The Musgrave Province - NT's most underexplored terrane

Abstract

Most mineral exploration within the Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic of the Northern Territory has been focused on the Palaeoproterozoic basement terranes of the North Australian Craton and on Northern Australian platform cover rocks such as the McArthur Basin. In comparison, the more juvenile Proterozoic crust that lies to the south of the North Australian Craton, including the Warumpi Province (southwestern Arunta) and Musgrave Province3, has received little attention from explorers. The Musgrave Province within the NT is one of the most underexplored Proterozoic terranes on the Australian continent, with an average of 1 drillhole for every 210 km2. The geological framework of the Musgrave Province was a focus of NTGS studies in the 1990s (see List of selected NTGS publications in the Musgrave Province) and a summary of the geology of the Musgrave Province has recently been published (Edgoose et al 2004). Recent flying of the 2001 Eromanga and 2004 Simpson airborne surveys have completed high-resolution airborne magnetic coverage of the Musgrave Province at exploreable depths. NTGS is continuing its investigations in the Musgrave Province through collaborative research programs with the University of Adelaide.