Publication Name: Second South-Eastern Australia Oil Exploration Symposium - Technical Papers
Authors: P.E. Williamson and C.J. Pigram
Date Published: December 1986
Number of Pages: 29
Reference Type: Book Section
Abstract:
Geohistory analysis of 16 wells from the Bass Basin was carried out as part of BMR's Bass Strait Project.This study was undertaken to investigate the thermal and subsidence history of the basin in relation to its
depositional history, structural formation and maturation history.
Results indicate that rates of subsidence and their driving mechanisms vary throughout the basin. Depocentre
areas experienced high initial rates of subsidence and the driving mechanism is predominantly sediment loading. Basement highs and the basin margins have low initial subsidence rates that are largely thermally driven. In the later stages of their subsidence sediment loading can also become a significant factor.
The study predicts that the Upper Cretaceous Eastern View Coal Measures have been mature since Late Eocene times (40 Ma) and that three main potential sourcing depocentres exist. It also shows that these sediments attained maturity after structure formation.
The results of this study and the lack of exploration success at shallow levels argue against well-developed vertical migration and suggest that the best potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons in the Bass Basin is within the mature levels of the Eastern View Coal Measures.