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Bowen Basin
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Per Michaelsen – 1st expert on this subject based on the ideXlab platform
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mass extinction of peat forming plants and the effect on fluvial styles across the permian triassic boundary northern Bowen Basin australia
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 2002Co-Authors: Per MichaelsenAbstract:Abstract The most spectacular extinction event in Earth’s history occurred across the Permian–Triassic boundary. In the northern Bowen Basin, a major coal-bearing sedimentary Basin in eastern Australia, a long-lived (c. 9 Myr), cold climate, peat mire ecosystem collapsed at the Permian–Triassic boundary when the vast majority (c. 95%) of peat-producing plants became extinct. The environmental change marked by the Permian–Triassic boundary is expressed as an abrupt and sharp change in sedimentary regime at the contact between the Rangal Coal Measures and the Sagittarius Sandstone. The stratigraphic record shows no diminution in the thickness, lateral extent or spatial distribution of coal seams prior to the boundary event. The abrupt ecological shift at the Permian–Triassic boundary was coincident with and interrelated to a change in landscape attributes and fluvial style. The boundary shift is considered to reflect a short-period radical atmospheric change accompanied by an abrupt change in plant ecosystems. However, palynological data indicate that it was preceded by a more gradual gross taxonomic progression in the floral succession. The boundary shift is unlikely to reflect change in the tectonic setting of the northern Bowen Basin because the detrital character of clastic sediment supply shows no provenance change within the boundary sequence. The Late Permian fluvial style is characterised by large-scale (up to 1 km wide), sandstone-dominated, low sinuosity, trunk river channel deposits. The trunk river channels were flanked by extensive levee/composite crevasse–splay systems. Channel tracts were relatively stationary in position over enduring periods, and developed stacked sediment accumulations up to 30 m thick. The constrained character of the Late Permian trunk river systems was most likely due to progressive compaction of thick tracts of peat substrate, and the stabilising effect of vegetation adjacent to the channel complex. The well-developed crevasse splays, coupled with the low sinuosity style of the fluvial channels, might suggest a perennial fluvial system, characterised by short discharge periods, as common in high-latitude settings. The fluvial architecture of the Sagittarius Sandstone, the basal formation of the Lower Triassic Rewan Group, is characterised by sheet-like elements, suggestive of broad, shallow channels in a deforested braid-plain setting. The channel deposits are considered to represent highly mobile sandy systems, dominated by a flashy runoff regime. The mass extinction of plants in the northern Bowen Basin at the Permian–Triassic boundary thus had a significant impact on the Early Triassic landscape and fluvial architecture.
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Mass extinction of peat-forming plants and the effect on fluvial styles across the Permian–Triassic boundary, northern Bowen Basin, Australia
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 2002Co-Authors: Per MichaelsenAbstract:The most spectacular extinction event in Earth’s history occurred across the Permian-Triassic boundary. In the northern Bowen Basin, a major coal-bearing sedimentary Basin in eastern Australia, a long-lived (c. 9 Myr), cold climate, peat mire ecosystem collapsed at the Permian-Triassic boundary when the vast majority (c. 95%) of peat-producing plants became extinct. The environmental change marked by the Permian-Triassic boundary is expressed as an abrupt and sharp change in sedimentary regime at the contact between the Rangal Coal Measures and the Sagittarius Sandstone. The stratigraphic record shows no diminution in the thickness, lateral extent or spatial distribution of coal seams prior to the boundary event. The abrupt ecological shift at the Permian-Triassic boundary was coincident with and interrelated to a change in landscape attributes and fluvial style. The boundary shift is considered to reflect a short-period radical atmospheric change accompanied by an abrupt change in plant ecosystems. However, palynological data indicate that it was preceded by a more gradual gross taxonomic progression in the floral succession. The boundary shift is unlikely to reflect change in the tectonic setting of the northern Bowen Basin because the detrital character of clastic sediment supply shows no provenance change within the boundary sequence. The Late Permian fluvial style is characterised by large-scale (up to 1 km wide), sandstone-dominated, low sinuosity, trunk river channel deposits. The trunk river channels were flanked by extensive levee/composite crevasse-splay systems. Channel tracts were relatively stationary in position over enduring periods, and developed stacked sediment accumulations up to 30 m thick. The constrained character of the Late Permian trunk river systems was most likely due to progressive compaction of thick tracts of peat substrate, and the stabilising effect of vegetation adjacent to the channel complex. The well-developed crevasse splays, coupled with the low sinuosity style of the fluvial channels, might suggest a perennial fluvial system, characterised by short discharge periods, as common in high-latitude settings. The fluvial architecture of the Sagittarius Sandstone, the basal formation of the Lower Triassic Rewan Group, is characterised by sheet-like elements, suggestive of broad, shallow channels in a deforested braid-plain setting. The channel deposits are considered to represent highly mobile sandy systems, dominated by a flashy runoff regime. The mass extinction of plants in the northern Bowen Basin at the Permian-Triassic boundary thus had a significant impact on the Early Triassic landscape and fluvial architecture
