AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Geophysical Technique Mix to Resolve Offshore Basement Problems

The basement beneath Australia's offshore basins was the cradle for sediments involved in oil and gas formation. Knowledge of basement depth, boundaries and evolution provides clues to the petroleum potential of Australia's sedimentary basins. 

The problem is finding the right combination of geophysical techniques to define basement offshore, and knowing what adjustments to make to reduce unwanted effects in definition.

Geoscience Australia's Alexey Goncharov outlines his team's exciting new basement and crustal studies that are tackling the problems.

Tags: AUSGeo News Article, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, geophysics, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Rabaul geothermal investigations, New Britain 1960

This Record describes a geophysical survey between Rapindik and Matupi volcano near Rabaul, New Guinea, made at the request of the Commonwealth Department of Works, to assist in the investigation for possible hydrothermal power production in a hot volcanic area. The survey disclosed three major shear zones and some small shears or faults. These are partly covered by young basalt lava flows, which possibly act as a retaining cap for steam permeating the shear zones. Higher ground temperatures are recorded at shear zones because steam from lower levels is deflected sideways to the shear zones by the basalt cap. The most favourable locality to test the occurrence of steam is on the basalt cap, near a hot place of the shear zone, where the drill can be diverted into the shear zone at any desired depth.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, PG, Published_External, Record
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Tsunami sources, hazards, risk and uncertainties associated with the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone

In November, 2018 a workshop of experts sponsored by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission was convened in Wellington, New Zealand. The meeting was organized by Working Group (WG) 1 of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS). The meeting brought together fourteen experts from various disciplines and four different countries (New Zealand, Australia, USA and French Polynesia) and four observers from Pacific Island countries (Tonga, Fiji), with the objective of understanding the tsunami hazard posed by the Tonga-Kermadec trench, evaluating the current state of seismic and tsunami instrumentation in the region and assessing the level of readiness of at-risk populations. The meeting took place in the “Beehive” Annex to New Zealand’s Parliament building nearby the offices of the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management. The meeting was co-chaired by Mrs. Sarah-Jayne McCurrach (New Zealand) from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management and Dr. Diego Arcas (USA) from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

As one of the meeting objectives, the experts used their state-of-the-science knowledge of local tectonics to identify some of the potential, worst-case seismic scenarios for the Tonga-Kermadec trench. These scenarios were ranked as low, medium and high probability events by the same experts. While other non-seismic tsunamigenic scenarios were acknowledged, the level of uncertainty in the region, associated with the lack of instrumentation prevented the experts from identifying worse case scenarios for non-seismic sources. The present report synthesizes some of the findings of, and presents the seismic sources identified by the experts to pose the largest tsunami risk to nearby coastlines. In addition, workshop participants discussed existing gaps in scientific knowledge of local tectonics, including seismic and tsunami instrumentation of the trench and current level of tsunami readiness for at-risk populations, including real-time tsunami warnings. The results and conclusions of the meeting are presented in this report and some recommendations are summarized in the final section.

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Earth Science, Earth Science | Human Dimensions | Natural Hazards | Tsunamis, Earth Science | Oceans | Ocean Waves | Tsunamis, Earth Science | Solid Earth | Tectonics | Earthquakes, Earthquakes, Hazard Response, Human Dimensions, Natural Hazards, Ocean Waves, Oceans, Published_External, Solid Earth, Tectonics, Tonga, Tsunamis
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Benthic Biota of Northern Australia: 
SS2012t07 Post-survey Report

We undertook a biological data acquisition program as part of the transit of the R.V. Southern Surveyor between Darwin and Cairns 15-24 October 2012. The overarching aim of this program was to use an ROV and benthic sled to collect benthic marine information and specimens for biodiversity and biodiscovery research in areas previously mapped by Geoscience Australia during survey GA-276, including a bank (Area I) and terrace/hole feature within the proposed Wessel Islands CMR (Area II). This study focuses on sessile invertebrates such as sponges and octocorals due to their ecological importance as habitat providers and their chemical importance as sources of marine natural products and medicines.

In less than 24 hours of sampling effort, survey SS2012/t07 resulted in 261 voucher specimens which will be used for biodiversity and natural products research.  A total of 49 samples are to be lodged at the ABL, and samples with weights larger than 300 g will be sent to the NCI for screening of active compounds against cancer and HIV. Sponges were the most abundant group collected based on both biomass (~ 139 kg) and number of voucher specimens (93),  followed by cnidarians (30 kg, 73 vouchers), particularly hard corals (23 kg, 11 vouchers). As expected the top of the bank in Area I had a seemingly diverse and abundant sessile invertebrate community, with consistent patchy occurrence of sponges, octocorals, and hard corals. The terrace at in Area II supports moderate densities of sponges and octocorals, while the adjacent deep hole at ~ 100 m seems to be covered with muddy gravel and supports scattered mobile and sedentary invertebrates, of which crinoids dominate, as well as skates and numerous small demersal fish.

