Detrital zircon data reveal the origin of Australia’s largest delta system Justin D. MacDonald Simon P. Holford Paul F. Green Ian R. Duddy Rosalind C. King Guillaume Backé 10.6084/m9.figshare.3453224.v1 https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Detrital_zircon_data_reveal_the_origin_of_Australia_s_largest_delta_system/3453224 <p>The Late Cretaceous Ceduna Delta is the largest deltaic system on the Australian continent, yet its source is unknown. Apatite fission-track data reveal widespread Late Cretaceous exhumation across the southern Australian margin. New detrital zircon analysis of 786 grains from the Gnarlyknots-1 well, which penetrated the offshore delta top, show that the upper part of the delta (Santonian–Maastrichtian) was sourced largely from recycled Permian to Early Cretaceous cover and underlying basement eroded from the margin, proximal to the basin. This challenges the widely accepted model involving distal provenance of >2000 km from the eastern margin of Australia. </p> 2016-06-21 11:14:17 Australian continent Australian margin delta system 786 grains Detrital zircon data New detrital zircon analysis deltaic system Cretaceous exhumation Cretaceous Ceduna Delta Geology