Deformation and possible origins of the Cooma Complex,southeastern Lachlan Fold Belt,New South Wales

The western half of the Cooma Complex, New South Wales, consists of three thrust‐bound blocks that contain the same structural fabrics, but with different orientations and intensities, owing largely to heterogeneous strain late in the deformation history. Correlation of these fabrics with those found regionally outside the complex shows that a well‐developed, gently dipping crenulation cleavage (S₄) apparently has no regional counterpart. This cleavage may have formed by vertical shortening that was restricted to the complex and its development may have been assisted by the higher temperatures there. The Cooma Complex is one of five metamorphic complexes in what is known as the Eastern Metamorphic Belt, which stretches several hundred kilometres through the southeastern Lachlan Fold Belt. The complexes may have formed as local hot spots, possibly related to underplating of mafic magma or intrusion of hot tonalites at or near the base of the Ordovician metasediments (or both). Whether or not these complexes are exhumed portions of an extensive layer in the mid‐crust of the fold belt can be tested by evaluating Late Ordovician/Early Silurian thermal gradients in the ubiquitous Ordovician metasediments.     

Stratigraphy and structural summary of the Cooma Metamorphic Complex

A technique for obtaining age estimates for regolith profiles in Australia, based on the oxygen‐isotope composition of the clay mineral assemblage in a profile, is applied to a variety of regolith profiles and kaolinitic sediments from across Australia. Excluding monsoonal regions in the north of the continent, it is possible to distinguish profiles formed in the Late Mesozoic‐Early Tertiary (δ¹⁸O values between +15 and +17.5%δō) from profiles formed in post‐mid‐Tertiary times (>+17.5%ō). In addition it is concluded that there remain widespread remnants of a deep‐weathered regolith which developed in pre‐Late Mesozoic (Early Cretaceous or Jurassic?) times when Australia was at high latitude. The low δ¹⁸O values associated with clays formed in pre‐Late Mesozoic times (+10 to +15%o) suggest that deep weathering took place in a cool to cold and presumably humid climate, contrary to the traditional belief that deep weathering requires tropical to subtropical temperatures. The formation of deep‐weathered profiles at high latitude in a comparatively cold climate may be linked in part to higher past atmospheric CO₂ levels.     

Garnet Compositions at Broken Hill, New South Wales, as Indicators of Metamorphic Processes

Electron microprobe analyses of garnets in the finely bedded‘banded iron formations’ (BIF) of the Willyama Complexat Broken Hill reveal marked compositional changes from onegarnet to the next on a scale of 1–2 mm. Further, systematicanalytical traverses across bedding and along bedding show thecompositions of the garnets to change markedly from one finebed to the next, but to remain extremely uniform within individualbeds. In view of the minuteness of the domains involved it appearsevident that compositional variation cannot be attributed tovariations in metamorphic pressures, temperatures or oxygenfugacities. Neither can they be attributed to variation in garnet-matrixpartition functions, as most of the garnets occur in one simplematrix—quartz. It is concluded that in spite of the high (sillimanite) gradeof the relevant metamorphism, any equilibration of garnet compositions,and hence any associated inter-grain metamorphic diffusion,has been restricted to a scale of less than 1 mm; that garnetcompositions here reflect original rock composition on an ultra-finescale, and have no connotations concerning metamorphic grade;that, hence, the garnets must derive from a single precursormaterial, earlier suggested to be a manganiferous chamositicseptechlorite; and that the between-bed variation: within-beduniformity of garnet composition reflects an original patternof chemical sedimentation—a pattern preserved with theutmost delicacy through a period of 1800 x 10⁶ years and a metamorphicepisode of sillimanite grade.     

