Geometric and depositional responses of carbonate build-ups to Miocene sea level and regional tectonics offshore northwest Australia

The geometric and depositional responses of isolated carbonate build-ups to Miocene sea-level change and regional tectonics are investigated using 3D seismic and borehole data from the Browse Basin, North West Australia, combined with outcrop information from the Cariatiz Reef, southeast Spain. The interpreted seismic volume documents five (5) Miocene sequence boundaries and five (5) main seismic facies. Seismic attribute analyses proved to be a highly effective tool for interpreting carbonate facies but, when compared with outcrop information from southeast Spain, attribute data are limited to features larger than 16.4 m vertically, and 18.75 m horizontally. Estimations of reservoir potential are thus significantly underestimated when only based on the interpretation of seismic data. As a corollary of the structural analysis in this work, growth patterns suggest Messinian structural partitioning across the Browse Basin, with deformation associated with plate collision focused on preferentially oriented faults, i.e. only influencing carbonate build-up evolution at a local scale.