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age and significance of the platypus tuff bed a regional reference horizon in the upper permian moranbah coal measures north Bowen Basin
Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2001Co-Authors: Per Michaelsen, Peter J. Crosdale, R A Henderson, Christopher FanningAbstract:The Platypus Tuff Bed in the Permian Moranbah Coal Measures provides a Basin-wide marker horizon traceable for over 300 km along strike. The bed is a tephra event unit, the product of a large-scale volcanic eruptive episode involving a pyroclastic volume > 10 km^3. The relatively even thickness (∼1-1.5 m) of the tuff across the entire northern Bowen Basin (∼10 000 km^2) implies a distant source. The tuff is ash-rich and its original geochemistry has been compromised by diagenetic alteration. Crystal content (10-15%) is dominated by quartz, suggesting a rhyolitic association. SHRIMP U-Pb analysis of zircons indicates an age of 258.9 ± 2.7 Ma for the Platypus Tuff Bed, confirming the Late Permian age that has generally been assigned to the Blackwater Group. The age framework now apparent for the coal-bearing Blackwater Group suggests an average depositional rate ranging from ∼133 m/10^6 years for its eastern depocentre in the northern Bowen Basin to ∼70 m/10^6 years in more marginal settings to the west.
J S Esterle – 2nd expert on this subject based on the ideXlab platform
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the application of natural landform analogy and geology based spoil classification to improve surface stability of elevated spoil landforms in the Bowen Basin australia a review
Land Degradation & Development, 2018Co-Authors: Bevan Emmerton, J S Esterle, Peter D. Erskine, Jon Burgess, Thomas BaumgartlAbstract:Large-scale open cut mining has occurred within the Bowen Basin for over 4 decades, transitioning from shallow mining depths and limited spoil elevation to increased mining depths, prestripping and increasingly elevated mesa-like landforms. As a result of this evolution, the stabilisation of modern constructed landforms is no longer assured through the establishment of vegetation alone. The selection of resilient fragmental spoil types for the construction of final landform surfaces, and as cladding for stabilising steep erosive batters, is a practical methodology that has the potential to significantly improve rehabilitation outcomes, by increasing surface rock cover, roughness, and infiltration and reducing erodibility. An understanding of the properties and behaviour of individual spoil materials disturbed during mining is required. Relevant information from published literature on the geological origins, lithology, and weathering characteristics of individual strata within the Bowen Basin Coal Measures (and younger overlying weathered strata) has been reviewed, related to natural landforms and applied to the surface stability of major strata types when disturbed by mining. A spoil classification derived from geological characteristics and weathering behaviour of identifiable lithologic components has been reviewed and refined, demonstrating the application of use of geological information. This classification system is a tool for the allocation of spoil types and use of categories that have application in premine feasibility investigations, landform design, and material selection and placement. The logic of classifying materials based on their stability in the natural landscape has wider relevance to other mining areas where elevated landforms of sedimentary material are constructed.
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the development of a triassic fold thrust belt in a synclinal depositional system Bowen Basin eastern australia
Tectonics, 2017Co-Authors: A. Babaahmadi, J S Esterle, Renate Sliwa, G RosenbaumAbstract:A synclinal depositional system in eastern Australia (Taroom Trough, Bowen Basin) was affected by folds and thrusts, but the structural style associated with this deformation is not fully understood. Using gridded aeromagnetic data and 2D seismic reflection data, we conducted a structural analysis that unravels the geometry and kinematics of major thrust faults in the eastern-central part of the Taroom Trough. Major structures are the east-dipping Cockatoo, Miles and Taroom faults, and west-dipping Burunga and Glebe faults. Our results show that west-dipping thrusts have a listric geometry that produced gentle hanging-wall anticlines. A north-striking gentle symmetric syncline and anticline pair is also observed to the west of the Burunga Fault. These observations indicate that the deformation in the central Taroom Trough was controlled by decollements in the basement rocks. The decollements and resultant structures were likely developed in response to mild contraction of the synclinal depositional system during the last phase of the Permian-Triassic Hunter-Bowen Orogeny (HBO). The last phase of the HBO also resulted in the reactivation of pre-existing east-dipping Cockatoo and Miles faults. The bulk longitudinal strain, however, in the eastern-central Bowen Basin was low (~2.8% shortening), with the deformation restricted to a relatively narrow zone. In contrast, deformation in the northern Bowen Basin was distributed in a wider fold-thrust belt that accommodated a higher amount of strain. This change in the pattern of deformation along the eastern part of the Bowen Basin could possibly be explained by along-strike variations in the rates of trench advance.