南米仓山变质岩变质时代及地质意义

通过对汪家坪岩组的两件黑云斜长变粒岩变质岩样品进行LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年代学研究,获得的⁽²⁰⁶⁾Pb/(206)Pb/⁽²³⁸⁾U年龄介于843.3(238)U年龄介于843.3⁹04.9Ma之间,最古老的年龄达1138.46±16.7Ma,表示南米仓山结晶基底在新元古代早期曾发生过强烈的构造-岩浆活动;具有变质锆石特征的样品,获得的年龄数据表明南米仓山地区在新元古代发生过两期变质作用,早期的变质作用峰值年龄约为810.0904.9Ma之间,最古老的年龄达1138.46±16.7Ma,表示南米仓山结晶基底在新元古代早期曾发生过强烈的构造-岩浆活动;具有变质锆石特征的样品,获得的年龄数据表明南米仓山地区在新元古代发生过两期变质作用,早期的变质作用峰值年龄约为810.0⁹00.0Ma,代表着晋宁末期华北大陆板块与扬子板块逐渐对接拼合,古秦岭洋壳迅速向南北两侧俯冲消减事件;晚期变质作用发生在约为550.0900.0Ma,代表着晋宁末期华北大陆板块与扬子板块逐渐对接拼合,古秦岭洋壳迅速向南北两侧俯冲消减事件;晚期变质作用发生在约为550.0⁷60.0Ma,记录了这一阶段的澄江期岩浆热事件引起的接触变质事件。     

The Cooma Metamorphic Complex, a low-P, high-T (LPHT) regional aureole beneath the Murrumbidgee Batholith

The Cooma Complex of the Lachlan Fold Belt, south‐eastern Australia, is characterised by a large (c. 10 km wide) low‐P, high‐T metamorphic aureole surrounding a small (3 × 6 km) granite pluton. The aureole extends northward to envelop the eastern lobe of the Murrumbidgee Batholith and progressively narrows to a kilometre wide hornfelsic aureole some 50 km north of Cooma. At its northern extremity, the batholith has intruded its own volcanic cover. These regional relations suggest that the Murrumbidgee Batholith is gently tilted to the north, with the Cooma Complex representing the aureole beneath the batholith. Two main deformation events, D3 and D5, affected the aureole. The inner, high‐grade migmatitic domain contains upright F5 folds defined by a composite, transposed S3/S0 fabric and S3/S0 concordant leucosomes. The folded stromatic migmatites define the western limb of a F5 synform, with its axis located in the batholith. Lenses and sheets of the Murrumbidgee Batholith intruded along S3 but also preserve S3 as a strong, solid‐state foliation. S3 and the granite sheets but are also folded by F5, outlining a fanning positive flower structure. These relations indicate that most of the batholith was emplaced before and during D3, but intrusion persisted until early syn‐D5. Formation of the Cooma Granodiorite occurred post‐D3 to early syn‐D5, after formation of the wide metamorphic aureole during early syn‐D3 to early syn‐D5. The Murrumbidgee Batholith was emplaced between pre‐D3 to early syn‐D5, synchronous with the formation of the Cooma Complex. The structural and metamorphic relations indicate that the Murrumbidgee Batholith was the ultimate heat source responsible for the Cooma Metamorphic Complex. D3 structures and metamorphic isograds are subparallel to the batholith margin for over 50 km. This concordance probably extends vertically, suggesting that the isograds also fan outward from the batholith margin. This implies an inverted metamorphic sequence focused on the Murrumbidgee Batholith, although the base has been almost completely removed by erosion in the Cooma Complex. The field evidence at Cooma, combined with previous thermal modelling results, suggest that extensive LPHT metamorphic terranes may represent regional metamorphic aureoles developed beneath high‐level granitic batholiths.     

The bedrock topography of the botany basin,New South Wales

The bedrock topography of the Botany Basin has been determined from seismic‐sparker records made in Botany Bay and Bate Bay, and from seismic‐refraction and gravity measurements on the Kurnell Peninsula. Supplementary information has been obtained from boreholes both on land and in the sea.

