The stratigraphic record of prebreakup geodynamics: Evidence from the Barrow Delta, offshore Northwest Australia

The structural and stratigraphic evolution of rift basins and passive margins has been widely studied, with many analyses demonstrating that delta systems can provide important records of postrift geodynamic processes. However, the apparent lack of ancient synbreakup delta systems and the paucity of seismic imaging across continent‐ocean boundaries mean that the transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading remains poorly understood. The Early Cretaceous Barrow Group of the North Carnarvon Basin, offshore NW Australia, was a major deltaic system that formed during the latter stages of continental rifting and represents a rich sedimentary archive, documenting uplift, subsidence, and erosion of the margin. We use a regional database of 2‐D and 3‐D seismic and well data to constrain the internal architecture of the Barrow Group. Our results highlight three major depocenters: the Exmouth and Barrow subbasins and southern Exmouth Plateau. Overcompaction of pre‐Cretaceous sedimentary rocks in the South Carnarvon Basin, and pervasive reworking of Permian and Triassic palynomorphs in the offshore Barrow Group, suggests that the onshore South Carnarvon Basin originally contained a thicker sedimentary succession, which was uplifted and eroded prior to breakup. Backstripping of sedimentary successions encountered in wells in the Exmouth Plateau depocenter indicates that anomalously rapid tectonic subsidence (≤0.24 mm yr −1 ) accommodated Barrow Group deposition, despite evidence for minimal, contemporaneous upper crustal extension. Our results suggest that classic models of uniform extension cannot account for the observations of uplift and subsidence in the North Carnarvon Basin and may indicate a period of depth‐dependent extension or dynamic topography preceding breakup.