THE TINTABURRA STRUCTURE, EROMANGA BASIN, QUEENSLAND – A POSSIBLE CRETACEOUS IMPACT CRATER IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

The Eromanga Basin in central Australia preserves at least two early Cretaceous aged impact structures. The Tookoonooka and Talundilly structures are both large impact craters that disrupt the regionally mappable seismic ‘C-Horizon’, which corresponds to the base of the Wallumbilla Formation. These craters have been noted as a potential twin impact structure by Gorter (2012).

35 km to the north east of Tookoonooka, the Tintaburra structure is a small simple crater identifiable on 2D seismic lines. This structure disrupts the C-horizon and continued slumping in the overlying seismic packages. It is associated with a circular magnetic low. It is also on a trend-line between the Tookoonooka and Talundilly structures. The Tintaburra potential timing and location between the two larger structures suggests that it could have originated from the same fragmented bolide that created the Tookoonooka and Talundilly craters.