The Cooks and Georges Rivers formerly constituted the main drainage of the Basin and flowed generally southeastwards (beneath the present Kurnell Peninsula) and joined the Port Hacking River east of Cronulla. The depth of the bedrock channel of the former Georges River is 75–80 m b.s.l. at Taren Point, 90–95 m beneath the Kurnell Peninsula and 110–115 m at its junction with the Port Hacking River channel. The bedrock channel of the former Cooks River is about 30 m b.s.l. at Kyeemagh, its present entrance to Botany Bay, and it joined the Georges River at a location now 90 m b.s.l. beneath the Kurnell Peninsula.

A second drainage system existed in the north and east of Botany Bay and generated the present mouth beneath which the bedrock is now 110 m b.s.l. This channel followed a southeasterly course parallel to the present northern shore of Botany Bay and was separated from that of the ‘Cooks and Georges Rivers’ by a bedrock ridge which extended from beneath Sydney Airport to the northern extremity of the Kurnell Peninsula. Over much of its length this divide had a depth of about 30 m b.s.l.

The formation of the Kurnell Peninsula tombolo led to the diversion of the ‘Cooks/Georges River’ through the mouth of Botany Bay and subsequently led to the development of the bay. This change in the drainage system occurred when the sea was less than 30 m below the present sea level.     

The present-day stress field of New South Wales,Australia

The Australian continent displays the most complex pattern of present-day tectonic stress observed in any major continental area. Although plate boundary forces provide a well-established control on the large-scale (>500 km) orientation of maximum horizontal stress (S_Hmax), smaller-scale variations, caused by local forces, are poorly understood in Australia. Prior to this study, the World Stress Map database contained 101 S_Hmax orientation measurements for New South Wales (NSW), Australia, with the bulk of the data coming from shallow engineering tests in the Sydney Basin. In this study we interpret present-day stress indicators analysed from 58.6 km of borehole image logs in 135 coal-seam gas and petroleum wells in different sedimentary basins of NSW, including the Gunnedah, Clarence-Moreton, Sydney, Gloucester, Darling and Bowen–Surat basins. This study provides a refined stress map of NSW, with a total of 340 (A–E quality) S_Hmax orientations consisting of 186 stress indicators from borehole breakouts, 69 stress measurements from shallow engineering methods, 48 stress indicators from drilling-induced fractures, and 37 stress indicators from earthquake focal mechanism solutions. We define seven stress provinces throughout NSW and determine the mean orientation of the S_Hmax for each stress province. The results show that the S_Hmax is variable across the state, but broadly ranges from NE–SW to ESE–WNW. The S_Hmax is approximately E–W to ESE–WNW in the Darling Basin and Southeastern Seismogenic Zone that covers the west and south of NSW, respectively. However, the present-day S_Hmax rotates across the northeastern part of NSW, from approximately NE–SW in the South Sydney and Gloucester basins to ENE–WSW in the North Sydney, Clarence-Moreton and Gunnedah basins. Comparisons between the observed S_Hmax orientations and Australian stress models in the available literature reveal that previous numerical models were unable to satisfactorily predict the state of stress in NSW. Although clear regional present-day stress trends exist in NSW, there are also large perturbations observed locally within most stress provinces that demonstrate the significant control on local intraplate sources of stress. Local S_Hmax perturbations are interpreted to be due to basement topography, basin geometry, lithological contrasts, igneous intrusions, faults and fractures. Understanding and predicting local stress perturbations has major implications for determining the most productive fractures in petroleum systems, and for modelling the propagation direction and vertical height growth of induced hydraulic fractures in simulation of unconventional reservoirs.     

