"Geoscience Australia (GA) conducted a marine survey (GA0345/GA0346/TAN1411) of the north-eastern Browse Basin (Caswell Sub-basin) between 9 October and 9 November 2014 to acquire seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the basin. The survey, undertaken as part of the Department of Industry and Science's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP), aimed to identify and characterise indicators of natural hydrocarbon or fluid seepage that may indicate compromised seal integrity in the region. The survey was conducted in three legs aboard the New Zealand research vessel RV Tangaroa, and included scientists and technical staff from GA, the NZ National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA) and Fugro Survey Pty Ltd." -- online abstract.

"In May 2013, Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, undertook a marine survey of the Leveque Shelf (survey number SOL5754/GA0340), a sub-basin of the Browse Basin, on the AIMS research vessel, Solander. The survey provided seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Browse sedimentary basin. The basin, located on the Northwest Shelf, Western Australia, was previously identified by the Carbon Storage Taskforce (2009) as potentially suitable for CO2 storage. The survey was undertaken under the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to help identify sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2 within reasonable distances of major sources of CO2 emissions. The principal aim of the Leveque Shelf marine survey was to look for evidence of any past or current gas or fluid seepage at the seabed, and to determine whether these features are related to structures (e.g. faults) in the Leveque Shelf area that may extend to the seabed. The survey also mapped seabed habitats and biota to provide information on communities and biophysical features that may be associated with seepage. This research, combined with deeper geological studies undertaken concurrently, addresses key questions on the potential for containment of CO2 in the basin's proposed CO2 storage unit, i.e. the basal sedimentary section (Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous), and the regional integrity of the Heywood Formation (the seal unit overlying the main reservoir)."--Online abstract.

The Cenozoic carbonate systems of Australasia are the product of a diverse assortment of depositional and post-depositional processes, reflecting the interplay of eustasy, tectonics (both plate and local scale), climate, and evolutionary trends that influenced their initiation and development. These systems, which comprise both land-attached and isolated platforms, were initiated in a wide variety of tectonic settings (including rift, passive margin, and arc-related) and under warm and cool-water conditions where, locally, siliciclastic input affected their development. The lithofacies, biofacies, growth morphology, diagenesis, and hydrocarbon reservoir potential of these systems are products of these varying influences. The studies reported in this volume range from syntheses of tectonic and depositional factors influencing carbonate deposition and controls on reservoir formation and petroleum system development, to local studies from the South China Sea, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, the Marion Plateau, the Philippines, Western Australia, and New Caledonia that incorporate outcrop and subsurface data, including 3-D seismic imaging of carbonate platforms and facies, to understand the interplay of factors affecting the development of these systems under widely differing circumstances. This volume will be of importance to geoscientists interested in the variability of Cenozoic carbonate systems and the factors that controlled their formation, and to those wanting to understand the range of potential hydrocarbon reservoirs discovered in these carbonates and the events that led to favorable reservoir and trap development.

Release of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere is a concern for global warming. Thus, practical and economic solutions are being sought to combat this problem. One possible methodology for reducing emissions is the geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). The subsurface behaviour of CO2 is influenced by many variables; therefore, accurate appraisal of a potential CO2 storage site requires detailed site characterisation. In particular, potential sites need to be evaluated geologically in terms of their injectivity, containment and capacity. Detailed site characterisation was undertaken for two possible sites for geological storage of CO2, located offshore northwest Australia in the Petrel and Barrow sub-basins. The injection targets in the Petrel Sub-basin are the Jurassic Plover and Elang formations, locally sealed by the Frigate Formation, and the overlying Cretaceous Sandpiper Sandstone, regionally sealed by the Bathurst Island Group. The Plover/Elang formations are laterally extensive, fluvio-deltaic sandstones of fair to good reservoir quality, with likely excellent lateral and vertical connectivity. The Frigate Formation may not be an effective seal up-dip, but the overlying secondary reservoir (Sandpiper Sandstone) and thick regional seal (Bathurst Island Group) will ensure continued CO2 containment. The Jurassic-Cretaceous post-rift sediments are structurally simple and dip gently up towards the basin margins with no defined structural closures. Therefore, hydrodynamic, residual and solubility trapping beneath the regional seal will be the dominant storage mechanisms. The potential storage capacity is vast (> 10,000 Mt), highlighting why deep saline formations may provide a realistic solution to large-scale greenhouse gas emissions reduction. In the Barrow Sub-basin, the Cretaceous Flag Sandstone is the injection target, sealed by the Muderong Shale. The reservoir units are laterally extensive, amalgamated, basin floor fan sandstones with excellent reservoir quality. Hemipelagic shale drapes may locally restrict the vertical connectivity. The Muderong Shale has excellent seal capacity, with the potential to withhold a CO2 column height of 565-790 m. The structural geometry is a large anticline and the trapping mechanisms are likely to a combination of stratigraphic, residual and solubility trapping along the axis of the anticline, as well as structural trapping within the anticlinal closure. A few large faults exist which could potentially be reactivated if injection pressures are not appropriately managed. The hydrodynamic flow has been altered by production induced pressure decline; however, the impact on the CO2 migration pathway is likely to be insignificant due to the stronger buoyancy drive. The detailed geological characterisation process identified that both sites are suitable candidates for geological storage of CO2. Geological storage of CO2 is technically feasible in a variety of different geological settings, as demonstrated by studies like these and CO2 storage projects already in operation. Key to the success of a CO2 storage project is an understanding of the stratigraphic architecture and reservoir heterogeneity. This will allow an optimal injection strategy to be devised to utilise the inherent geological characteristics of the site and maximise the benefits of injectivity, capacity and containment for efficient geological storage of CO2.

This book documents and interprets the onshore Cenozoic temperate carbonate depositional system along the southern margin of Australia. These strata, deposited in four separate basins, together with the extensive modern marine system offshore, comprise the largest such cool-water carbonate system on the globe. The approach is classic and comparative but the information is a synthesis of recent research and new information. A brief section of introduction outlines the setting, modern comparative sedimentology offshore, and structure of the Cenozoic onshore. The core of the book is a detailed analysis and illustration of the four Eocene to Pleistocene successions. Deposits range from temperate carbonates, to biosiliceous spiculites, to marginal marine siliciclastics. Each unit is interpreted, as much as possible, based on our understanding of the modern offshore depositional system. A subsequent part concentrates on diagenesis both before and after the late Miocene uplift. It turns out that alteration in the two packages is entirely different. The preceding attributes of each succession are then interpreted on the basis of controlling factors such as tectonics, oceanography, climate, and glaciation of nearby Antarctica. This research has revealed new implications for the interpretation of specific attributes of cool-water carbonate sedimentology that could only be discovered from the rock record. Insights concerning cyclicity, reef mounds, biosiliceous deposition, and trophic resources are detailed in the next section. The concluding part focuses on global comparisons, especially the Mediterranean and New Zealand.