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age of the yarrabee and accessory tuffs implications for the upper permian sediment accumulation rates across the Bowen Basin
Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2016Co-Authors: S A Ayaz, M Martin, J S Esterle, Yuri Amelin, Robert S. NicollAbstract:The Yarrabee Tuff is a stratigraphically significant marker across the Bowen Basin separating the Fort Cooper–Burngrove–Fair Hill formations from the overlying Rangal and equivalent coal measures. At least three to four persistent tuffs (referred here as accessary tuffs) beneath the Yarrabee Tuff were recognised in the Fort Cooper Coal Measures as suitable for regional stratigraphic correlations. In this study, we determined the ages of the Yarrabee and accessary tuffs across different morphotectonic zones of the Basin through high-precision U–Pb dating of zircon with the CA-IDTIMS technique. The age of the Yarrabee Tuff is found to be 252.69 ± 0.16 Ma in the Duckworth 11 well, 253.07 ± 0.22 Ma in the Crocker Gully 2 well and <252.58 ± 0.23 Ma in the Peat 1 well. The age range of the Yarrabee Tuff coincides with the previously published date of the Kaloola Tuff Member in Meeleebee 5 suggesting that the tuffs are stratigraphically equivalent. The age range for the accessory tuff 1 is 253.12 ± 0.12 Ma to 252.85 ± 0.16 Ma, 253.45 ± 0.08 Ma for accessory tuff 2 and 253.77 ± 0.17 Ma to 253.57± 0.18 Ma for accessory tuff 3, placing them in the upper Changhsingian Stage. The age of the accessory tuff 6 (less laterally consistent in the Basin) from the Fair Hill Formation is 254.03 ± 0.03 Ma, placing it in the lower Changhsingian Stage. The age-constrained intervals allow the estimation of sedimentation rates using decompacted coal and clastic sediment thickness. In the Taroom Trough, the temporal variation in sedimentation rates is found to be 902 m/Ma in the Fair Hill Formation decreasing to 234.5 m/Ma in the overlying Burngrove Formation, reflecting a decrease in accommodation or sediment supply upwards in the sequence. Across the Basin, the sedimentation rates for the Burngrove Formation are consistently higher in the Taroom Trough ranging between 234.5 and 224.5 m/Ma and lower rates of 112 m/Ma in the Roma Shelf. This regional variation reflects areas of high sedimentation rates that are high accommodation sites recognised by split coal seams and increased interburden. Conversely, low sedimentation rates reflect low accommodation sites, such as the Roma Shelf and the Burunga Anticline that are characterised by coalesced coal seams. The results help to understand stratal relationships across variable accommodation sites, Basin-fill history of the Basin including extent of sediment supply and paleotopographic controls during the evolution of the Bowen Basin. We also discuss criteria for interpreting the results of CA-IDTIMS U–Pb dating and consider the possible geological uncertainties related to either the primary magmatic processes or secondary reworking of tuffs at the site of deposition.
S D Golding – 3rd expert on this subject based on the ideXlab platform
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biogenic methane production from Bowen Basin coal waste materials
International Journal of Coal Geology, 2017Co-Authors: Hang Zheng, Tianyu Chen, Victor Rudolph, S D GoldingAbstract:Abstract A microbial consortium derived from sewage sludge from the treatment of wastewater (Luggage Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, Brisbane, Australia) has been applied to Jameson Cell (J-cell) rejects (R o,max = 0.96 ± 0.008) of a Bowen Basin coal preparation plant to assess the potential for biogenic methane production. A maximum methane yield of 26.20 μmol/g J-cell rejects (0.64 m 3 CH 4 /ton) was observed, suggesting biogenic methane production from coal waste materials is a feasible process if yields can be improved. Molecular analysis performed on the microbial consortium showed similar microbial community compositions to those observed in natural coal bed environments. The study demonstrates that Australian coal waste materials can be used as a viable feedstock for biogenic methane production using microorganisms that are not native within the coal beds.
