Paleomagnetic Study of the Devonian Reef Complexes of the Canning Basin, Western Australia

The reef systems in the Canning Basin, Western Australia perhaps are the best exposed and least deformed examples of ancient reef systems known in the world. The recently commenced multi-disciplinary research project in the Devonian reef complex of the Canning Basin is a broad investigation of the depositional history of a carbonate platform using paleomagnetic, stable isotope geochemistry (inorganic and organic), sedimentology, and biostratigraphy. By focusing on the world-class exposures in the Canning Basin, this project seeks to provide a global stratigraphic reference frame for key intervals in life history such as the Frasnian-Fammenian mass extinction event, as well as providing a useful analogue for resource models of other carbonate reef systems elsewhere in the world. This reference frame will consist of a high resolution magnetostratigraphic profile to supplement the presently-sparse Global Polarity Timescale (GPTS) for the Devonian, as well as a chemostratigraphic profile (chiefly carbon isotopes) to identify possible shifts in the global carbon budget associated with biotic crises and/or climate change. Additional goals include identification of the conditions leading up to, and possible causes of the mass extinction event, and testing for a possible mid-Paleozoic episode of True Polar Wander. We report here on a paleomagnetic study of two magnetostratigraphic sections in the Canning Basin to address the goals mentioned above. Paleomagnetic samples have been drilled on the Late Frasnian limestones in the north of the Windjana Gorge National Park, with a total number of 400 core samples. So far preliminary paleomagnetic analysis on pilot samples reveals two characteristic remanent components. One component has a blocking temperatures less than 400 degree Celsius, probably a component of secondary overprint; another component has a blocking temperature around 580 and around 680 degree Celsius, indicating the presence of magnetite and hematite, respectively. The latter component is believed to carry the primary remanence.