When One Quarter of Australia Was A Sea

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#inlandsea #australia #ocean
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Step back in time over 800 million years and uncover one of the most awe-inspiring and overlooked chapters in Australia’s geological history—the rise and fall of the Centralian Super basin, a colossal inland sea system that once dominated the heart of the continent. This in-depth video reveals how the interior of Australia, now a vast expanse of arid outback, was once submerged beneath shallow, tropical waters, forming a continuous marine basin that stretched across what is today the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia. Through expert storytelling grounded in cutting-edge geological science, we explore how this immense basin came to be, what forces shaped it, and why it remains a key to understanding Earth’s ancient past.

The video delves into the tectonic and volcanic origins of the Centralian Superbasin, tracing its formation to the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia. Around 830 to 800 million years ago, vast swarms of volcanic intrusions—like the Gairdner Dyke Swarm—sliced through the continental crust, signaling massive crustal extension and mantle upwelling beneath central Australia. These events weakened the Earth's crust, allowing it to sag and form a broad, low-lying depression that would soon become flooded by encroaching seas. This was not a single body of water, but a series of interconnected shallow marine environments that deposited thousands of meters of sandstones, carbonates, evaporites, and shales over millions of years.

As we examine the sedimentary sequences preserved in basins such as the Amadeus, Georgina, Ngalia, Officer, and the lesser-known Savory Basin, the video explores four major depositional phases—known as Supersequences. Each supersequence reflects changing environmental conditions, from tranquil tropical seas and salt flats to global glacial cataclysms during the Sturtian and Marinoan ice ages. These ice ages, also known as Snowball Earth events, brought glaciers to equatorial regions and left behind telltale signs in the Centralian Superbasin: scratched and faceted glacial clasts, dropstones in fine marine muds, and cap dolomites that marked the abrupt transition from deep freeze to hothouse.

The narrative continues through the dramatic tectonic disruptions that shattered this once-continuous basin. The Petermann Orogeny, around 550 million years ago, uplifted a central mountain range, splitting the superbasin into the smaller structural basins we recognize today. Later, the Alice Springs Orogeny reactivated ancient faults and further deformed the sedimentary layers, leaving behind geological landmarks such as the tilted sandstones of Uluru and the rugged MacDonnell Ranges. These orogenic events not only altered the landscape but also played a key role in the migration of mineralizing fluids, influencing the region’s resource potential.

Beyond its geological intrigue, the Centralian Superbasin offers vital clues to the evolution of life on Earth. Within its sedimentary record lie stromatolites—layered microbial structures that pumped oxygen into the atmosphere—as well as microfossils and early biomarkers that reveal the slow rise of complex life.

Studies Used To Construct This Video:
Early history of the Amadeus Basin: Implications for the existence and geometry of the Centralian Superbasin:


Early-stage intracontinental rifting in the Neoproterozoic Centralian Superbasin: Systematic U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopes in detrital and inherited zircons from the Yeneena Basin, northwest Australia:


Link to the video I made on the Petermann Ranges:


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00:00-00:56 - Introduction To The Centralian Superbasin
00:57-02:04 - Rodinia Fragments Apart: A Superbasin Forms
02:05-02:33 - Australia's First Inland Sea is Born
02:34- 03:21- Early Life Thrives
03:22-04:34 - An Extreme Ice Age Occurs (Snowball Earth)
04:35-05:40 - The Ice Age Finally Ends (For Now...)
05:41-06:10 - Another Snowball Earth Event Strikes
06:11-06:30 - The Global Ice Age Ends (This Time For Good)
06:31-07:12 - Complex Life Evolves
07:13-08:22 - Odoo's Project Management App
08:23-10:46 - Dramatic Tectonic Upheaval Starts
10:47-11:31 - The End of The Centralian Super Basin
11:32-12:45 - Another Mountain Building Event Starts: The Alice Springs Orogeny
12:46-16:15 - Why Should We Care About The Centralian Superbasin?
16:16-17:31 - Conclusion & Patreon / YouTube Member Thank You!