AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Environmental conditions and microbial community structure during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event; a multi-disciplinary study from the Canning Basin, Western Australia

The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) is regarded as one of the most significant evolutionary events in the history of Phanerozoic life. The present study integrates palynological, petrographic, molecular and stable isotopic (&delta;13C of biomarkers) analyses of cores from four boreholes that intersected the Goldwyer Formation, Canning Basin, Western Australia, to determine depositional environments and microbial diversity within a Middle Ordovician epicontinental, tropical sea. Data from this study indicate lateral and temporal variations in lipid biomarker assemblages extracted from Goldwyer Formation rock samples. These variations likely reflect changing redox conditions between the upper (Unit 4) and lower (Units 1 + 2) Goldwyer, which is largely consistent with existing depositional models for the Goldwyer Formation. Cryptospores were identified in Unit 4 in the Theia-1 well and are most likely derived from bryophyte-like plants, making this is the oldest record of land plants in Australian Middle Ordovician strata. Biomarkers in several samples from Unit 4 that also support derivation from terrestrial organic matter include benzonaphthofurans and δ13C-depleted mid-chain n-alkanes. Typical Ordovician marine organisms including acritarchs, chitinozoans, conodonts and graptolites were present in the lower and upper Goldwyer Formation, whereas the enigmatic organism <i>Gloeocapsomorpha prisca </i>(<i>G. prisca</i>) was only detected in Unit 4. The correlation of a strong <i>G. prisca</i> biosignature with high 3-methylhopane indices and 13C depleted <i>G. prisca</i>–derived chemical fossils (biomarkers) is interpreted to suggest an ecological relationship between methanotrophs and <i>G. prisca</i>. This research contributes to a greater understanding of Ordovician marine environments from a molecular perspective since few biomarker studies have been undertaken on age-equivalent sections. Furthermore, the identification of the oldest cryptospores in Australia and their corresponding terrestrial biomarkers provides further insight into the geographical distribution and evolution of early land plants.

<b>Citation:</b> Gemma Spaak, Dianne S. Edwards, Clinton B. Foster, Anais Pagès, Roger E. Summons, Neil Sherwood, Kliti Grice, Environmental conditions and microbial community structure during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event; a multi-disciplinary study from the Canning Basin, Western Australia, <i>Global and Planetary Change</i>, Volume 159, 2017, Pages 93-112, ISSN 0921-8181
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.10.010.

Tags: Biomarkers, Canning Basin, Cryptospores, Darriwilian, EARTH SCIENCES, Gloeocapsomorpha prisca, Methanotrophs, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Harris Greenstone Domain GeoPDF

The Harris Greenstone Domain (HGD) is a late Archean-Proterozoic arcuate tectnostratigraphic terrane in the centre of the Gawler Craton. It is bound to the south by the Yerda Shear Zone and has a lithological zone boundary to the north with the Wilgena Domain. The basement comprises Archean ultramafic-mafic extrusives (Lake Harris Komatiite), aluminous metasediments (Christie Gneiss), felsic extrusives and intrusives (Kenalla Gneiss), felsic intrusives (Glenroth Granite), and Proterozoic felsic intrusives (Hiltaba Suite Granite, St Peter Suite), felsic and mafic extrusives (Gawler Range Volcanics), and fluvial-marine sedimentary rocks (Tarcoola Formation, Pandurra Formation).

The HGD is characterised by a series of sub-parallel east-northeast trending sinuous magnetic high features flanked by large ovoid to elongate magnetic highs and lows. The prominent narrow magnetic highs constitute the Archean Harris Greenstone Belt (HGB). Rock types in this poorly exposed belt include komatiite, komatiitic basalt, tholeiitic basalt, and subordinate banded iron formation, metasediments, felsic volcanics, and pyroclastics metamorphosed to amphibolite facies during the Sleafordian Orogeny at ~2440 Ma. The Lake Harris Komatiite, which represents the most eastern occurrence of komatiite in Australia, has potential for Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide and lode-Au mineralising systems. The prospective greenstone sequence is covered by thin (&lt;50 m) Quaternary sand and Eocene fluvial channel deposits. The distribution and structure of the greenstones is based largely on interpretation of aeromagnetics, gravity, and diamond drillcore.

This map has been produced as a GeoPDF, which is an extension to the standard PDF file format viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Layers can be turned off and on to customise the view of the data, similar to using Geographic Information System tools. In addition, GeoPDF maps are georeferenced to be compatible with other coordinated geographic data. Coordinate locations and distances can be retrieved automatically. 

A plug-in to view GeoPDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download ( http://terragotech.com/solutions/map2pdf_reader.php ).

