Do you trust a geological map? (Part 2)

In an earlier post I showed an example of how making the assumption that published geology maps are correct has some big problems. In that example it was the digging of test pits where coal was uncovered which clearly showed the mapping was wrong. Since that post I found another example and this one only needed a look out the car window to know that something was wrong!

My interpretation of the geology of the area in question
Note that the area is approximately 7km across

I had a 4WD day a few weeks ago in the Bungabee State Forest between Lismore and Kyogle. The state forest is located on the southern section of the Mackellar Rangers. It is a nice area but as usual for the Richmond River catchment is invaded by noxious and environmental weeds (In fact the worst variety of weeds I saw that day was at the National Parks managed Muckleewee Mountain Nature Reserve). But I digress... It was during this 4WD trip that I looked out of the window! Where there were cliffs or rocks exposed in streams I glanced out and saw that they were clearly Clarence-Moreton Basin sedimentary rock. I didn't think this was particularly unusual at the time but when a quick opportunity arose I had a closer look.

Present mapping (Brunker et al 1978)
Area is the same as my map above

At the base of the range (near Muckleewee Mountain Nature Reserve) I broke off a fresh bit of rock from a cliff face. The ‘fresh’ sedimentary rock was a rusty brown colour. It was composed of grains that were made from other rock fragments, from feldspar and from quartz. I'd call it a litharenite according to the classification of Pettijon et al (1987), however I might have underestimated the amount of clay particles in it. The appearance of the litharenite was quite dull. I consulted a geological map that night and noticed that the area was not even mapped as sedimentary rock. It was mapped as Lismore Basalt, old lava flows. There were however some areas on the map, a few kilometres away that did have some sedimentary rock (mapped as Kangaroo Creek Sandstone). However, the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone has a distinct saccaroidal texture, a sparkly sugar grained appearance. It was clearly quite different to the rock I was looking at. The only thing that looked consistent to me was larger scale features in the cliff faces showing cross-bedding. However, cross-bedding is a very common feature in most of the Clarence Moreton Basin.

So, with my field observations mind and while reviewing a new stratigraphic guide for the youngest members of the Clarenece-Moreton Basin, the rock I was looking at appeared to be consistent with the expected rock in the Bungawalbin Member of the Orara Formation as defined by Doig & Stanmore (2012). See this previous post for more details. When I found some spare time I did a quick remapping of the area based… As you can see from the pictures my mapping is quite different. This again just goes to show that a geological map might not give you an answer. It is best to look in the field and deeply consider what you find.

References/bibliography:

*Brunker R.L., Cameron R.G., Tweedale G. and Reiser R., 1972, Tweed Heads 1:250 000 Geological Sheet SH/56-03, 1st edition, Geological Survey of New South Wales, Sydney

*Doig, A., & Stanmore, P. 2012. The Clarence-Moreton Basin in New South Wales; geology, stratigraphy and coal seam gas characteristics. Eastern Australian Basins Symposium IV. Brisbane.

*Pettijohn, F.J., Potter, P.E., & Siever, R. 1987. Sand and Sandstone. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

The Orara Formation and the reviewed Kangaroo Creek Sandstone

There has been an increase in our understanding of the Clarence-Moreton Basin in recent years. The central upper portions of the basin have had several cored and un-cored boreholes drilled during exploration for natural gas, especially Coal Seam Gas. In this post, I will cover the implications of this exploration on our understanding of the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone and the recognition of another previously unknown unit.

In a previous post I described the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone. This unit was identified as a formation directly overlying the Walloon Coal Measures (and the MacLean Sandstone Member of the Walloon Coal Measures) (McElroy 1963). However, a recent paper (Doig & Stanmore 2012) attempts to resolve newly identified characteristics which have resulted in the authors proposing the creation of a new formation called the Orara Formation. It is proposed by Doig & Stanmore (2012) that the Orara Formation is comprised of two member units. These are another new unit called the Bungawalbin Member and the now demoted Kangaroo Creek Sandstone Member.

Doig & Stanmore (2012) found that the proposed Bungawalbin Member differed substantially from the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone and overlying Grafton Formation. They describe the Bungawalbin as between 45m-115m thick and dominated by mudstone and carbonaceous mudstone that is thinly bedded with fine grained sandstone with increasing amounts of massive, medium-grained quartzose sandstone beds near the base of the member. The unit is interpreted as a persistent low energy riverine floodplain environment.

The Bungawalbin Members contact with the underlying Kangaroo Creek Sandstone Member is transitional. With the medium-grained quartz rich sandstone becoming dominant in the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone. The composition and formation history of the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone has not been questioned but the significant fine grained component of the Bungawalbin Member necessitates the distinction between these two members. Additionally, Doig & Stanmore (2012) clearly demonstrated that the geophysical response of the Bungawalbin Member was substantially different from the Kangaroo Creek Sandstone.

Hence, we are learning more about the land on which we live. The geology is slowly becoming better understood. It is interesting to observe that there has been no detailed work on the upper most formations of the Clarence-Moreton since the 1960’s. The drilling that has occurred has unlocked more hidden characteristics of the basin. It helps our understanding of basin history as well as the original intention of finding gas resources. There is more to cover in future posts including understanding of the basins youngest formation, the Grafton Formation, but that will come soon.

References/bibliography:

*Doig, A. & Stanmore, P. 2012. The Clarence-Moreton Basin in New South Wales: geology, stratigraphy and coal seam gas characteristics. Paper presented at the Eastern Australasian Basin Symposium IV. Brisbane.
*McElroy, C.T., 1963. The Geology of the Clarence-Moreton Basin. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of New South Wales, Geology. 9.