The phanerozoic sedimentary basins of Australia and their tectonic implications

The stratigraphy, structure and tectonics of Australia's Phanerozoic sedimentary basins are described briefly in terms of three settings: younger internal basins, older internal basins and peripheral basins.The younger internal basins developed successively following part by part cratonization of the Palaeozoic Tasman Fold Belt System. Most of the older internal basins probably had late Proterozoic beginnings and all have Precambrian cratonic basements. The peripheral basins occur around the present continental margins and in New Guinea; the oldest of them may be Devonian.The peripheral basins are the simplest to explain in terms of plate tectonics: some can be related to Australia breaking away from Gondwanaland, others to plate convergence in the east and in New Guinea. An attempt is made to fit the internal basins into a platetectonic geological history.