Publication Name: Eastern Australian Basins Symposium III (EABS 2008)
Authors: C. Heine and R. D. Müller
Date Published: September 2008
Number of Pages: 16
Abstract:
We have used a combination of openly available regional and global crustal and lithosphere datasets to create a framework for intracontinental basin evaluation. In this paper, we focus on the intracontinental Murray and Eromanga basins in eastern Australia. We assess the total sediment thickness versus crustal thinning observed underneath a given basin to evaluate alternative total tectonic subsidence estimates, and alternative basin formation mechanisms. This is of particular interest for large intracontinental basins, which frequently display a history of slow subsidence over long time intervals, even though they are located far away from active plate boundaries. These basins do not show signs of extensive brittle deformation, and continue subsiding long after initial thermal disturbances have decayed. Conventional basin models fail to explain the unexpected excess accumulation of sediments in these basins. Hence, this phenomenon is commonly referred to as ‘anomalous tectonic subsidence’.