Review of Exhumation and Implications for Hydrocarbon Exploration in Australia

The subsidence history of sedimentary basins is recorded and can be relatively easily reconstructed from the preserved stratigraphic sequence. Uplift events, above sedimentary base level are expressed only by hiatuses or unconformities. Hence, quantifying the exhumation associated with uplift is intrinsically more problematic than quantifying the burial associated with the subsidence. Detailed study of the exhumation in basins is of particular significance since can provide crucial information about the petroleum exploration and for investigating the dynamic driving forces of basin uplift events. The aim of this article is to evaluate the magnitudes of exhumation in two well known petroliferous basins, the Cooper Eromanga Basins of South Australia and Queensland, based on different techniques and to consider the implications for petroleum exploration.