The Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic Arafura Basin is located on the northern Australian margin. It is underlain by the Proterozoic McArthur Basin and the Archean to Proterozoic Pine Creek Inlier, and overlain by the Mesozoic to Recent Money Shoal Basin. The structure of the Arafura Basin is dominated by the highly deformed Goulburn Graben.

The Goulburn Graben is a northwest trending asymmetric feature, over 350 km long and up to 70 km wide, and contains a sedimentary section in excess of 10 km thick. The region to the north of the Goulburn Graben forms the basin depocentre and contains a sedimentary succession up to 15 km thick. South of the Goulburn Graben a north-dipping relatively undeformed ramp contains up to 3 km of sedimentary rocks.

Regional setting of the Arafura, McArthur and Money Shoal Basins. The Australian extent of the Arafura Basin is shown, including the central Goulburn Graben.