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1 General Review of Permian Sediments in Western Australia
to 6500 m thick Permian sediments in Sue No.1 bore in the South Perth Basin on
the western (down-faulted) side of the Darling fault. The sediments on both sides
closely resemble each other, representing the true span between the Sakmarian base
of the Permian and the Upper Permian. On the whole, the continental Permian Basins
of Collie–Wilga and south-western Perth Basin may have well constituted a southwestern extension of a continental block located between the Eucla Basin in the
south and the northern Perth Basin, the Canning Basin and Carnarvon Basins in the
north and north-west, the so-called ‘Interior Plateau’ of McWhae et al. (1958). Based
on palynostratigraphic correlations, Backhouse (1990) also suggests that the Collie
and South Perth Basin coal measures were developed over much of the southern
Yilgarn block and beyond. The northern Perth Basin on the other hand comprises
interchanging and intergrading continental and marine deposits, thus representing
a transition between the continental facies of the ‘Interior Plateau’ and the marine
facies of the Carnarvon Basin.
Key Map