Tags: AU-SA, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, geology, geophysics
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Data from the Deep:  New Geological Results from Geoscience Australia's Marine Survey of Frontier Basins, Southwest Australian Margin

Under the Australian Government's Offshore Energy Security Program, Geoscience Australia conducted a marine reconnaissance survey (GA2476) from October 2008 to January 2009 using the German research vessel RV Sonne.  The 90-day survey acquired geological and geophysical data over poorly known areas of the Zeewyck and Houtman sub-basins (Perth Basin), the southern Exmouth Sub-basin and Bernier Platform (southern parts of the Carnarvon Basin) and the Cuvier Plateau (also referred to as the Wallaby Plateau).  Over the duration of the survey, a total of 229 000 square kilometres of multi-beam sonar data and almost 25 000 line kilometres of gravity, magnetic and sub-bottom profiler data was collected.   Geological targets were identified using a combination of pre-existing seismic lines, concurrently acquired seismic lines (Geoscience Australia survey 310) and simultaneously acquired swath bathymetry, sub-bottom profiler records and camera tows.  In general, submarine canyons provided the best opportunity for sampling the pre-breakup sedimentary strata as they were deeply incised and had steep slopes. Other steep slopes were identified in scarps, ridges and peak features.  Sites were selected mainly to recover rocks from the pre-breakup succession (Valanginian and older) in order to determine the synrift sedimentary rocks and to identify any potential source rocks.  A number of dredges were also acquired to sample the post-breakup succession and peak features that were potentially volcanic.  Thirty stations operating in water depths from 1,000 to 5,000 metres recovered rocks.  Rock types, age constraints, depositional environments and geochemistry results from the rock samples have been tied into the tectonostratigraphic framework for the frontier depocentres (identified in GA's new s310 seismic data and vintage seismic data).  The insight gained has helped assess the potential petroleum system elements for these frontier depocentres and will feed into petroleum system modelling.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Other Publication, Published_External, geochemistry, marine, marine survey, palaeontology, petroleum exploration, sedimentary basins
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Bathymetry of the Australian Margin 2012

Flythrough of the Austrlalian Margin (not including the northern margin) showing detail of the Exmouth Plateau, Perth Canyon, Murray Canyons, NSW Slope and Great Barrier Reef.  Gridded bathymetry data shown in this product  was sourced from GA and James Cook University.

Tags: AU, Earth Sciences, Flythrough, Multimedia, Published_External, bathymetry, geomorphology, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Marine Gravity, Magnetic and Bathymetry Levelled Line Data in the Australian Region

This compilation of gravity, magnetic and bathymetry ship-track line data, derived from the Geoscience Australia marine geophysical survey database 'Mardat', has been levelled in preparation for gridding. Data are included from Geoscience Australia geophysical surveys acquired since the 1970's as well as surveys from other institutions. The levelling process reduces mis ties between intersecting surveys of various vintages so that they can be integrated and represented as continuous surfaces.

The compilation consists of time-indexed ASCII fixed format files organised by survey with a record spacing approximately 150m. Each survey file contains geographic coordinates and the potential field and bathymetry data, both unlevelled (source data as in Mardat) and levelled. The compilation does not include shot-indexed data as may be recorded on seismic reflection surveys.

Note: The marine data was levelled by Desmond FitzGerald &amp; Associates from 1998-2001, and Ron Hackney in 2009-2011. The final data were further reviewed by Yvette Poudjom Djomani prior to the release.

Tags: Data Package, Earth Sciences, Published_External, bathymetry, data, gravity, magnetics, marine, marine survey
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
5028 Block 3 (Northwest) Grid of equivalent air-absorbed dose rate with NASVD and standard reductions applied

The radiometric, or gamma-ray spectrometric method, measures the natural variations in the gamma-rays detected near the Earth's surface as the result of the natural radioactive decay of potassium (K), uranium (U) and thorium (Th). The data collected are processed via standard methods to ensure the response recorded is that due only to the rocks in the ground. The results produce datasets that can be interpreted to reveal the geological structure of the sub-surface. The processed data is checked for quality by GA geophysicists to ensure that the final data released by GA are fit-for-purpose. The total dose rate is due to natural sources of radiation and is computed by adding estimates of cosmic dose at ground level to the terrestrial dose. The terrestrial dose rate grid is derived as a linear combination of the filtered K, U and Th grids. A low pass filter is applied to this grid to generate the filtered total dose rate grid.
This 5028 Block 3 (Northwest) Grid of equivalent air-absorbed dose rate with NASVD and standard reductions applied has a cell size of  degrees (approximately 20m) and shows the total dose rate of the Narryer survey. The data used to produce this grid was acquired in 2024 by the WA Government, and consisted of 415090 line-kilometres of data at 100m line spacing and 50m terrain clearance.

