Sedimentology and stratigraphy of an intra-cratonic basin coal seam gas play: Walloon subgroup of the Surat Basin, eastern Australia

Abstract

Large gas reserves are trapped in the coals of the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Walloon Subgroup (lower part of the Injure Creek Group) in the Surat Basin, eastern Australia. The series is divided into the Juandah Coal Measures (upper), Tangalooma Sandstone and Taroom Coal Measures (lower). The upper and lower units are locally further subdivided. These economically important coals were deposited in an alluvial plain setting within an interior basin, which has no recorded contemporaneous marine influence. The coals are typically bituminous, perhydrous and low rank with a high volatile content. Despite individual ply (bench) thicknesses typically less than a metre, series of plies or seams of coals up to 10 m thick have historically been tentatively correlated across the entire play area (over 150 km). Show more