AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Informing environmental management with landscape mapping

Under the Antarctic Treaty system, Australia is committed to a range of environmental protection measures. Some, such as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs), are supported by management plans, but these often lack scientific evidence to support robust management decisions. Without the protection of snow and ice, rocky ice-free regions in Antarctica are easily damaged and are slow to recover. We will present examples from the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, to show how surficial geology maps in ice-free areas can support evidence-based management of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and polar landscapes.
ASPA No. 143 Marine Plain is valued for its “outstanding fossil fauna and rare geological features” (ATCM XXXVI 2013). We used regional geological mapping and field observations to derive recommended access points to the ASPA and reduce the likelihood of damage to fossil fauna. Our results are being used to inform revision of the ASPA management plan which will be considered at the next Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
We also identified a fragile fossil polychaete reef near Deep Lake in the Vestfold Hills which is vulnerable to accidental damage from trampling. Our results show how physical environmental datasets can support informed management of scientific, wilderness, and aesthetic values.
References:
ATCM XXXIV, 2013. Measure 9. Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 143 (Marine Plain, Mule Peninsula, Vestfold Hills, Princess Elizabeth Land): Revised Management Plan
Presented at the 2024 Australian Antarctic Research Conference

Tags: Antarctic geoscience, Antarctica, Geomorphology and earth surface processes, Published_External, environmental management, geology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
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 Gloeocapsomorpha prisca (G. prisca) was only detected in Unit 4. The correlation of a strong G. prisca biosignature with high 3-methylhopane indices and 13C depleted G. prisca–derived chemical fossils (biomarkers) is interpreted to suggest an ecological relationship between methanotrophs and G. prisca. 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.
Citation: 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, Global and Planetary Change, 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
Preparing for the expected Tropical Cyclones in South East Queensland

Ask a Queenslander where tropical cyclones (TCs) occur, and the inevitable response will be North Queensland. Whilst most of the tropical cyclones have made landfall north of Bundaberg, the cascading and concurrent effects are felt much further afield. The major flooding following TC Yasi in 2011 and TC Debbie in 2017, are just two examples where impacts were felt across the State, and of course, the wind impacts to the banana plantation following TC Larry (2006) was felt nationally.&nbsp;
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South East Queensland has not been forgotten when it comes to tropical cyclone impact with an event crossing Coolangatta in 1954. There was also the more recent TC Gabrielle which tracked offshore on its path southwards to New Zealand.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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Acknowledging that climate is influencing the intensity and frequency of more intense severe weather hazards, understanding how tropical cyclone hazard varies under future climate conditions is critical to risk-based planning in Queensland. With this climate influence, along with increasing population and more vulnerable building design in South East Queensland (relative to northern Queensland), there is an urgent need to assess the wind risk and set in place plans to reduce the impacts of a potential tropical cyclone impact in South East Queensland.

Citation: Sexton, J., Tait, M., Turner, H., Arthur, C., Henderson, D., Edwards, M; Preparing for the expected: tropical cyclones in South East Queensland. AJEM 38:4, October 2023, pages 33-39.

Tags: Natural Hazards, Published_External, Queensland, disaster, emergency management, impacts, risk, tropical cyclone
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Numerical modelling of settlement of municipal solid waste in landfills coupled with effects of biodegradation

This paper presents the development of a new settlement model to predict the long-term settlement of municipal solid wastes (MSWs). The total settlement of the MSWs results from the direct loss of solids due to decomposition and compression due to stress variation induced by loss of solids, flow of gas and liquid and mechanical creep. The geotechnical properties of MSWs are considered as functions of degrees of biodegradation (DOB). To validate the model, two settlement profilers (2.5 years) and three geodetic monitoring networks (2 years) were installed at Mugga Lane Landfill, ACT, Australia to monitor the settlement of an MSW lift and three closed landfill cells, respectively. The settlement rates of the landfill cells with the ages of 7, 8, 14, and 8, 9 and 15 years are 0.53, 0.35, 0.06 and 0.46, 0.36, 0.05 mm/day, respectively. In addition, 5 large scale and 3 small scale bioreactors were set up in the field and laboratory to address the long-term physical, mechanical and biochemical behaviours of the MSWs under different stress levels. The predicted settlement is compared to the test results from the bioreactors, in-situ monitoring data and the settlement predicted using an existing model, which has been improved by coupling the geotechnical properties of MSWs with DOBs. The predicted settlement using the proposed model well fits the test results and monitoring data. The settlement strain is predicted to be 28.2 % during the filling stage of the landfill and 5.9 % in 5 years after the closure.
Citation: Yuekai Xie, Jianfeng Xue, Alistair Deane, Numerical modelling of settlement of municipal solid waste in landfills coupled with effects of biodegradation, Waste Management, Volume 163, 2023, Pages 108-121, ISSN 0956-053X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2023.03.025.

