(Consultant, Minoil Exploration, PO Box 325, Wandin, 3 139. Australia)

I. Campbell

(Consultant of Continental Resources Company, Canterbury Road 197, Canterbury, 3 126. Australia)

E. Joyce Wilson

School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052. Australia)

The Australian continent is cut by a series of linear tectonic networks at continental scale, which are related to geological, geophysical and geomorphological lithospheric characterization. A series of regularly distributed linear tectonic concentration zones become continental corridors, but they can also be decomposed into single linear segments. This segmentation process can range from continental scale to outcrop scale.

G3 and G5 gravity corridors in northwest Australia are examples of ancient linear structures that experienced many revivals from Paleoproterozoic to Holocene. G5 is consistent with Proterozoic Hall Creek active belt and its adjacent Fitzmaurice active belt. G5 corridor can extend to Arafura basin, which affects the tectonic sedimentary history of this sedimentary system. G3 is consistent with the Paleozoic King Leolour active belt in northwest Australia, which can be traced back to the east coast 3,000 kilometers away.

Australia's main minerals and oil and gas resources are preferentially distributed at the intersection of continental scale linear structures. Linear structure reflects the structure of basement and becomes the flow channel of fluid in lithosphere. The intersection of linear structures is a favorable area in geological structures, which becomes a place for migration, precipitation and mineralization of oil and gas and mineralized fluids under suitable geochemical conditions.

Linear structural basement structure; The resurrected Kimberly of Australia

Introduction and research history of 1

Large-scale linear structures on the Australian continent and their relationship with regional structures were first recognized by E.S.Hills, a geological predecessor. The preferred direction is NWW-NW and NNE orthogonal systems, and the secondary direction is S-N direction. This is the case in the NNE-trending Halls Creek Active Zone (HCMZ) and NWW-trending King Leopold Active Zone (KLMZ) in northwest Australia. They formed an orthogonal system and experienced a complex activity history from Paleoproterozoic to Holocene. Its western boundary is consistent with the Lyndoch Bank fault zone on the edge of Arafura basin (Figure 5), which is a Precambrian fault zone with a revival history and is the intersection of Jabiru, Challis, Puffin and Montara oil fields. On land, at the intersection of NS 1 and G3, there are Canning Basin oil fields and diamond-bearing K-Mg lamprophyres in Ellendale and Noonkanbah. The Mississippi lead-zinc deposits in Cadjebut and Blendevale are located at the intersection of G3 and G5, and the world-class Argyle diamond deposits are located at the intersection of G5, G 1 1 and G 12.

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of spatial comparison between main ore deposits and continental linear structures.

Ag-Argyle diamond mine; B-bendigau mine; BH-Boken Hill Ag-Pb-Zn deposit; C-Co-Cu-Au deposit; CJ-cadjebut lead-zinc mine; Ch-corona hillau mine; G-groote eylandtmn mine; K-Kalgoorlie Au/Kambal-Dani ore; Mi Shan is a lead-zinc mine; O-Olympic damuc-au-u mine; T-telferau mine

Fig. 7 Schematic diagram of spatial comparison between main oil fields and continental linear structures.

B-bass strait; C- canning basin; E- Cooper-Eromanga; North-northwest continental shelf; P— Haiyan/tern; SR- Scott reef; Saint-Sunrise/bard; Timor sea

Fig. 8 schematic diagram of the intersection of large deposits, oil and gas fields and continental linear structures in northwest Australia.

Ag-Argyle diamond mine; B-blina oilfield; C-challis oilfield; CJ-cadjebut lead-zinc mine; E-ellendale diamond mine; J-Jabiru oilfield; N-nookanbah diamond mine; Sh-sorby hills lead-zinc mine

On a smaller scale, the main deposits (G3/G5 intersection) in the Hall Creek area in the southeast of Kimberly Plateau are spatially consistent with the regional structural corridor obtained by linear analysis of satellite images. The trans-regional structural corridors determined from satellite data, HC 1, HC2 and HC3, are preferably linearly arranged belts. In the field, the NE-oriented HC 1 corridor intersects with the NNE-oriented HCMZ(G5) at a low angle, showing a group of parallel faults, river systems, NE-oriented mountains and early Proterozoic granite dense zones. It can be seen that it lives long. The intersection of HC2 and HC3 is not exact, and it is easy to be ignored if satellite images are not used. They are mainly manifested as a series of faults in the wild. The two largest deposits, the lead-zinc-copper deposit in Kongji Park and the Salimalini-nickel-copper deposit [9], are located at the intersection of regional linear structures.

5 conclusion

Orderly arranged linear tectonic concentration zones are called continental corridors, and in many cases, they run through the whole country as continuous zones. The antiquity of these corridors was confirmed by their appearance in Proterozoic. Their longevity is reflected in their resurrection over a long period of time. The research shows that these continental linear structures are the concentrated areas of tectonic, magmatic and sedimentary activities, which control the regional structures and sedimentary history along the corridor, such as G3 and G5. The optimal layout of the basin boundary shows that the fault activity is concentrated along or parallel to the linear structure as the regional deep source convergence zone. The spatial correlation between linear structures and mineral deposits and oil and gas fields can be reflected on all scales from continental scale to local scale. According to the linear structure theory, copper, gold and uranium deposits were discovered in the Olympic Dam, which shows that this technology has great potential for prospecting and prediction. On all scales, under favorable geological and geochemical conditions, ore deposits are often closely related to linear structures, especially their intersections.

As an energy release zone (such as magmatism, faulting and fluid flow zone), the intersection of linear structures is beneficial to the formation and accumulation of mineral resources. This may be because the intersection is a long-term tectonic active zone. Therefore, they are the areas where fracture porosity increases, the channels of deep crust and mantle fluids, and the potential mixing areas of fluids with different chemical compositions. In oil and gas exploration, the intersection of linear structures will be the place where fracture porosity increases (migration channel), the active place of erosion and deposition (oil-bearing stratum), the place with high heat flow value (maturity) and the tectonic active zone (trap stratum).

(Translated by Song Yuan of Song Honglin School)

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