The importance of understanding basement and structural inheritance: insights on basin evolution in the greater McArthur and South Nicholson region

Structural inheritance has played a key role in the long evolution of the Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic basins of the McArthur and South Nicholson region. As a result, a reliable geological model of the nature of basement and variations in its rheology are key to understanding the basin evolution and prediction of the thickness and distribution of units at depth and undercover. Despite the limited outcrop of crystalline basement in this region, the crust of the North Australian Craton (NAC) can be subdivided into a series of distinct terranes including rheologically strong cratonic blocks that are separated and bounded by linear, high-density terranes comprising rheologically weaker zones of crust. Over cratonic blocks, sediment packages tend to be relatively flat-lying, constant thickness and undisturbed.