Tags: Geospatial information systems and geospatial data modelling, Published_External, biodegradation, global navigation satellite system - GNSS, mechanical creep, municipal solid waste, settlement
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around Australia 2020

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around the Australian Continent, not including Cocos Island, subantarctic territories or the AAT. Updated in April 2021 from "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around Australia" GeoCat 81641 to conform with "Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020" data by Geoscience Australia.
One of the 27 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789).
Depicting Australia's continental shelf  as proclaimed in the "Seas and Submerged Lands (Limits of Continental Shelf) Proclamation 2012" established under the "Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973".  Background bathymetric image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetric and topographic grid by GA and a grid by Smith and Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory.
A0 sized .pdf downloadable from the web.
For public web access only.
For further advice contact Director Georegulation Team : maritime@ga.gov.au

Tags: Administrative Boundaries, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Marine Jurisdiction, Published_External, Thematic Map, bathymetry, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Digital Earth Australia - Unlocking New Value from Earth Observation Data

Petascale archives of Earth observations from space (EOS) have the potential to characterise water resources at continental scales. For this data to be useful, it needs to be organised, converted from individual scenes as acquired by multiple sensors, converted into ‘analysis ready data’ and made available through high performance computing platforms. Moreover, converting this data into insights requires integration of non-EOS datasets that can provide biophysical and climatic context for EOS. Digital Earth Australia has demonstrated its ability to link EOS to rainfall and stream gauge data to provide insight into surface water dynamics during the hydrological extremes of flood and drought. This information is supporting the characterisation of groundwater resources across Australia’s north and could potentially be used to gain an understanding of the vulnerability of transport infrastructure to floods in remote, sparsely gauged regions of northern and central Australia.
Citation: Dhu, T., Dunn, B., Lewis, B., Lymburner, L., Mueller, N., Telfer, E., Phillips, C. (2017). Digital earth Australia – unlocking new value from earth observation data.Big Earth Data, 1(1–2), 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2017.1402490

Tags: Big data, EARTH SCIENCES, analysis ready data - ARD, earth observations from space, water resources
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Crustal structure across the Lord Howe Rise, northern Zealandia, and rifting of the eastern Gondwana margin

During the Late Cretaceous, the fragmentation of eastern Gondwana led to the formation of the narrow eastern Australian margin and the wide Lord Howe Rise during the opening of the oceanic Tasman Basin. To provide crustal-scale constraints on this margin, a 680-km-long, east-west oriented refraction transect with one hundred ocean bottom seismometers was acquired from the Tasman Basin to the Lord Howe Rise. After traveltime tomographic inversion of the first refracted arrivals and reflected arrivals from the Moho, the final P-wave velocity model reveals strong variations in crustal thickness. The Tasman Basin is floored by a two layered and 7 km thick oceanic crust. To the east, the Middleton Basin separates the Dampier Ridge, with 32 km thick continental crust, from the Lord Howe Rise, where the extended continental crust is 20–23 km thick. Below the Middleton Basin, Moho reflections are recorded at the base of 7 km thick crust. The velocity gradient of this two-layer crust suggests an oceanic origin for the Middleton Basin. Our results show no clear evidence for mantle exhumation or a sizable igneous intrusion within three separate and relatively narrow (&lt;70 km) necking zones. The northwestern Zealandia margin thus appears to be magma poor and, despite the considerable width of this margin (&gt;1000 km), the lack of evidence for mantle exhumation, the evidence for oceanic crust under the Middleton Basin, and the narrow necking zones, combine to suggest that northern Zealandia is not a hyper-extended margin.
Citation: Citation: Gallais, F., Fujie, G., Boston, B., Hackney, R., Kodaira, S., Miura, S., et al. (2019). Crustal structure across the Lord Howe Rise, northern Zealandia, and rifting of the eastern Gondwana margin. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth,124, 3036–3056.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JB016798

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Lord Howe Rise, Southwest Pacific, Zealandia, rifted margin, seismic refraction, tectonics
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Beryllium isotope signatures of ice shelves and sub-ice shelf circulation

