The South Blackwater Reservoir analogue project

The late Permian Rangal Coal Measures of the Bowen Basin, east central Queensland, have been the subject of a detailed investigation into floodbasin facies architecture in coalbearing environments. An extensive geophysical database, comprising well logs for over 230 boreholes and supplemented by core samples and excellent highwall exposures, has been used to determine the distribution of facies within interseam successions of the Kenmare Underground Mine, South Blackwater Coal Mine. Maps of sedimentary facies, sand percent and interval thickness are presented for each of three sub-intervals within the Pollux (C) to Castor (B) interseam and a fourth interval between the Castor (B) and Aries (A) seams. These maps depict a small sub-basinal depression, 4 km x 2.75 km, and record accumulations of overbank and crevasse splay sediments derived from a large channel network located outside the margins of the study area. The Lower Sub-Interval of the Pollux to Castor interseam records the early stages of elastic sedimentation, with numerous crevasse splay complexes and associated crevasse splay channels encroaching on distal floodbasin environments and shallow floodbasin lakes in the central part of the study area