The Canning Basin is a large, intracratonic basin located between the Halls Creek Province and the Pilbara Block in the Great Sandy and Gibson Deserts region of Western Australia. Although blanketed by Cainozoic superficial sediments, reconnaissance mapping, drilling, and geophysical data have shown that the Canning Basin sequence is composed of faulted and folded Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks up to 18 km thick. The geology of the onshore Canning Basin is characterised by five major periods of sedimentation; each period comprising a number of marine and continental phases, and each separated by major intervals of erosion with or without tectonism. The first period occurred during the Early Ordovician when predominantly marine sediments were deposited. The second period extended from possibly the Silurian through to the Early Carboniferous, Evaporitic marine, then continental-to-marine sediments were laid down, including a thick sequence of reef-carbonates during the Devonian. Tensional tectonism during this depositional phase formed the Fitzroy Trough and adjacent shelves and terraces in the northeast of the Canning Basin. The third period of sedimentation began in the Late Carboniferous with both marine and continental sedimentation, initially under glacial conditions, and continued under a warmer climate into the Early Triassic, with marine and minor fluvial sediments accumulating. This was followed by a major phase of compressional tectonism, probably during the Early Jurassic, which resulted in some right lateral shear and reverse movement along the Fenton Fault System at the southern margin of the Fitzroy Trough, and the folding of sediments within the Trough. The fourth period of sedimentation commenced in late Early Jurassic times and continued until the Early Cretaceous with regional transgression from the northwest together with some fluvial influence, and ended with a minor transgression from the adjoining Officer Basin to the southeast. The final major period of sedimentation was in the Cainozoic, during a wet climate, when a well-preserved dendritic palaeodrainage system developed on a land surface dominated by a duricrusted peneplain. As conditions became drier, salt lakes and sand dunes formed. Later, near shore marine and continental sediments accumulated along the coast in response to a fluctuating sea level. Good reservoir rocks and hydrocarbon source rocks are present within the Canning Basin sequences. Many potential petroleum trap structures have been tested with limited success. The best potential targets appear to be the Devonian reefs and the overlying Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous Fairfield Group. The Jurassic sandstones, Tertiary valley calcrete, and Quaternary alluvium are prospective for good quality groundwater.