Be isotopes are a useful tracer of sediment source and transport pathways but have not been widely tested in glacio-marine environments. We measured Be isotopes in a range of depositional environments from open marine, sub-ice shelf and subglacial settings throughout Prydz Bay, one of Antarctica’s largest ice drainage systems. We find that strong sub-ice shelf and bottom current circulations can advect 10Be-rich open marine sediments into an ice shelf cavity, and 10Be-poor terrestrial sediments onto the continental shelf at the ice shelf outflow, meaning that 10Be concentrations reflect sub-ice shelf circulation patterns rather than depositional environment. However, HCl-extractable 10Be/9Be ratios can provide a more robust discrimination of sediment deposited in open marine and sub-ice shelf settings. Thus, Be isotopes are a useful tracer of both environmental setting and sub-ice shelf circulation strength in both modern and paleo-ice sheet margins.
Citation: Duanne A. White, David Fink, Alexandra L. Post, Krista Simon, Ben Galton-Fenzi, Simon Foster, Toshiyuki Fujioka, Matthew R. Jeromson, Marcello Blaxell, Yusuke Yokoyama, Beryllium isotope signatures of ice shelves and sub-ice shelf circulation,
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 505, 2019, Pages 86-95, ISSN 0012-821X,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.004

Tags: Amery Ice Shelf, Be isotope mixing, Published_External, marine sedimentation, meteoric 10Be, sediment advection, sub-ice shelf currents
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Addressing exploration uncertainties in the southern Bonaparte Basin: enhanced stratigraphic control and post drill analysis for upper Permian plays – Extended Abstract 2022 APPEA Conference

The upper Permian to Lower Triassic sedimentary succession in the southern Bonaparte Basin represents an extensive marginal marine depositional system that hosts several gas accumulations, including the Blacktip gas field that has been in production since 2009. Development of additional identified gas resources has been hampered by reservoir heterogeneity, as highlighted by preliminary results from a post drill analyses of wells in the study area that identify reservoir effectiveness as a key exploration risk.
The sedimentary succession that extends across the Permian–Triassic stratigraphic boundary was deposited during a prolonged marine transgression and shows a transition in lithofacies from the carbonate dominated Dombey Formation to the siliciclastic dominated Tern and Penguin formations.
Recent improvements in chronostratigraphic calibration of Australian biostratigraphic schemes, spanning the late Permian and Early Triassic, inform our review of available palynological data and re-interpretation and infill sampling of well data. The results provide a better resolved, consistent and up-to-date stratigraphic scheme, allowing an improved understanding of the timing, duration, and distribution of depositional environments of the upper Permian to Lower Triassic sediments across the Petrel Sub-basin and Londonderry High. 
Citation: Owens R., Kelman A., Khider K., Iwanec J., Bernecker T. (2022) Addressing exploration uncertainties in the southern Bonaparte Basin: enhanced stratigraphic control and post drill analysis for upper Permian plays. The APPEA Journal 62, S474-S479

Tags: Bonaparte Basin, EARTH SCIENCES, North West Shelf, Palaeontology (incl. Palynology), Permian-Triassic boundary, Petrel Sub-basin, Petroleum and Coal Geology, Published_External, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy), biostratigraphy, post drill analysis, reservoir, stratigraphy
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Application of the Lu-Hf isotopic system to ore geology, metallogenesis and mineral exploration

The Lu-Hf isotopic system, much like the Sm-Nd isotopic system, can be used to understand crustal evolution and growth. Crustal differentiation processes yield reservoirs with differing initial Lu/Hf values, and radioactive decay of 176Lu results in diverging 176Hf/177Hf between reservoirs over time. This chapter outlines the fundamentals of the Lu-Hf isotopic system, and provides several case studies outlining the utility of this system to mineral exploration and understanding formation processes of ore deposits. The current, rapid, evolution of this field of isotope science means that breadth of applications of the Lu-Hf system are increasing, especially in situations where high-precision, detailed analyses are required.
Citation: Waltenberg, K. (2023). Application of the Lu–Hf Isotopic System to Ore Geology, Metallogenesis and Mineral Exploration. In: Huston, D., Gutzmer, J. (eds) Isotopes in Economic Geology, Metallogenesis and Exploration. Mineral Resource Reviews. Springer, Cham. 
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27897-6_7

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Lu-Hf isotopic system, Mineral Exploration, Published_External, crustal evolution and growth
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Petrophysical and geochemical interpretations of well logs from the pre-Carboniferous succession in Barnicarndy 1, Canning Basin, Western Australia

