Interplay of tectonism and eustasy during the Early Permian icehouse: Southern Sydney Basin, southeast Australia

Abstract

This investigation presents an outcrop‐based integrated study of sedimentological analysis and sequence stratigraphy applied to the Lower Permian sedimentary succession in the southern Sydney Basin, Australia. This succession accumulated in several depositional environments and sub‐environments that range from non‐marine (fluvial) to marine (outer shelf), representing the fill of a sedimentary basin that resembles a fault‐bounded, rift basin. The stratigraphic analysis indicates a deepening‐upward trend, and the sequence stratigraphic approach has established that these sediments can be attributed to the lowstand, transgressive, and highstand systems tracts. Lowstand sediments can be defined by fluvial facies that are located between the subaerial unconformity and the maximum regressive surface. Transgressive facies correspond to estuarine, upper and lower shoreface, and inner and outer shelf depositional environments and are located between the maximum regressive and the maximum flooding surfaces. Highstand bottomset sediments are accumulated above the maximum flooding surface and are represented by outer shelf facies. The stratigraphic architecture indicates the development of an almost complete depositional sequence, mainly developed under the control of tectonically induced subsidence, but also influenced by the high sedimentation rates and the high gradient of the inherited topography. Eustatic sea‐level fluctuations were of minor importance during the deposition of the examined sediments.

Outcrop analysis and facies model of an Upper Permian tidally influenced fluvio-deltaic system: Northern Sydney Basin, SE Australia

“…Sequence stratigraphy is a powerful tool that aids in understanding the evolution of sedimentary basins (Cantalamessa et al 2007;Rodríguez-Tovar et al 2007;Catuneanu et al 2009Catuneanu et al , 2011Di Celma et al 2010;Zecchin et al 2011;Eriksson et al 2013;Maravelis et al 2018) and also has valuable implications for the industry (De Gasperi & Catuneanu, 2014;Zecchin & Catuneanu, 2015). The interpretation of systems tracts relies on the observation of stratal stacking patterns, the nature of the bounding surfaces and the relationship with the adjacent stratigraphic units (Catuneanu, 2017).…”

Provenance and tectonic setting of the Early Permian sedimentary succession in the southern edge of the Sydney Basin, eastern Australia

“…Comparable litho-stratigraphy of the southern edge of the Sydney Basin, as proposed by Fielding et al (2006) and Maravelis et al (2018Maravelis et al ( ) et al, 2006. The tephra that occurs in the overlying Wandrawandian siltstone suggests that subduction related calc-alkaline continental arc volcanism existed along the margin of the New England orogen (Herbert & Helby, 1980).…”

“…These sediments represent an outer shelf depositional environment (Thomas, Fielding, & Frank, 2007) that was developed during a period of high relative sea level and increased subsidence (Eyles et al, 1998). The overlying Nowra Sandstone is regarded as shoreface (Eyles et al, 1998) and fluvial (Le Roux & F I G U R E 3 Geological map of the southern Sydney Basin depicting the up-sequence evolution during the Early to Middle-Permian (modified from Eyles et al, 1998;Fielding et al, 2006;Maravelis et al, 2018;Tye et al, 1996). The black dots correspond to the studied locations for geochemical analysis and the red dots correspond to the studied locations for petrographic analysis.…”

“…AF, Avoca Fault; GF, Governor Fault; GFZ, Gilmore Fault Zone; HF, Heathcote Fault Zone (modified from Glen, 2013) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Fielding, & Jones, 1996). Recently, it has been proposed that the uppermost parts of the Pebbley Beach Formation belong to a different formation (Mount Agony Formation,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), based on sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic analysis (see Maravelis, Catuneanu, Nordsvan, Landenberger, &Zelilidis, 2018 andRygel et al, 2008 for extensive discussions). Detailed sedimentological, stratigraphic, and petrographic investigations have been carried out by Eyles et al (1998); Fielding et al (2006); Gostin and Herbert (1973); Maravelis et al (2018); Rygel et al (2008); and Tye et al (1996).…”

3D seismic model of faulting systems of a Jurassic - Cretaceous sedimentary packages in Merjan_West Kifl Oil fields - Central Iraq

“…An understanding of the relation between local deformation and deposition helps to infer the positions of subtle pinch-outs that may provide hydrocarbon traps and can yield a detailed history of structural development (Shaw et al., 2004). The accommodation space created by faulting and fault-related topography is the primary control on the large-scale sedimentary systems within rift basins (Martins-Neto and Catuneanu, 2010; Maravelis et al., 2018). This topic has been addressed in many papers (Leeder, 1995; Contreras et al., 1997; Gawthorpe and Leeder, 2008).…”