Strontium, Oxygen and Carbon Isotopes from the Birrindudu Basin, Australia

Abstract

Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia's geology and resource potential.

The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020-2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood. Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the Northern Territory Geological Survey is acquiring isotopic, geochronological, geochemical and geomechanical data from drillholes intersecting the Birrindudu Basin as part of phase two of EFTF.

This report presents results on selected rock samples from the Birrindudu Basin, conducted by the Mawson Analytical Spectrometry Services, University of Adelaide, under contract to Geoscience Australia. These results include:

1. Carbon (d13C), oxygen (d18O) and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes on carbonate-bearing samples, and

2. Trace element data on the leachates prepared for 87Sr/86Sr ratio analyses.