Chalmers, S. C.2025-07-162025-07-162022https://hdl.handle.net/2440/145983This item is only available electronically. Whole thesis (as available).The Murray Basin hosts one of the world’s largest strandplain systems with large resources of heavy mineral sands (HMS). Associated with the Loxton-Parilla Sands formation, Murray Basin HMS are a key contributor to Australia’s titanium and zirconium production. Critical to discovery of new HMS deposits is determining the provenance of the HMS. Within the northern Murray Basin, a large resource of >1.2 billion tonnes of HMS at the Copi North deposit are delineated. However, provenance studies of the Copi North HMS (both shallower and deeper deposits) are currently lacking. In this study, the provenance of Copi North’s lower HMS deposit wasdetermined using zircon and rutile U-Pb geochronology and geochemistry. Of all zircon U-Pb ages (concordance ≤5%), over 84% fall into the age range of 0 – 1250 Ma with remaining zircon ages recorded as high as ca. 2630 Ma. Approximately 47% of zircons are derived from the Tasmanides to the northeast (0 – 480 Ma). Roughly 48% are considered to be derived from the Adelaide Superbasin (>500 Ma) and roughly 5% from the Delamerian Orogen (514 – 490 Ma), both of which provide an easterly transported source of HMS. Over 98% of rutile U-Pb ages (concordance ≤5%) are between 475 –550 Ma correlating to the provenances of the Adelaide Superbasin and Koonenberry Belt. Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA) shows subtle differences between the two deposits highlighting minerals seen in the deeper deposit that are absent in the shallower deposit (e.g., sanidine, celestine and cordierite) as well as those that are absent in the lower deposit but observed in the shallower deposit (e.g., kyanite and scheelite). These results show a subtle difference in mineral makeup and provenance between the two HMS deposits at Copi North. Further investigation into the geochronology of rutile grains from the Adelaide Superbasin and Koonenberry Belt would corroborate these findings.enHonoursGeologyzirconrutileU-Pb geochronologytrace elements Heavy Mineral SandsprovenanceMurray BasinCopi NorthThesis