Sedimentary deposits of the Great Australian Superbasin, extensively developed across eastern Australia and covering almost a fifth of the continent, chronicle a rich record of palaeoenvironmental changes in northeastern Gondwana through the Jurassic and basal Cretaceous (Berriasian to Barremian). However, aside from the Surat Basin in the southeastern sector of the superbasin, little of this record has been examined closely. Likewise, the chronostratigraphy of the northern superbasin succession is poorly constrained. This study documents palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic records of the Carpentaria Basin at the northern extremity of the superbasin by integrating detailed sedimentary facies analysis with ichnology, palynology and U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology. This new geochronological data provides a refined age framework for the basin. At broad scale, the succession records the transition from a mixed paralic/fluviatile setting (Middle to Late Jurassic) to fully marine (Early Cretaceous) conditions. The depositional surface during basin accumulation stood close to sea level for which minor fluctuations induced a complex facies mosaic resulting in marked lithostratigraphic diachroneity for the basin fill. Two hitherto undocumented, discrete transgressive marine intervals, in the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian-Bathonian) and Late Jurassic (~Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) are identified. The former correlates with marine influence recorded in the Eromanga and Surat basins, and reflects extensive marine ingression from the north into the superbasin. The latter correlates with previously documented marine influence in the southeastern Carpentaria basin and the Surat Basin, indicating that a southeasterly-directed marine seaway existed across the Great Australian Superbasin during the Middle to Late Jurassic.

大澳大利亚超级盆地的沉积物广泛分布于澳大利亚东部，覆盖了整个大陆的近五分之一，它记录了冈瓦纳东北部通过侏罗纪和基底白垩纪（从贝里斯到巴里米亚）的古环境变化的丰富记录。但是，除了超级盆地东南部的苏拉特盆地外，几乎没有仔细检查过该记录。同样，北部超级盆地演替的年代地层也受到严格限制。这项研究通过将详细的沉积相分析与植物学，孢粉学和U-Pb碎屑锆石年代学相结合，记录了上盆地北端卡彭塔里亚盆地的古环境和古地理记录。这些新的年代学数据为盆地提供了完善的年龄框架。从广义上讲，该演替记录了从混合的寄生/易变的环境（中侏罗纪到晚侏罗纪）到完全海洋（早白垩世）的过渡。盆地堆积过程中的沉积面接近海平面，微小的波动引起了复杂的相镶嵌，导致盆地填充物具有明显的岩性地层垂直误差。在中侏罗世（巴乔古-巴松尼）和晚侏罗世（〜基米底尼安-蒂通尼）中，发现了两个迄今未记载的离散海侵间隔。前者与记录在Eromanga和Surat盆地的海洋影响相关，并反映了从北部到超级盆地的大量海洋入侵。后者与先前记录的东南卡彭塔里亚盆地和苏拉特盆地的海洋影响有关，