The WINTINNA 1:250 000 mapsheet area lies between latitudes 27° to 28° South and longitudes 133°30’ to 135°00’ East. This ~16 400 square km area includes the Marla and Cadney Park settlements, and is crossed by the Stuart Highway and Adelaide to Darwin Railway. WINTINNA's topography is broadly convex, gently sloping towards the south-east and south, forming an incised plain where duricrusted plateaus, mesas and buttes retain older land stability surfaces (pediments). Inverted topography abounds where Cenozoic erosion has and continues to incise or undercut exposed softer strata. Elevation extremes include an un-named high point at 436 m, and an alluvial plain at ~130 m ASL; the typical range is ~170 to ~350 m. The ephemeral Alberga River flows in from the more elevated Musgrave Ranges situated to the north-west on ALBERGA, and drains eastwards across WINTINNA onto OODNADATTA. The ephemeral Neales River and Arckaringa Creek headwaters commence flowing in the centre of WINTINNA, and travel eastwards and south-eastwards respectively. Portions of the Great Victoria and Pedirka Deserts occupy the south-western and north-eastern quadrants. Geology: The WINTINNA area contains crystalline basement rocks of the Archaean to Proterozoic Gawler Craton and Proterozoic Musgrave Province, overlain by four successive sedimentary basins wherein episodic deposition has spanned more than 700 million years. Outcropping granitic gneiss, granitic dykes and subcropping metasediments of the Yoolperlunna Inlier, and subsurface Nawa Domain Middle Bore Subdomain (mafic orthogneiss), Ammaroodinna Subdomain and Nawa Domain rocks, are intruded in the subsurface by Neoproterozoic Gairdner Dolerite dykes. Unconformably overlying the basement are rocks of the Neoproterozoic Officer Basin sedimentary succession: Willouran age Callanna Group sediments and volcanics; Torrensian age ?Burra Group sediments; Sturtian age ungrouped glaciogene to fluvial sediments and volcanics; and Marinoan age Lake Maurice Group and Ungoolya Group sediments. Resting unconformably on this succession is the Cambrian-Ordovician Officer Basin sedimentary succession of the Marla and Munda Groups. These sediments are in turn overlain unconformably by Carboniferous-Permian Arckaringa Basin glaciogene to fluviatile and paludal (coal-bearing) sediments. Regionally extensive Mesozoic Eromanga Basin terrigenous to marine sediments cover much of WINTINNA, and they unconformably overlie the older strata. The Eromanga Basin rocks are commonly deeply weathered and partly indurated where they have been exposed to several Cenozoic weathering regimes. Cenozoic sediments blanket much of this area. Fossils from WINTINNA include Neoproterozoic stromatolites and trace fossils from the Cambrian; plant impressions in Permian coal seams; and shelly fauna, petrified wood and invertebrate burrows preserved in Cretaceous Eromanga Basin units. Palaeoproterozoic transpressional deformation and metamorphism, caused by many collisions of crustal masses, affected the Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic rocks of WINTINNA during the Palaeoproterozoic Kimban and Mesoproterozoic Kararan Orogenies. Mesoproterozoic metamorphism and faulting also affected rocks of this region during the Musgravian Orogeny. Crustal extension activity during the Early Neoproterozoic is indicated by parallel dolerite dykes. Crustal sagging which occurred during Officer Basin growth episode 1, and then a regional uplift event, brought on the deposition of thick Adelaidean sediments. The late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Petermann Orogeny next affected rocks of this region. Palaeozoic deposition of the thick Cambrian succession of Officer Basin episode 2 was halted in the late Ordovician by the Delamerian Orogeny regional uplift. Transpressive deformation occurred in the mid-Palaeozoic with the Alice Springs Orogeny and Boorthanna Trough reactivation, and related sedimentation. These orogenies folded Palaeoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic sediments, and promoted much diapirism, uplift and significant erosive episodes. Deformation of Palaeozoic sediments involved gentle folding, significant overthrusting and some thermal overprinting. Later deformation has been very mild, and is restricted to regional sagging (Arckaringa and Eromanga Basins), moderate Cenozoic uplift, and limited faulting. Resources: Prospecting, exploration and drilling for minerals and petroleum done on WINTINNA since the 1900s have located coal, oil-bleeds on drillcore, Cu-Pb-Zn sulphides, common and precious opal and limestone. Coal seam gas (Carboniferous-Permian Arckaringa Basin), unconventional gas and conventional gas (Neoproterozoic-Ordovician Officer Basin) are considered major exploration targets. Zinc and lead are interpreted to be prospective within the subsurface Manya Trough and Middle Bore Subdomain fracture zone. Sedimentary uranium is also a potential regional exploration target. Small-scale mining has so far extracted road construction materials and precious opal. Groundwater is a valuable commodity and is widely used by Marla and Cadney Park residents, regional pastoralism, tourism and wildlife. The main aquifers occur within Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic rock sequences. The earliest wells were drilled between the 1890s and 1960s. Geothermal energy has a moderate prospectivity in this area, based upon recent in situ down-hole measurements and regional interpretive assessments.