Tags: Australia, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, K, NASVD, NCI, Published_External, Th, U, WA, airborne digital data, dose rate, gamma-ray, geophysical survey, geophysics, grid, potassium, rad, radiometrics, raster, rate, spectrometry, survey 5028, thorium, total dose, uranium
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
National Gravity Compilation 2019 includes airborne tilt grid

Gravity data measure small changes in gravity due to changes in the density of rocks beneath the Earth's surface. The data collected are processed via standard methods to ensure the response recorded is that due only to the rocks in the ground. The results produce datasets that can be interpreted to reveal the geological structure of the sub-surface. The processed data is checked for quality by GA geophysicists to ensure that the final data released by GA are fit-for-purpose. 
This National Gravity Compilation 2019 includes airborne tilt grid is derived from the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids B series. These gravity data were acquired under the project No. 202008. The grid has a cell size of 0.00417 degrees (approximately 435m). This gravity anomaly grid is derived from ground observations stored in the Australian National Gravity Database (ANGD) as at September 2019, supplemented with offshore data sourced from v28.1 of the Global Gravity grid developed using data from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego. Airborne gravity and gravity gradiometry data were also included to provide better resolution to areas where ground gravity data was not of a suitable quality. Out of the approximately 1.8 million gravity observations, nearly 1.4 million gravity stations in the ANGD together with Airborne Gravity surveys totalling 345,000 line km and 106,000 line km of Airborne Gravity Gradiometry were used to generate this grid. The ground gravity data used in this grid has been acquired by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments, the mining and exploration industry, universities and research organisations from the 1940's to the present day. Station spacing varies from approximately 11 km down to less than 1 km, with major parts of the continent having station spacing between 2.5 and 7 km. Airborne surveys have a line spacing ranging from 0.5 km to 2.5 km. Terrain corrections to gravity were calculated using both offshore bathymetry and onshore topography data. The grid shows the tilt filter of the complete Bouguer anomalies (B series) over Australia and its continental margins.

Tags: Australia, B series, Bouguer, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, NCI, None, Published_External, airborne, complete, digital data, geophysical survey, geophysics, gradiometry, grav, gravity, grid, marine, raster, round, satellite, spherical cap, survey 202008, tilt
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Using Inherent Optical Properties to Investigate Biogeochemical Dynamics in a Tropical Macrotidal Coastal System

The variability in the inherent optical properties along an estuary-coast-ocean continuum in tropical Australia has been studied. The study area, the Fitzroy Estuary and Keppel Bay system, is a shallow coastal environment (depth &lt; 30 m) with highly turbid waters in the estuary and blue oceanic waters in the bay and subject to macrotides. Biogeochemical and inherent optical properties (IOPs) were sampled in the near-surface layer spatially and across the tidal phase during the dry season. These determinations included continuous measurements of spectral absorption, scattering and backscattering coefficients, together with discrete measurements of spectral absorption coefficients of phytoplankton, nonalgal particles and colored dissolved organic matter, and concentrations of phytoplankton pigments and suspended matter. Because of a large variability in the characteristics of the water components on short spatial and temporal scales, we observe a large variability in the associated optical properties. From the estuary to the bay, particle scattering and dissolved absorption decreased by 2 orders of magnitude, and nonalgal particle absorption decreased by 3 orders of magnitude. We also observed a strong variability in particle single scattering albedo and backscattering efficiency (by a factor of 6) and in specific IOPs (IOPs normalized by the relevant constituent concentration) such as suspended matter-specific particle scattering and chlorophyll-specific phytoplankton absorption. Superimposed on this strong spatial variability is the effect of the semidiurnal tide, which affects the spatial distribution of all measured properties. These results emphasize the need for spatially and temporally adjusted algorithms for remote sensing in complex coastal systems.

Tags: AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, coasts, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Seabed Environments, Habitats and Biological Assemblages

Pitcher, C.R., P.J., Doherty, and T.J. Anderson. (2008). Seabed environments, habitats and biological assemblages. pages 51-58. In: Hutchings, P.A., M.J. Kingsford, and O. Hoegh-Guldberg (eds.). The Great Barrier Reef: Biological, Environment and Management. CSIRO Publishing, Springer.

Tags: AU-EEZ, Article, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, habitat, marine, seabed
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
A New Coral Reef Province in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia: Colonisation, Growth and Submergence During the Early Holocene

Multibeam sonar mapping, drill cores and underwater video data have confirmed the existence of a previously unknown reef province in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.  Seven reefs, comprised of coral limestone that support living corals have been mapped so far and as many as 50 other reefs may exist in the region.  U/Th ages show that reef growth commenced shortly after limestone pedestals were submerged by rising sea level around 10.5 kyr BP, making them the oldest reefs known in Australia. Reef growth persisted for ~2.0 kyr but it had ceased at most locations by ~8.0 kyr BP. Measurements of reef growth rates (0.95 to 4 m kyr-1), indicate that the reefs were unable to keep pace with contemporaneous rapid sea level rise (&gt;10 m kyr-1), which is consistent with a 'give up' reef growth history.  Core samples from reef platforms demonstrate that Pleistocene limestone is exposed in depths of 27 and 30 m below present mean sea level. These depths represent regionally significant phases of reef growth during a prolonged sea level still stand. We conclude that the reefs are therefore mostly relict features, whose major phase of growth and development relates to an earlier, pre-Holocene sea level stillstand.

