Source rock characterisation and petroleum system modelling: a review of marginal marine deposit in the Permo-Triassic Sydney Basin, Australia

Abstract

The marginal marine deposits signature is evident in the Permo-Triassic basins, the Sydney Basin is not an exception, and has not been subjected to source rock characterisation and petroleum system modelling designed at determining the potentials of hydrocarbon resources and its prospectivity. The economic potentials of the marginal marine environment are great, with enormous information in the literature that deals with the development of these deposits. The wide use of major, trace, and rare earth elements for basin analysis studies to unravel the geochemical signatures of sedimentary succession using the discriminatory diagrams fall short of addressing discriminate sediments from different geotectonic environments consequently a lag in source rock characterisation and petroleum system model of the marginal marine deposits. This review provides new insight into source rock, sediment supply, and depositional patterns of the marginal marine deposits in the Permo-Triassic Sydney Basin and its implication to the dearth in petroleum prospectivity.