Cisuralian coals of the Mullaley Sub-basin, northern New South Wales

There have been more than 100 boreholes sunk to basement investigating the (lower Permian) Cisuralian coal and coal seam gas resources of the Mullaley Sub-basin since the early 1990s. A desktop review of this open file information has allowed the formal correlation and naming of six Cisuralian coal members attaining a maximum 35 m of cumulative thickness within an upward coarsening sedimentary package totalling no more than 150 m.

In ascending order, the coal members are: Bibblewindi (0–10 m), Bohena (3–18 m), Collygra (0.5–3 m), Coxs (1.5–4 m), Tullamullen (0.5–4 m) and Mooki (0.5–3 m). Cisuralian coal seams in the Maules Creek Formation of the southern Mullaley Sub-basin are here correlated with those of the Greta Coal Measures at Werris Creek and Muswellbrook. It is apparent that basement paleotopography played a significant role in the Cisuralian coal development as coals are best developed where the sedimentary sequence is greater than 60 m thick, as there the thick seams (Bohena and Bibblewindi coal members) occur towards the base of the sequence.