Tags: AU-NT, AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, carbonate, continental shelf, geochronology, marine, palaeogeography
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
A Review of Surrogates for Marine Benthic Biodiversity

A growing need to manage marine biodiversity sustainably at local, regional and global scales cannot be met by applying the limited existing biological data.  Abiotic surrogates of biodiversity are thus increasingly valuable in filling the gaps in our knowledge of biodiversity patterns, especially identification of hotspots, habitats needed by endangered or commercially valuable species and systems or processes important to the sustained provision of ecosystem services. This review examines the use of abiotic variables as surrogates for patterns in benthic assemblages with particular regard to how variables are tied to processes affecting biodiversity and how easily those variables can be measured at scales relevant to resource management decisions.

Tags: AU-EEZ, CERF, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, abiotic surrogates, bathymetry, marine, marine biodiversity, organic geochemistry, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
The palaeogeography of the Bass Strait land-bridge, a vital zone of human and biological connectivity across southeastern Australia

Land-bridges are key regions of human connectivity, yet how geography affected peoples' movement during flooding is poorly understood. Bass Strait is one of the most important land-bridges in Australasia, separating Lutruwita/Tasmania from the mainland of Australia. The land-bridge forms a key part of Country among the region's First Peoples, with people able to move across the clan estates and residential places of the exposed Bass Strait by foot until its flooding after the Last Ice Age. In this study, we utilise high-resolution bathymetry to understand landscape change during sea-level rise. We find that rates of shoreline transgression can exceed 30&nbsp;m/yr, signalling that 15 km of land would have been drowned in a persons lifetime. This rapid rate of change is within a person's life-span and would have profoundly affected individuals as they resided in and travelled across Country. We also find that people first crossed the land-bridge very soon after its exposure during climate cooling events. The analysis provides a benchmark for understanding land-bridge flooding and in turn its impact on human migrations.

<b>Citation:</b> David M. Kennedy, Ali Jalali, Bruno David, Matthew C. McDowell, Rachel A. Nanson, Ashleigh J. Rogers, Russell Mullett, Joanna Fresløv, Jessie Birkett-Rees, Juliet Sefton, Daniel Ierodiaconou, The palaeogeography of the Bass Strait land-bridge, a vital zone of human and biological connectivity across southeastern Australia, <i>Quaternary Science Reviews</i>, Volume 369, 2025, 109606, ISSN 0277-3791,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109606.

Tags: Australia-wide geoscience data, First Nations, Geomorphology and earth surface processes, Offshore Mapping, Physiography, Published_External, Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity, Sea Level, marine geomorphology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Regional Jurassic sediment depositional architecture, Browse Basin: Implications for petroleum systems

The Browse Basin hosts considerable gas and condensate resources, including the Ichthys and Prelude fields that are being developed for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. Oil discoveries are sub-economic. This multi-disciplinary study integrating sequence stratigraphy, palaeogeography and geochemical data has mapped the spatial and temporal distribution of Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous source rocks. This study allows a better understanding of the source rocks contribution to the known hydrocarbon accumulations and charge history in the basin, including in underexplored areas. The Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous source rocks have been identified as being the primary sources of the gases and condensates recovered from accumulations in the Browse Basin as follows: 
- The Lower–Middle Jurassic J10–J20 (Plover Formation) organic-rich source rocks have been deposited along the northeast-southwest trending fluvial-deltaic system associated with a phase of pre-breakup extension. They have charged gas reservoired within J10–J20 accumulations on the Scott Reef Trend and in the central Caswell Sub-basin at Ichthys/Prelude, and in the Lower Cretaceous K40 supersequence on the Yampi Shelf.
- Late Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous J30–K10 source rocks are interpreted to have been deposited in a rift, north of the Scott Reef Trend and along the Heywood Fault System (e.g. Callovian–Tithonian J30–J50 supersequences, lower Vulcan Formation). The J30–K10 shales are believed to have sourced wet gas reservoired in the K10 sandstone (Brewster Member) in the Ichthys/Prelude and Burnside accumulations, and potentially similar plays in the southern Caswell Sub-basin.
- The organic-rich source rocks observed in the Heywood Graben may be associated with deeper water marine shales with higher plant input into the isolated inboard rift. They are the potential source of fluids reservoired within the Crux accumulation, which has a geochemical composition more closely resembling a petroleum system in the southern Bonaparte Basin.

Tags: Browse Basin, Jurassic, Published_External, palaeogeography, petroleum systems, source rocks
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data