Geology, geochemistry and depositional history of the Port Campbell Limestone on the eastern flank of the Otway Basin, southeastern Australia

Abstract

A fully cored sequence of Hesse Clay, Port Campbell Limestone and uppermost Gellibrand Marl in the onshore Otway Basin, southeastern Australia, offers new insight into the evolution of the middle Miocene Port Campbell Limestone. The Port Campbell Limestone comprises grey unconsolidated to semi-consolidated and rarely lithified bioclastic muddy carbonate sands in a stack of thin repetitive cycles within cycles of predominantly shoaling-upward character. A glauconitic band with a distinctive mollusc–echinoderm–bryozoan fauna provides a distinctive marker interval in the sequence. In mineralogy, the Port Campbell Limestone is predominantly calcite with traces of remnant aragonite in muddier low-permeability sands, and with dolomitic zones in permeable intervals. The small non-carbonate component of the Port Campbell Limestone is between 3 and 15 wt% and comprises quartz silt with minor clay, feldspar and mica. Dissolution overprints are prominent throughout the carbonate sequence. Three distinct geochemical signatures of provenance are evident in the Port Campbell Limestone sequence, including possible volcanogenic contributions with felsic sources. Foraminifera are common and generally well preserved. Foraminiferal data suggest a depositional transition from outer shelf conditions in the Gellibrand Marl at ca 15 Ma to middle shelf environments in the lower part of the Port Campbell Limestone during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) at ca 14.24 Ma. Shallowing after 14 Ma indicates variable paleodepths of <70 m during and following the end of the Middle Miocene Climatic Transition (MMCT) at ca 13.2 Ma when the sequence was emergent for a brief but undetermined period, corresponding with sharp changes in geochemical ratios. Observed cyclicity in these mid-shelfal, cold-water carbonates is strongly correlated with orbital forcings—eccentricity and obliquity. Sedimentation rates determined from cyclostratigraphic analysis indicate 4–6 cm/kyr at the end of the MMCO, diminishing to 1.5–3 cm/kyr during the MMCT and the subsequent accumulation of the Port Campbell Limestone.

KEY POINTS

1. The Port Campbell Limestone is a stack of thin repetitive depositional cycles within cycles. The cyclicity is strongly correlated with orbital forcings—eccentricity and obliquity—and this is reflected in the geochemistry.

2. Foraminiferal data suggest a depositional transition from outer shelf conditions in the Gellibrand Marl at ca 15 Ma to middle shelf environments in the lower part of the Port Campbell Limestone during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) at ca 14.24 Ma.

3. The sequence was emergent for a brief but undetermined period at ca 13.2 Ma, corresponding with sharp changes in geochemical ratios.

4. Three distinct geochemical signatures of provenance are evident in the Port Campbell Limestone sequence, including possible volcanogenic contributions with felsic sources.

Keywords:

• Miocene
• climate
• geology
• geochemistry
• foraminifera
• paleoenvironmental
• eccentricity
• cyclicity

Acknowledgements

Groundwave of Geelong conducted the sonic drilling. Wireline logging was by George Haskil of Q Tech. Supervision of drilling was by KS Chan (CO2CRC), Riccardo Esposito (UPS) and Peter Dumesny (UPS). Ross Spulak and Georgy Falster (GA) provided on site preparation, handling and shipping of core. The authors gratefully acknowledge laboratory sampling for paleontology by Christian Thun, Andrew Kelman and Kamal Khider. XRD Analysis was by Simon Weber and Tara Webster. Sample preparation for paleontology, particle size analysis, geochemistry with ICPMS and XRF was undertaken by the Geoscience Australia Sample Preparation and Physical Geology Laboratory and Inorganic Geochemistry teams. Petrographic thin-sections were made by Jim Duggan. Many thanks to Chris Evenden (GA) for drafting of figures and Shahadat Hossain (GA) for preparing the 3D image of the site (Figure 4). Tim Evans (GA) is thanked for his review of an earlier version of this manuscript. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their useful and insightful comments. AF, AK, LW, DC and ET publish this paper with the permission of the Chief Executive Officer, Geoscience Australia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at Geoscience Australia at https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/146045

Additional information

Funding

We thank CO2CRC and their corporate sponsors for supporting this project (SRD 3.3). DDV was funded through the Cluster of Excellence The Ocean Floor—Earth’s Uncharted Interface.