Uranium ore-forming systems of the - Geoscience Australia

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Uranium ore-forming systems of the Lake Frome regionThe abundance of magmatic-hydrothermal and related ‘primary’ uranium mineralisation in the MtPainter Inlier and southern Curnamona Province may be one key factor in determining the fertilityof the Frome region for ‘secondary’ basin-related uranium systems.2.2 LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY OF PHANEROZOIC BASINSParts of the Cambrian Arrowie Basin (Fig. 2.1) are preserved beneath younger basins in the LakeFrome region and crop out in the northern Flinders Ranges. The Paleozoic strata areunconformably overlain by Mesozoic units of the very extensive Eromanga Basin, which locallyonlaps onto Proterozoic basement. The lobe of the Eromanga Basin extending southwards into theLake Frome region is known as the Frome Embayment.The Mesozoic units are overlain by Cenozoic sediments of the Lake Eyre Basin. The CallabonnaSub-basin constitutes that part of the Lake Eyre Basin bounded to the west by the Flinders Rangesand Mt Painter Inlier, to the south by the outcropping Curnamona Province, and to the east by theBarrier Ranges.Figure 2.1: Distribution of Cambrian rocks of the Arrowie Basin in relation to Proterozoic domains inSouth Australia and western New South Wales. The Olary and Broken Hill Domains form the southernpart of the Curnamona Province. The outline of Lake Frome is shown within the area of the Moorowie‘Syncline’ or sub-basin. Source: Gravestock and Cowley (1995).Page 13 of 151
Uranium ore-forming systems of the Lake Frome region2.2.1 Paleozoic – Arrowie BasinIn the study area the Arrowie Basin is represented by the Moorowie and Yalkalpo ‘Synclines’ orsub-basins which contain thick unfolded strata to the west and east, respectively, of the BenagerieRidge (Gravestock and Cowley, 1995, Figs. 2.1, 2.2). The Arrowie Basin is comprised ofshallow marine sedimentary siliciclastic and carbonate deposits. The succession has beensubdivided into three sequences: Є1, a carbonate dominated sequence that progrades intoevaporite facies at the top the sequence; Є2, a redbed and carbonate sequence, and Є3, a thickpackage of red sandstones that coarsen up-sequence (Drexel, et al., 1993). Between sequences Є1and Є2 minor episodic tectonic and volcanic activity occurred.Petroleum exploration in the Moorowie sub-basin delineated a number of ‘shows’ but nosignificant discoveries have been made.Figure 2.2: Stratigraphic relationship diagram for the Arrowie Basin showing the correlation betweenlithologies and sequences. Source: Gravestock and Cowley (1995).2.2.2 Mesozoic – Eromanga BasinThe Eromanga Basin is an intracratonic sag basin covering some million square kilometres ofeast-central Australia (Fig. 2.3). A detailed stratigraphic framework for the Eromanga andadjacent basins was constructed by Gravestock et al. (1986), Krieg (1995) and Radke et al. (2000),among others. The Eromanga Basin has been subdivided into three main stratigraphic sequences:a lower non-marine sequence (early Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous), a middle marine sequence(early Cretaceous) and an upper non-marine sequence (late Cretaceous).The lower non-marine sequence consists of medium-grained sands deposited in a braided fluvialenvironment, followed by fine-grained lacustrine sands, silts and shales. Volcaniclastic material ismore abundant in the lower non-marine succession to the north and east of the Frome Embayment,Page 14 of 151
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