Publication Name: The Sedimentary Basins of WA
Authors: M.F. Killick and P.H. Robinson
Publication Volume: 1
Date Published: July 1994
Number of Pages: 26
Reference Type: Book Section
Abstract:
Recent drilling has provided access to previously unknown Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous sandstones in the North Bonaparte Basin, enabling refinement of existing depositional and diagenetic models. These sandstones represent a range of depositional settings from fluviatile channels to basin floor fans that have been subjected to a variety of burial and thermal histories. Despite these differences, there are gross similarities in their diagenetic histories.Reservoir quality is primarily controlled by the depositional setting of the sandstones. Clean blocky sands of the Plover Formation have consistently higher porosities and permeabilities than the shallower and more argillaceous Sandpiper sands. Major diagenetic events were: (1) widespread, but patchy precipitation of carbonate cements in the Cretaceous; and (2) quartz cementation which was initiated before carbonate precipitation, but probably peaked in activity in the mid Tertiary.
Evidence suggests that some hydrocarbon migration occurred prior to a late phase of kaolinite precipitation, and that favourable reservoir quality is preserved in sands where hydrocarbons have been retained.