Sedimentology – Yeneena Basin, WA

Exploration for sediment-hosted Cu is often hindered by the lack of sedimentological understanding of host rocks and structural architecture of deformed basins.

We are conducting a sedimentological, stratigraphic, and structural geology study of the Cu-Au prospective Yeneena Basin (Paterson Orogen) in Western Australia. This project is part of the University of Western Australia (CET) MRIWA 521 project on lithospheric and crustal architecture and deformation processes in the Paterson Orogen.

This project (2019-2021) significantly improved our understanding of the depositional environments, age, and the stratigraphic and structural evolution of the Yeneena Basin, which hosts the Nifty Cu and Telfer Cu-Au deposits. The work includes systematic logging of sedimentary facies, gamma ray, and structures in publicly available drill cores. Furthermore, carbonate and organic-rich facies is systematically sampled for carbon isotope chemostratigraphy.

Our work so far demonstrates the preservation of a significant range of depositional environments. These range from arid tidal flats to deposition of carbonate and siliciclastic gravity flow deposits in deep marine offshore environments. Correlation of drill cores in this deformed basin is possible with high-resolution gamma ray logs and carbon isotope profiles. Furthermore, tying the carbon isotope curves to the global Neoproterozoic carbon isotope record suggests that the Yeneena Basin strata is ca. 810 – 800 million years old. Current work focuses on the integration of stratigraphic and structural data to develop a holistic model for the evolution of this basin. In addition, carbon and oxygen isotopes may help to recognize regional alteration trends.

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