The Connors-Auburn Province in eastern Queensland is a gold and silver rich volcanic arc bounded by the hydrocarbon-rich Bowen Basin to the west and the volcanic-dominated Campwyn Subprovince and Whitsunday Province to the east (Figure 1). Understanding the distribution of rocks and cover, structures and the 3D architecture serves to constrain areas of economic interest as well as provide broader contributions to the interpretations of geology in the region.

Between Mackay and Bowen, the earliest government geological observations in the area were in 1889 by Maitland and 1903 by Cameron. The earliest detailed mapping covering the 1:250,000 Mackay and Proserpine map sheets was undertaken in 1966 by Jensen et al. and 1971 by Paine. Since then, mapping has been undertaken in these areas with the periodic completion of 1:100,000 scale map sheets. The goal of this mapping has aimed to identify and improve the accuracy of structures, mineral occurrences and rock and cover distribution at the surface (surface geology) and with depth (solid geology and cross sections). Perhaps inevitably due to different geologists with different approaches during different time periods mapping across these map sheets, some mapping programs have resulted in geological interpretations differing across the edges of map sheets (Figure 2). Recent mapping in the area (Figure 1 and 3) has sought to resolve these inconsistencies (Figure 1).

Some of the recent mapping by the GSQ has specifically focussed on producing seamless surface and solid geology interpretations between Bowen and Mackay by addressing inconsistent interpretations across map sheets (Figure 2). The opportunity has also been used to contribute to the ongoing detailed solid geology (Figure 1) coverage of Queensland and construct cross-sections (Figure 1) reviewing the geological architecture in the region.

For more details or if you have any questions, please contact Joshua Spence.

References:

Cameron, W.E., 1903. Additions to the Geology of the Mackay and Bowen Districts. Geol. Surv. Qld Publ. 181.

Davies, D.R., Rawlinson, N., Iaffaldano, G., Campbell, I.H., 2015. Lithospheric controls on magma composition along Earth’s longest continental hotspot track. Nature 525, 511–514. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14903

Jensen, A.R., Gregory, C.M. and Forbes, V.R., 1966. Geology of the Mackay 1: 250,000 Sheet Area Queensland (Vol. 104). Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics.

Maitland, A.G., 1889. Geological features and mineral resources of the Mackay district. Geol. Surv. Qld Publ. 53.

Paine, A., 1972. Proserpine, Queensland. Bureau of Mineral Resources 1: 250,000 Geological Series Explanatory Notes SF/55, 4.