Eastern Plateau
Entity ID: 34870 Compiled by: Burch, G. Year: 2003 Status: Informal
Last Revised: 2013
Rank: Province Type: sedimentary Subtype: unassigned Location: QLD Off-shore
Synonyms: Papuan Plateau Symbol: NA
Minimum age: Recent Age method: inferred, seismic interpretation
Maximum age: Eocene Age method: inferred, seismic interpretation
Summary: The poorly known, Eocene to Recent Eastern Plateau is located between Queensland and Papua New Gunea and contains a maximum of 3 km of marine sediments.
Attributes:
Area (square kilometres): 50000 State: QLD Minimum present water depth (m): 20 Maximum present water depth (m): 3000 Main rock types: carbonate sediments and sedimentary rocks Main depositional environment: marine Maximum sediment thickness (m): 3000 Present crustal setting: continental Country: PNG Country: AUS
Parent: No data
Child Provinces: No data
Relationships:
Adjoins - Queensland Basin
Constituent units:
Events: No data
Mineral Deposits: No data
Key Reference: Davies, P.J., Symonds, P.A., Feary, D.A., Pigram, C.J. 1989, The evolution of carbonate platforms of northeast Australia, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication, 44, 233-258., (Refid:19923)
Comments: No data
Overview: The Eastern Plateau lies midway between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and is the northernmost marginal plateau of the northeast Australian continental margin. The plateau has a gently convex surface and covers an area of about 50,000 square km in water depths ranging from 20 m to 3000 m. There is one site of active reef growth, Eastern Fields Reef, on the northern margin of the Plateau, with submerged and buried reefs extending northeast into the Moresby Trough. The Eastern Plateau is bound to the north by the Moresby and Pandora troughs, to the west by the Bligh Trough, to the south by the Osprey Embayment, and to the east by the Moresby Canyon and the Coral Sea Basin. The northern and southern plateau margins are controlled by normal faults, while the western margin has been highly deformed by thrusts and wrench faulting. The eastern margin of the plateau has been deformed by collision with the terranes of the Papuan Peninsula. As the plateau is surrounded by troughs, it is generally free of terrigenous sediments. The Eastern Plateau is underlain by deformed, fault-bounded, and tilted basement blocks of approximately Late Cretaceous-age. Eocene sediments onlap the eroded surface of basement blocks, and are commonly disturbed by faulting. The remaining sediments on the Eastern Plateau are a mix of Miocene to Recent calcareous ooze and periplatform detritus.
Images: No data
Other media: No data
Source Information:
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Struckmeyer, H.I.M., Yeung, M., Pigram, C.J., 1993, Mesozoic to Cainozoic plate tectonic and palaeogeographic evolution of the New Guinea region, In: G.J. CARMEN & Z. CARMEN (Eds), Proceedings of the Second PNG Petroleum Convention, Port Moresby, 31st May - 2nd June, 1993., 261-290., . (Refid: 91)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Pigram, C.J., Symonds, P.A., 1993, Eastern Papuan Basin - a new model for the tectonic development, and implication for petroleum prospectivity, In: Carman G.J. and Carman Z. (Eds.), Petroleum Exploration and Development in Papua New Guinea. Proceedings of the Second PNG Petroleum Convention, Port Moresby, 31 May - 2 June, 1993, 213-231. (Refid: 12618)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Sdrolias, M., Muller, R.D., Gaina, C., 2001, Plate tectonic evolution of eastern Australian marginal ocean basins., Eastern Australasian Basins Symposium 2001, 227-237. (Refid: 12544)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Symonds, P.A., Davies, P.J., Pigram, C.J., Feary, D.A., Chaproniere, G.C.H., 1990, Northeast Australia Torres Shelf - Pandora Trough, Canberra, Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Australia, Continental Margins Program Folio 4, 4, . (Refid: 12621)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Isern, A.R., Pigram, C.J., Swart, P.K., Kroon, D., 1997, ODP Drilling in the Coral Sea: sealevel variation, Paleoceanography, and fluid flow, Australian Geological Survey Organisation. Record, . (Refid: 12661)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Symonds, P.A., 1983, Relation between continental shelf and margin development - central and northern Great Barrier Reef, In Baker, J.T., et al. Proceedings: Inaugural Great Barrier Reef Conference, August 28- September 2, 1983, 115-157. (Refid: 12662)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Pigram, C.J., Davies, P.J., Feary, D.A., Symonds, P.A., Chaproniere, G.C.H., 1990, Controls on the Tertiary carbonate platform evolution in the Papuan Basin: new play concepts, In: G.J. CARMEN & Z. CARMEN (Eds), Proceedings of the First PNG Petroleum Convention, Port Moresby, 12-14th February, 1990, 185-195., . (Refid: 20342)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Oppel, T.W., 1970, Exploration of the southwest flank of the Papuan Basin., APEA Journal, 10(2), p62-69. (Refid: 32514)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Benbow, D.D., 1980, The petroleum prospects of the Great Barrier Reef region., APEA Journal, 20(1), p159-175. (Refid: 36101)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Willcox, J.B., 1981, Petroleum prospectivity of Australian marginal plateaus. IN Halbouty M.T.(Ed) - Energy resources of the Pacific region., American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Studies in Geology, 12, p245-272. (Refid: 38738)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Fritsch, J., Schluter, H.-U., Symonds, P.A., 1984, Continental margin around western Coral Sea Basin: structural elements, seismic sequences & petroleum geological aspects. IN Watson S.T.(ed) - Transactions of 3rd circum-Pacific energy & minerals conf. Hawaii 1982., American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1v, p243-252. (Refid: 39703)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Symonds, P.A., Davies, P.J., Feary, D.A., Pigram, C.J., 1988, Geology of the northeastern Australian margin basins, Queensland 1988 Exploration and Development. PEAS (Qld)- ODCAA-SPE Petroleum Symposium 23rd Nov, 198, 61-77. (Refid: 12620)
- FOR PROVINCE-GENERAL: Davies, P.J., Symonds, P.A., Feary, D.A., Pigram, C.J., 1989, The evolution of carbonate platforms of northeast Australia, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication, 44, 233-258., . (Refid: 19923)
