Insights from the Devonian Adavale Basin on the tectonic history of the Thomson Orogen

This research aims to advance our understanding of the expansion of the Australian continent during the Palaeozoic. Geological remnants of specific sedimentary basins in southwest Queensland and north-western NSW were used as focus sites. A novel multi-method approach used sediment compositional information and Uranium-Lead mineral dating in combination with novel statistical methods to constrain the relative timing, sediment pathways and connectivity of these basins. The research showed that although a major period of stabilisation of the Australian continent had occurred by the beginning of the Devonian, approximately 400 million years ago, the new sedimentary basins were not yet directly connected