This major geoscience publication is a compilation of the six chapters completed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on the CSIRO-NTGS McArthur Basin Project, a 3-year collaborative project between CSIRO Mineral Resources and the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS).
The project took an integrated approach with four main areas of research including:
- acquisition and interpretation of new gravity data and re-interpretation of existing geophysical datasets
- detailed sedimentological, sequence stratigraphy and stratigraphic analysis
- petrography, elemental and isotope geochemistry, and mineralisation characterisation
- numerical modelling of basin-scale fluid flow.
The study highlights the importance of sub-basin development in an active tectonic setting as a critical control on the potential distribution of mineralisation. This is supported by sedimentological evidence which shows that low porosity/permeability black shales present in sub-basins may have been a critical control on Zn-Pb mineralisation by acting as physical traps for ore-bearing fluids.
Download NTGS Record 2019-016 through GEMIS.