origin of the Exmouth and Dampier Sub-basins in the inner rift system of the North West Shelf, Australia, remain poorly understood, despite intensive industrial exploration for more than 50 yr. By integrating deep two-dimensional and basinwide three-dimensional seismic reflection data, it is concluded that the Exmouth and Dampier Sub-basins are primarily controlled by crustal-scale faults that separate different crustal entities of the Pilbara craton/Capricorn orogen and the Exmouth Plateau. These faults were first formed during late Paleozoic rifting and were reactivated during Late Triassic to Late Jurassic rifting. The reactivation of these faults was accommodated by monocline deformation in the stratigraphic cover due to the presence of thick (∼7 km), mechanically weak layers of upper Paleozoic and Lower to Middle Triassic units. The monocline is connected by a ramp syncline that constitutes the main part of the depocenters of the Exmouth and Dampier Sub-basins. It was partially breached by the Rankin fault, a northeast-trending, right-stepping fault system, during Callovian–Oxfordian extension and controlled the development of crestal-collapse grabens in the hanging wall. This study reveals crustal-scale, extensional fault-related folds and their complexity in secondary structures in unprecedented detail. It provides a guideline for understanding extensional fault-related folding in three dimensions and deep petroleum system exploration in other extensional basins worldwide.

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