Timeframe: ~310–150 Ma, Late Carboniferous to Jurassic
Geological story
Australia under ice then forests within Gondwana, located near the south pole, resources coal, minerals Gympie (gold-silver) North West Shelf oil & gas, big river systems across Pangea deposit sands that now contain water, oil and gas (Precipice & Hutton sandstones). Ends as Gondwana starts to break-up.
Rocks to show: Permian ice age, Gondwanan forests, Triassic/Permian boundary – mass extinction, ‘coal gap’ red beds replace coal, Triassic rivers, coal, minerals – Tin granites, oil and gas. Tasmanian dolerite – Gondwanan breakup.
Events
- ~300 Ma – much of Australia and rest of Gondwana (Antarctica, India, Southern Africa) under ice
- ~ 270 Ma – Gondwanan Glossopteris forest, coal deposited in Bowen, Gunnedah, Sydney basins
- 252 Ma – end Permian Extinction, largest global extinction 95% marine & 70% terrestrial species
- 250 Ma marine flooding along western margin
- ~245 Ma – Pangean rivers system from Antarctic to Sydney, Hawkesbury & Ross Sandstones
- ~220 Ma – end Hunter-Bowen Orogeny, Gympie gold
- ~200–170 Ma – Eromanga & Surat river systems, Precipice & Hutton sandstones – water, gas reservoirs
- ~175 Ma – prelude to Gondwana breakup, Tasmanian Dolerite
- 155 Ma – seafloor spreading off northwest Australia, Gondwana breakup begins
Rocks included in this theme
- Hawkesbury Sandstone Block 2, NSW
- Mole Granite, NSW
- Mount Gibraltar microsyeneite, NSW
- Precipice Sandstone, Queensland
- Tasmanian Dolerite Block 2, Tasmania
