Phanerozoic stratigraphy and structure of the northern Barrier Ranges,western New South Wales |
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| Authors: | G Neef R S Bottrill A Ritchie |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Applied Geology , University of New South Wales , NSW, 2052, Australia;2. Department of Mines , PO Box 56, Rosny Park, Tas., 7018, Australia;3. Australian Museum , PO Box A285, Sydney South, NSW, 2001, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Devonian strata near Fowlers Gap and Nundooka Stations, northern Barrier Ranges comprise ～2.7 km of sparsely fossiliferous, fluvially deposited sandstones (Mulga Downs Group). These strata are subdivided into the Coco Range Sandstone (oldest, Emsian‐Eifelian) found west of the north‐trending Nundooka Creek Fault, and the Nundooka Sandstone (youngest, ?Frasnian‐Famennian found east of the fault). Eleven stratigraphic units are mapped and two of these in the Coco Range Sandstone are formally named as The Valley Tank Arenite and Copi Dam Arenite Members. The Coco Range Sandstone and Nundooka Sandstone are tentatively correlated with strata in the Bancannia Trough. Deposition of the Coco Range Sandstone and Nundooka Sandstone was, however, separate from that of the Bancannia Trough, probably due to topographic highs which occurred east of the Western Boundary Fault. The Coco Range Sandstone is cut by northeast‐trending faults splaying from the Nundooka Creek Fault. These faults have vertical planes and are thought to predate deposition of the Nundooka Sandstone. In the Late Cretaceous the Nundooka Creek and Western Boundary Faults became active and areas west of these faults were uplifted to form Coco Range and Bald Hill. This fossil landscape was progressively buried by deposition of the Palaeocene‐Eocene Eyre Formation until it was half covered by strata. During the Oligocene silcrete of the Cordillo Surface formed and was overlain conformably by the sandy Doonbara Formation (Miocene). Since the Miocene, much of the Eyre Formation has been removed by erosion to exhume a Late Cretaceous landscape. Subsequently in the ?Pliocene there was some faulting along the Nundooka Creek and Western Boundary Faults because locally the Cordillo Surface and the Doonbara Formation dip toward the faults at 30–72°. At three localities there is evidence of probable Quaternary activity on the Nundooka Creek and the Western Boundary Faults (downthrow to the east) suggesting a different style of tectonics from that in the Miocene. |
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| Keywords: | fish fossils petrology stratigraphy structure |
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