南岭大东山花岗岩的形成时代与成因——SHRIMP锆石U-Pb年龄、元素和Sr-Nd-Hf同位素地球化学

中国东南部南岭地区广泛出露以弱过铝质黑云母二长花岗岩和黑云母钾长花岗岩为主的燕山早期花岗质岩石,其成因有待进一步研究。大东山岩体岩性主要为黑云母二长花岗岩和黑云母钾长花岗岩,两个样品的SHRIMP锆石U-Pb 年龄为165±2 Ma 和159±2 Ma,与区域南岭系列的黑云母花岗岩的主要形成时代一致。花岗岩样品以高硅（SiO2 > 72%）、高钾（K2O/Na2O > 1.6）、富碱（K2O + Na2O = 7.36% ~ 9.31%）和弱过铝质（集中于ASI = 1.00 ~ 1.11）为特征。微量和稀土元素组成上,岩体富Rb, Th 和LREE,贫Ba, Nb, Sr, P 和Ti, Eu 负异常显著（δEu = 0.06 ~ 0.34）。多数样品的Zr,Ce, Nb 和Y 含量总和小于350×10-6,10 000 × Ga/Al 值低于典型的A 型花岗岩。同位素组成上,样品具有高I sr（ 0.7123 ~ 0.7193）和低εN（d t）（-9.3~ -11.5）的特点,两阶段Nd 模式年龄为1.70~1.89 Ga ;与全岩εNd（t）不同,岩浆锆石的εHf（t）具有较大的变化范围（-3.5~ -11.8）。矿物学及地球化学结果表明大东山是一个高分异的I 型花岗岩岩体。岩体岩浆很可能是由元古代火成岩石部分熔融形成,并伴随有少量年轻或新生幔源物质的加入,岩浆上升侵位的过程中发生混合、结晶分异作用。     

The Prospect Alkaline Diabase-Picrite Intrusion New South Wales, Australia

The Prospect intrusion is a dish-shaped alkaline diabase-picritemass 315–400 ft thick intruded into shale at a depth ofabout 600 ft. Picrite, containing more than 25 per cent olivine,occupies the lower half of the intrusion. In the upper half,alkaline diabase, averaging less than 5 per cent olivine, isconcentrated under structural highs of the contact, and alkalineolivine diabase, containing 10 to 25 per cent olivine, is concentratedunder structural lows. These rocks are separated from the shaleby a fine-grained chilled margin. Vertical sections through the picrite zone show a regular antipatheticvariation of modal olivine and plagioclase with a zone of maximumolivine concentration near the bottom; bulk rock compositionsshow an antipathetic relation between MgO plus total iron andall other constituents. Modal and bulk composition variationsare more erratic in the upper half of the intrusion, but analcite,alkali feldspar, and opaque minerals reach maximum concentrationsin this part of the intrusion. The pyroxene content remainsnearly constant in the major rock types. Trends of olivine andplagioclase composition and grain size vary regularly with heightin the intrusion and cross boundaries between major rock typeswithout deflexion. Olivine becomes progressively more fayaliticfrom the base of the picrite zone to the upper chilled margin,but the plagioclase curve has a trend toward more calcic compositionsin the picrite zone. Mean sizes of plagioclase, pyroxene, andolivine increase upwards between the chilled margins. The lower chilled margin is slightly less mafic than the bulkcomposition of the intrusion and may represent a pre-emplacementdifferentiate, but the major part of the differentiation occurredduring emplacement at the present site. Grain size and otherdata indicate that crystallization took place more rapidly fromthe base than from the top of the intrusion, and a variety ofinternal structures indicate that crystallization and differentiationtook place as the magma was intruded over a considerable periodof time. As consolidation of the intrusion proceeded, the liquid becameenriched in all constituents except magnesium and ferrous ironuntil consolidation of alkaline diabase began (when about 70per cent of the whole intrusion had solidified); at that stagethe proportion of calcium, titanium, and ferric iron in theliquid was reduced and the proportion of silica, alumina, andalkalis increased. Processes of differentiation that contributed most to the originof the main rock types are: diffusion, independently of crystallization,of volatiles, alkalis, and possibly calcium into the structurallyhigh parts of the intrusion; gravity accumulation of olivinethat crystallized a short distance above the main front of consolidationas it moved upwards from the base of the intrusion; and upwarddiffusion of salic constituents and downward diffusion of maficones over concentration gradients produced by crystallization. Removal of volatiles from the lower part of the intrusion beforecrystallization reduced the oxidation ratio in the liquid andresulted in a low proportion of ferric iron minerals; crystallizationof abundant olivine (average composition about Fo₇₀), however,prevented enrichment of the liquid in iron. Addition of volatilesto the upper part of the intrusion retarded crystallizationand raised the oxidation ratio to a level at which a relativelyhigh proportion of ferric iron minerals crystallized. Subordinate processes that contributed to the formation of themain rock types as well as to less abundant ones include gravityaccumulation of heavy minerals that were dispersed in the magmaat the time of emplacement, filter pressing caused by localbuttressing around irregularities of the contact, crystal sortingby viscous flow, and gas transfer. Pegmatitic differentiates are ascribed to a complex diffusionprocess along pressure and concentration gradients caused byshear on laminar flow planes. Syenite may have originated byreplacement of pegmatite, but aplites occupy true dilationaistructures and apparently represent liquid remaining after crystallizationof the adjacent rock.     

