Paralic and periglacial facies and contemporaneous deformation of the late Proterozoic Olympic Formation, Pioneer Sandstone, and Gaylad Sandstone, Amadeus Basin, central Australia
Abstract
The Olympic Formation is a Lake Proterozoic unit of basinal mudstone, shallow marine to fluvial sandstone and conglomerate deposited in the Amadeus Basin east of Alice Springs. Dropstones associated with the conglomerate indicate glacial activity of Marinoan age, although there is no evidence of a continental ice sheet covering the area at that time. Palaeocurrent directions suggests highs in the south and northeast. The Gaylad Sandstone is locally conformable on the Olympic Formation, although generally the formations are separated by an angular unconformity that records part of the Souths Range Orogeny. Deformation continued during deposition of the Gaylad Sandstone, and an intra-Gaylad angular unconformity developed. Correlation of the Pioneer Sandstone and the Olympic Formation appears to rely heavily on correlation of the dolomite at Ellery Creek with that in the Olympic Formation.
- Publication:
-
Geological and Geophysical Studies in the Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, Bulletin 236
- Pub Date:
- 1991
- Bibcode:
- 1991ggsa.rept..127F
- Keywords:
-
- Earth Crust;
- Precambrian Period;
- Sandstones;
- Stratigraphy;
- Structural Properties (Geology);
- Tectonics;
- Australia;
- Dolomite (Mineral);
- Geochronology;
- Glaciers;
- Lakes;
- Metamorphism (Geology)