Barnicarndy 1 is a stratigraphic well drilled in the southern part of the Canning Basin’s Barnicarndy Graben under Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Western Australia to provide stratigraphic data for this poorly understood tectonic component. The well intersects a thin Cenozoic section, Permian–Carboniferous fluvial clastics and glacial diamictites and a thick pre-Carboniferous succession (855–2585 mRT) unconformably overlying Neoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks. Three informal siliciclastic intervals were defined based on core lithology, well logs, chemical and mineral compositions: the Upper Sandstone (855–1348.1 mRT), Middle Interval (1348.1–2443.4 mRT) and Lower Sandstone (2443.4–2585 mRT). The Middle Interval was further divided into six internal zones. Both conventional methods and artificial neural network technology were applied to well logs to interpret petrophysical and elastic properties, total organic carbon (TOC) content, pyrolysis products from the cracking of organic matter (S2) and mineral compositions. Average sandstone porosity and reservoir permeability are 17.9% and 464.5 mD in the Upper Sandstone and 6.75% and 10 mD in the Lower Sandstone. The Middle Interval claystone has an average porosity and permeability of 4.17% and 0.006 mD, and average TOC content and S2 value of 0.17 wt% and 0.047 mg HC/g rock, with maximum values of 0.66 wt% and 0.46 mg HC/g rock, respectively. Correlations of mineral compositions and petrophysical, geomechanical and organic geochemical properties of the Middle Interval have been conducted and demonstrate that these sediments are organically lean and lie within the oil and gas window.
Published in The APPEA Journal 2021
Citation:
Wang Liuqi, Edwards Dianne S., Bailey Adam, Carr Lidena K., Boreham Chris J., Grosjean Emmanuelle, Normore Leon, Anderson Jade, Jarrett Amber J. M., MacFarlane Susannah, Southby Chris, Carson Chris, Khider Kamal, Henson Paul, Haines Peter, Walker Mike (2021) Petrophysical and geochemical interpretations of well logs from the pre-Carboniferous succession in Barnicarndy 1, Canning Basin, Western Australia. The APPEA Journal 61, 253-270.
https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20038

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Exploring for the Future, GEOLOGY, GEOPHYSICS, Published_External, Waukarlycarly 1, hydrocarbon potential, neural network, petrophysical interpretation, pre-Carboniferous
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
State-of-the-art analysis of geochemical data for mineral exploration

Multi-element geochemical surveys of rocks, soils, stream/lake/floodplain sediments, and regolith are typically carried out at continental, regional and local scales. The chemistry of these materials is defined by their primary mineral assemblages and their subsequent modification by comminution and weathering. Modern geochemical datasets represent a multi-dimensional geochemical space that can be studied using multivariate statistical methods from which patterns reflecting geochemical/geological processes are described (process discovery). These patterns form the basis from which probabilistic predictive maps are created (process validation). Processing geochemical survey data requires a systematic approach to effectively interpret the multi-dimensional data in a meaningful way. Problems that are typically associated with geochemical data include closure, missing values, censoring, merging, levelling different datasets, and adequate spatial sample design. Recent developments in advanced multivariate analytics, geospatial analysis and mapping provide an effective framework to analyze and interpret geochemical datasets. Geochemical and geological processes can often be recognized through the use of data discovery procedures such as the application of principal component analysis. Classification and predictive procedures can be used to confirm lithological variability, alteration, and mineralization. Geochemical survey data of lake/till sediments from Canada and of floodplain sediments from Australia show that predictive maps of bedrock and regolith processes can be generated. Upscaling a multivariate statistics-based prospectivity analysis for arc related Cu-Au mineralization from a regional survey in the southern Thomson Orogen in Australia to the continental scale, reveals a number of regions with similar (or stronger) multivariate response and hence potentially similar (or higher) mineral potential throughout Australia.
Citation: E. C. Grunsky, P. de Caritat; State-of-the-art analysis of geochemical data for mineral exploration. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis 2019; 20 (2): 217–232. 
doi: https://doi.org/10.1144/geochem2019-031
This article appears in multiple journals (Lyell Collection &amp; GeoScienceWorld)

Tags: Applied Statistics, EARTH SCIENCES, Exploration Geochemistry, Melville Peninsula, New South Wales, Nunavut, Published_External, Thomson Region, analytical methods, compostional data, geochemistry, geospatial coherence, machine learning, multivariate analytics, predictive mapping, process discovery, process validation
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data