The Georgina Basin is a large (c. 330,000 km²) intracratonic

sedimentary basin Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock They form when long-term subsidence ...

in central and northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, lying mostly within the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and partly within

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

.Smith, KG (1972). "Stratigraphy of the Georgina Basin." Bureau of Mineral Resources, Australia, Bulletin 111. It is named after the

Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georg ...

which drains part of the basin. Deposition of locally up to c. 4 km of marine and non-marine

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s took place from the

Neoproterozoic The Neoproterozoic Era is the last of the three geologic eras of the Proterozoic geologic eon, eon, spanning from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago, and is the last era of the Precambrian "supereon". It is preceded by the Mesoproterozoic era an ...

to the late

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

(c. 850-350 Ma). Along with other nearby sedimentary basins of similar age (

Amadeus Basin The Amadeus Basin is a large (~170,000 km2) intracratonic sedimentary basin in central Australia, lying mostly within the southern Northern Territory, but extending into the state of Western Australia. Origins The Amadeus Basin is name ...

, Officer Basin), the Georgina Basin is believed to have once been part of the hypothetical Centralian Superbasin, that was fragmented during episodes of tectonic activity.

References

External links

Georgina Basin page at Northern Territory Geological Survey
*http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Minerals_Energy/Geoscience/Content/File/Pubs/Record/NTGSRec2002-004.zip Georgina Basin SEEBASE Project report (April - May 2002) at Northern Territory Geological Survey (zip) Sedimentary basins of Australia Geology of the Northern Territory Geology of Queensland Proterozoic geology Paleozoic geology North West Queensland Cambrian paleontological sites Paleozoic paleontological sites of Australia {{Australia-geology-stub

See also

References

External links