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A geochemical investigation into the resource potential of the Lawn Hill Platform, northern Australia

Created 19/11/2025

Updated 19/11/2025

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The Lawn Hill Platform (LHP) is a sedimentary province in northeastern Northern Territory and northwestern Queensland that hosts a significant Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic sequence often referred to as the Isa Superbasin and including the overlying South Nicholson Group. Shale gas resources and base-metals mineralisation are known in northwest Queensland but the larger basin is underexplored. The Australian Government’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) 2016−2020 program aims to boost resource exploration in northern Australia. New precompetitive geochemical data obtained in this program includes source-rock geochemistry, kerogen kinetics, bitumen reflectance, biomarker and 13C n-alkanes for understanding the petroleum potential, organic geochemistry of source rocks and fluids, stratigraphic correlations, and mineralogy to determine the brittleness of shales. All data and derived reports are accessible on the EFTF portal (www.eftf.ga.gov.au), providing a central location for informed decision making. The results in this study demonstrate fair to excellent source rocks in multiple supersequences that are brittle and favourable to hydraulic stimulation. A comparison to the greater McArthur Basin demonstrates that although there are many similarities in bulk geochemistry, LHP mudstones are largely heterogeneous, reflecting local variations that may be inherited from variations in contributing biomass, microbial reworking, depositional environment, sediment input and paleoredox conditions. Citation: Jarrett Amber J. M., Bailey Adam E. H., Boreham Christopher J., Palu Tehani, Hall Lisa, Shannon April, Collins Alan S., Vinnichenko Galina, Brocks Jochen, Li Zhongsheng, Munson Tim J., Edwards Sally, Carr Lidena, Henson Paul (2020) A geochemical investigation into the resource potential of the Lawn Hill Platform, northern Australia. The APPEA Journal 60, 722-731. https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19118

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Field Value
Title A geochemical investigation into the resource potential of the Lawn Hill Platform, northern Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/3596d069-68c2-4c42-b12c-5a82091989c2
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 04/07/2025
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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  "type": "Polygon"
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Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "A geochemical investigation into the resource potential of the Lawn Hill Platform, northern Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/a-geochemical-investigation-into-the-resource-potential-of-the-lawn-hill-platform-northern-aust1