Emplacement and deformation of the Wyangala Batholith,New South Wales

The Wyangala Batholith, in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales, is pre‐tectonic with respect to the deformation that caused the foliation in the granite, and was emplaced during a major thermal event, perhaps associated with dextral shearing, during the Late Silurian to Early Devonian Bowning Orogeny. This followed the first episode of folding in the enclosing Ordovician country rocks. Intrusion was facilitated by upward displacement of fault blocks, with local stoping. Weak magmatic flow fabrics are present. After crystallization of the granite, a swarm of mafic dykes intruded both the granite and country rock, possibly being derived from the same tectonic regime responsible for emplacement of the Wyangala Batholith. A contact aureole surrounding the granite contains cordierite‐biotite and cordierite‐andalusite assemblages. Slaty cleavage produced in the first deformation was largely obliterated by recrystallization in the contact aureole.

Postdating granite emplacement and basic dyke intrusion, a second regional deformation was accompanied by regional metamorphism ranging from lower greenschist to albite‐epidote‐amphibolite facies, and produced tectonic foliations, termed S and C, in the granite, and a foliation, S₂, in the country rocks. Contact metamorphic rocks underwent retrogressive regional metamorphism at this time. S formed under east‐west shortening and vertical extension, concurrently with S₂. C surfaces probably formed concurrently with S and indicate reverse fault motion on west‐dipping ductile shear surfaces. The second deformation may be related to Devonian or Early Carboniferous movement on the Copperhannia Thrust east of the Wyangala Batholith.     

Geomorphology of the Barrington Tops area,New South Wales

K‐Ar total rock age determinations have been made on a sequence of metasedimentary rocks resting on a 2350 m.y.‐old basement in southern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The metasediments have an Rb‐Sr age of 1785 m.y., but K‐Ar isochrons suggest that relatively high temperatures persisted for a further 250 million years before the rocks became systems closed to K and Ar diffusion. A significant amount of ⁴⁰Ar was trapped in the metasediments at the time of closure of the K‐Ar system, 1550 million years ago.     

The form of the intrusive complex at mount dromedary,New South Wales

In the past the Mount Dromedary igneous complex has been regarded as a differentiated laccolith, with the more felsic banatite at the summit of the mountain, monzonite on the lower slopes and pyroxenite at sea‐level.

Evidence is put forward to show that this is not the case and that the form is that of a stock or ring‐dyke with very steep contacts.

The monzonite has been emplaced by forceful injection and the banatite by permissive emplacement along a vertical, cylindrical fracture in the monzonite. The pyroxenite may form a separate dyke or stock.     

Ferrian tourmaline from Bungonia,New South Wales

New chemical, X‐ray and cell dimension data are presented for ferrian tourmaline in quartz‐tourmaline rock at three localities near Bungonia, New South Wales. The tourmaline is fine‐grained, normally euhedral, and forms up to 90% of the rock. It shows restricted solid solution between dravite and ferridravite, although some grains are zoned and others have an irregular, bipartite chemical variation. Tourma‐linisation is interpreted as being.related to late‐stage volatile emanations from the Marulan Batholith.     