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compositional variation and palaeoenvironment of the volcanolithic fort cooper coal measures Bowen Basin australia
International Journal of Coal Geology, 2016Co-Authors: S A Ayaz, Sandra Rodrigues, S D Golding, J S EsterleAbstract:Abstract An integrated analysis of megascopic lithotype, microscopic maceral and mineral composition, stable carbon isotope and interburden sedimentology from a single well was used to interpret the response of the Late Permian Fort Cooper Coal Measures (FCCM) to regional and global environmental influences. The FCCM are differentiated from underlying, relatively high vitrinite Moranbah Coal Measures, and overlying higher inertinite Rangal Coal Measures in the Bowen Basin by their intercalation with abundant tuff and siliciclastic partings and interbeds. Besides this, there is little described about the variation in the organic composition of the FCCM and its causes. The FCCM can be subdivided into a lower aggradational Fair Hill Formation, transgressed by the shallow marine-derived Black Alley Shale that interfinger with/is overlain by the progradational Middle Main Seams and Burngrove Formation coal measures. The coals are dominantly dull with minor bright bands that are more abundant in the Burngrove Formation representing a change in plant composition. The maceral analysis shows that the coals in the Fair Hill Formation and Middle Main Seams are vitrinite-rich (80–90% mmf) albeit with high mineral matter suggesting the formation of precursory peat under rising water levels and with high sediment (tuff) influx and preservation. The coals in the Burngrove Formation have an increased inertinite content (30% mmf) but are also high in mineral matter suggesting a shift to increased decomposition arising from a fluctuating water table, possibly increased aridity and/or microbial activity. Tuffs occur throughout, and although their frequency is higher in the lower Fair Hill Formation, the preservation of thicker tuffs in the upper Burngrove Formation indicates increased intensity of volcanism that could have modified the environment. Variation in carbon isotope compositions show a parabolic trend, from around − 24.1‰ in the Fair Hill Formation to more variable values in the Middle Main Seams with an overall 13 C-enrichment upwards in the Burngrove Formation, prior to the δ 13 C values becoming negative (depleted between − 1 to − 4% from the average − 24.1‰) in the top seams and into the overlying Rangal Coal Measures. The 13 C-depletion trend in the upper part of the section is unexpected in view of corresponding increase in inertinite content of the coals indicating that the δ 13 C values/plant composition and inertinite content are decoupled, unless the inertinite origin is from intense microbial decay. Similar stable carbon isotope depletion trends have been observed elsewhere in an equivalent stratigraphic interval of the Bowen Basin suggesting that the carbon isotope values are responding to global conditions that cause negative excursions in carbon isotopes before the P-T boundary. Overall, the Basin was continuously subsiding and peats accumulated with constant interruptions from excessive sedimentation and volcanic eruptions. The low proportion of visible thick bright bands coupled with high telovitrinite (mmf) content suggests a marsh to fen environment, with an open canopy and ponding able to preserve volcanic ash falls.
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carbon dioxide rich coals of the oaky creek area central Bowen Basin a natural analogue for carbon sequestration in coal systems
Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2013Co-Authors: S D Golding, I T Uysal, K A Baublys, Chris Boreham, Robert Bolhar, G K W Dawson, J S EsterleAbstract:High-CO2-containing coal seams in the Oaky Creek area of the Bowen Basin, eastern Australia provide natural analogues of the processes likely to occur as a result of CO2 injection and storage in coal systems. We conducted mineralogical, stable and radiogenic isotope and major element analyses of mudstones and sandstones adjacent to the coal seams and stable isotope and compositional studies of coal seam gas desorbed from the coals to establish the impact of the high CO2 levels and the mechanisms that keep the CO2 naturally sequestered. Siderite is the earliest carbonate phase present and occurs with kaolinite in mudstones and sandstones. It is interpreted to have formed under low-temperature, reducing conditions where methanogenesis has produced residual 13C-enriched CO2. Enhanced kaolinite concentrations adjacent to a low-CO2-containing coal seam reflect interaction with acidic fluids produced during the coalification of organic matter. Stable isotope data for carbonates and Rb–Sr isochron ages for illit…