Project activity South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative
The South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative (NDI) Carrara 1 provides unique insights into the energy and mineral resource potential of this frontier region.
The NDI Carrara 1 stratigraphic drill-hole was completed in late 2020, as a collaboration between Geoscience Australia, the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) and the MinEx CRC. NDI Carrara 1 is the first drill-hole to intersect the undifferentiated Proterozoic rocks of the newly discovered Carrara Sub-basin. NDI Carrara 1 is located on the western edge of the Carrara Sub-basin on the South Nicholson seismic line (17GA-SN1). It reached a total depth of 1,751 m and intersected approximately 630 m of Cambrian Georgina Basin overlying approximately 1,100 m of Proterozoic carbonates, black shales and minor siliciclastics.
Location of the NDI Carrara 1 stratigraphic drill-hole and South Nicholson (L210) and Barkly (L212) seismic survey lines across the South Nicholson region
What we have done
We have undertaken a range of investigations into the lithology, stratigraphy and geotechnical properties of NDI Carrara 1 based on wireline data, together with a range of analyses of over 400 physical samples distributed through the entire core. These analyses include geochronology, isotope studies, mineralogy, inorganic and organic geochemistry, petrophysics, geomechanics, thermal maturity, and petroleum systems investigations.
Outputs
During this project activity, Geoscience Australia and partners have collected:
- routine and planned targeted samples, including planned analyses, available in the downloadable spreadsheet [XLSX 84.1 KB]
- hylogger data, available on the Northern Territory Geological Survey’s Geoscience Exploration and Mining Information System (GEMIS) website
- sample and core photos, available on the Data Discovery Portal.
Collaboration
Related information
Lithospheric structure and melting processes in southeast Australia: New constraints from joint probabilistic inversions of 3D magnetotelluric and seismic data
Manassero, M.C., Özaydın, S., Afonso, J.C., Shea, J.J., Ezad, I.S., Kirkby, A, Thiel, S., Fomin, I., Czarnota, K. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Volume 129, Issue 3. (2024)
A regolith lead icoscape of Australia
Desem, C.U., de Caritat, P., Woodhead, J., Maas, R., Carr, G. Earth System Science Data, Vol.16, Issue 3. (2024)
Solid Geology Mapping
Our understanding of the geological history and resource potential of Australia has been underpinned by over half a century of surface geological mapping.