The Reid's Mistake Formation at Swansea Head,New South Wales

The Reid's Mistake Formation represents the stratigraphic interval that separates the Lower and Upper Pilot Coals within the Boolaroo Sub‐Group of the Newcastle Coal Measures. At Swansea Head it consists mainly of intercalated cherts and claystones with minor amounts of sandstone. The cherts, which frequently have a vitroclastic texture, are composed of chalcedony and analcime with or without feldspars and clay whereas the claystones consist of chalcedony and mixtures of mixed‐layer clay minerals. The intergradation between these rock types indicates that the entire sequence was derived from a common source, either acid volcanics of the New England fold belt or, more likely, contemporaneous ash showers. The detritus apparently accumulated in a flood basin environment where the climate was arid giving rise to saline conditions and the breakdown of the volcanic materials to clay minerals and chalcedony. During protracted periods of desiccation however, sodium ions were concentrated and the pH rose accordingly, sufficient to promote conversion of the clay minerals in the uppermost layers to analcime.     

柴北缘元古宙鹰峰环斑花岗岩及其共生岩石的地球化学特征、成因及地质意义

中元古代鹰峰岩体的主体是环斑花岗岩,与其共生的岩石有石英闪长岩-奥长花岗岩和辉绿岩。环斑花岗岩高碱（Na2O＋K2O=8.49%～9.39%）、富钾（K2O/Na2O=1.12～1.43）,铝近饱和,高铁镁比值[（ΣFeO）/MgO=4.91～7.19];富Rb、Ba、Ga、Th、Zr、Nb、Ta,贫Cr、Ni、V;高ΣREE（392.24×10-6～594.76×10-6）,稀土元素强分异[（La/Lu）N=12.67～17.09],弱铕负异常（δEu=0.58～0.78）,显示碱性花岗岩的特征,与密云环斑花岗岩相似。石英闪长岩-奥长花岗岩具钙碱性系列岩石的特征;与环斑花岗岩相比,其Rb、Ba、Ga、Nb、Ta、Th、Hf、Zr低,而Ni、Cr、V高;ΣREE较低（ΣREE=77.04×10^-6～129.85×10^-6）,轻重稀土分异明显,但（La/Lu）N的比值较小（11.62～14.06）,铕异常更弱（δEu=0.69～0.93）。辉绿岩具低碱、高ΣFeO的特征,属拉斑玄武质,与洋中脊拉斑玄武岩相比,K2O等不相容元素高,具大陆拉斑玄武质的特征。辉绿岩的ISr（1776Ma）为0.7066,εNd（1776Ma）为＋3.6,环斑花岗岩的ISr（1776Ma）为0.7181,εNd（1776Ma）为-5.5,显示辉绿岩起源于年轻的地幔,花岗质岩浆主要源自古老的地壳。综合分析显示,这些侵入岩形成于伸展背景,是北半球中元古代非造山环斑花岗岩的成员之一,在加里东期卷入到柴北缘造山带的古老地壳中。这在世界上提供了一个古老克拉通及环斑花岗岩卷入古生代造山带的一个实例。     

Petrology, Origin and Metamorphic History of Proterozoic-aged Granulites of the Natal Metamorphic Province, Southeastern Africa

The geochemistry of the Leisure Bay Formation, Natal Metamorphic Province suggests that its protoliths were greywackes, pelites and arkoses that were deposited in an oceanic island arc environment. These rocks contain the mineral assemblage biotite + hypersthene + cordierite (with hercynite inclusions) + garnet + quartz + feldspar. Numerous generations of garnet genesis are evident from which a long history of metamorphism can be interpreted. M₁ involved syn-D₁ high temperature/low pressure metamorphism (4kb and >850^oC) and dehydration melting to produce essentially anhydrous assemblages particularly in the vicinity of, and probably related to the intrusion of the Munster Suite sills. The inclusions of hercynite in cordierite and the garnet + quartz symplectites after hypersthene + plagioclase (550^oC and 5kb) suggests isobaric cooling after M₁. This indicates an anticlockwise P-T loop related to the early intrusion of subduction related calc-alkaline magmatic rocks. M₂ involved syn-D₂ dehydration melting of hydrous assemblages possibly related to the emplacement of many A-type rapakivi charnockite granitoids, which provided heat and loading. The D₂ tectonism post-dated all lithologies in the region, except for syn- to late-D₂ granitoid plutons, and is interpreted as a transpressional tectonothermal reworking of pre-existing (Proterozoic) crust at 1030Ma.     

Mineralization at the Wallah Wallah Silver Mine,Rye Park,New South Wales and its metallogenic significance

Summary The Wallah Wallah lead-zinc-silver deposit near Rye Park, New South Wales, Australia, consists of epigenetic, vein-type mineralization developed in deformed Ordovician host rocks by deposition from medium temperature (280–380°C), low salinity fluids. In addition to dominant sphalerite, galena and arsenopyrite, the ores contain Ag-rich tetrahedrite, Ag-bearing stannite, teallite and trace cassiterite. The mineralogy and geochemistry of the ores, together with features of the geological setting and the regional metallogeny indicate that the oreforming fluids and metals were largely derived from a fractionated granitoid source, in or along the western margin of the Wyangala Batholith. The deposit appears to be part of a wider, but sporadically developed, magmatic-hydrothermal mineralising system, not previously recognised in this area.With 5 Figures     

Geological interpretation of the Cootamundra gravity high,New South Wales

An intense Bouguer anomaly ‘high’ of about 30 milligals amplitude has been delineated to the east of Cootamundra, New South Wales. It is correlated with a north‐trending belt of basic metamorphic rocks of probable Upper Silurian age. The subsurface shape of the belt is deduced by qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques applied to the gravity data; it is inferred that the boundary on the western side is near‐vertical, while that on the eastern side is believed to have been overthrust by the Middle Devonian Young Granite. It appears also that there are no horizontal density variations below a depth of 6–7 km, implying that the base of the Young Granite lies at about this depth.     

Cisuralian coals of the Mullaley Sub-basin,northern New South Wales

The Mullaley Sub-basin of the Gunnedah Basin extends from Quirindi in the southeast, to north of Narrabri, to west of Dunedoo in northern New South Wales. There have been more than 100 boreholes sunk to basement investigating the (lower Permian) Cisuralian coal and coal seam gas resources of the Mullaley Sub-basin since the early 1990s. A desktop review of this open file information has allowed the formal correlation and naming of six Cisuralian coal members attaining a maximum 35 m of cumulative thickness within an upward coarsening sedimentary package totalling no more than 150 m. In ascending order, the coal members are: Bibblewindi (0–10 m), Bohena (3–18 m), Collygra (0.5–3 m), Coxs (1.5–4 m), Tullamullen (0.5–4 m) and Mooki (0.5–3 m).

Cisuralian coal seams in the Maules Creek Formation of the southern Mullaley Sub-basin are here correlated with those of the Greta Coal Measures at Werris Creek and Muswellbrook. It is apparent that basement paleotopography played a significant role in the Cisuralian coal development as coals are best developed where the sedimentary sequence is greater than 60 m thick, as there the thick seams (Bohena and Bibblewindi coal members) occur towards the base of the sequence. The maximum western limit of the Cisuralian coals (Rocky Glen Ridge) is further east than previously inferred with new drilling information showing the Porcupine Formation directly overlying the barren pelletoidal claystones of the Leard Formation or the underlying volcanics (Boggabri Volcanics/Werrie Basalt). Early marine transgressions at the top of the Maules Creek Formation have stopped development of the Mooki, Tullamullen and Coxs coal members in the northern and eastern Mullaley Sub-basin and allowed the development of localised paraconglomerate (diamictite) intervals up to 10 m thick. Thick (>20 m cumulative) coal occurrences are localised to the Jacks Creek and Pilliga East State Forest areas southwest of Narrabri. The coal resource potential of the Mullaley Sub-basin is estimated at 13–28 billion tonnes.