Tags: AU-NT, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, NERP, Published_External, Record, marine, marine survey
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Geological note: Igneous and sedimentary rocks dredged from the northern Macquarie Ridge, Southern Ocean

Altered basalt, dolerite and gabbro have been dredged from a previously unsampled portion of the Macquarie Ridge (47o-48Â° S), using the commercial fishing vessel Amaltal Explorer.  These rocks are petrographically and geochemically similar to mafic-ultramafic volcanic and plutonic suites of MORB-like petrological affinity, collected along the ridge between 49Â° and 58Â° S by previous investigators.  The northernmost part of the Macquarie Ridge (Puysegur Bank) is thus geologically related to the rest of the ridge, even though it is bathymetrically part of the New Zealand continental shelf.  Sedimentary rocks dredged from 47o-48Â° S were derived from both oceanic Macquarie Ridge and continental New Zealand sources. There is no evidence of subduction-related magmatism along any part of the Macquarie Ridge.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Geomorphic Features of Australia's Marine Jurisdiction MapServer

The Geomorphic Features of Australia's Marine Jurisdiction web service brings together various datasets produced by Geoscience Australia that describe the distribution and types of geomorphic features found on the seabed of Australia's marine jurisdiction. This jurisdiction covers Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone, including offshore islands and territories. Geomorphic features have been identified using the best available bathymetric data with features generally mapped at a scale of 1:5 000 000.

Tags: Australia, EEZ, Earth Sciences, MapServer, Published_External, geomorphology, marine, seabed, web map service, web service
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Palynology of Mesozoic dredge samples from the North West Shelf

Palynological examination was carried out on 34 sedimentary rock samples dredged from the offshore Rowley Terrace (Canning Basin), Scott and Exmouth Plateaux, and northern Carnarvon Terrace (Carnarvon Basin). The samples represent (1) an Upper Triassic (Rhaetian) to Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) sequence of paludal to restricted-marine character on the Rowley Terrace, with a sample gap in the Early Jurassic; (2) an Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian- Kimmeridgian) sequence of shallow-marine characler on the Rowley Terrace; and (3) a Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian-Aptian) sequence of open-marine character on the Carnarvon Terrace.  Most samples yielded rich to very rich and varied dinocyst and spore-pollen floras, and were dated with reasonable confidence. Long-term changes are detected in environments of deposition from different areas, and some of the changes are suggested to be of eustatic origin.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, WA
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
High resolution geomorphic map of a submerged marginal plateau, northern Lord Howe Rise, east Australian margin

High resolution multibeam bathymetry is used to map and interpret seabed geomorphology for part of the northern Lord Howe Rise plateau in the Tasman Sea. A mapping system of geomorphic units and elements is used, extending the previous hierarchy of geomorphic provinces and features used for the Australian margin. The mapped area covers ~25,500 km2 and incorporates broad ridges, valleys and plateaus. Superimposed on these features are clusters of volcanic peaks, smaller ridges, holes, scarps and aprons. An additional characteristic of the seabed in this area is an extensive network of polygonal furrows that cover the plateaus and the lower slopes of larger ridges. These furrows are formed in stiff, unconsolidated carbonate ooze that forms a near-continuous sediment cover across the area. Peaks are the only geomorphic feature not fully draped in pelagic ooze. The distribution of geomorphic units suggests strong controls from underlying geological structures. In water depths of 1400 m to 1600 m some peaks occur in clusters on ridges that sit above acoustic basement highs and volcanic intrusions. Elsewhere, broad plains and valleys slope to the southwest following the regional dip of the Lord Howe Rise plateau. In contrast, localised geomorphic elements such as moats and holes have likely explanation in terms of spatial variations in sedimentation rates in relation to bathymetric highs. Polygonal furrows are attributed to dewatering processes. The geomorphology of the seabed mapped in this study incorporates examples of forms that have not been previously mapped in such detail on the Australian margin. These are unlikely to be unique to the mapped area of the Lord Howe Rise and can be expected to occur elsewhere on the Rise and presumably on other parts of the Australian margin with a similar geological history.

Tags: AU-NSW, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, bathymetry, marine, marine survey, morphology, seabed
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Carbon, hydrogen and helium isotope systematics of natural gases from the onshore and offshore Perth Basin, Australia

From the beginning of petroleum exploration in the Perth Basin, the importance of the Early Triassic marine Kockatea Shale was recognised as the principal source for liquid petroleum in the onshore northern Perth Basin (Powell and McKirdy, 1976).  Thomas and Barber (2004) constrained the effective source rock to a Early Triassic, middle Sapropelic Interval in the Hovea Member of the lower Kockatea Shale.  In addition, Jurassic and Permian sourced-oils (Summons et al., 1995) demonstrate local effective non-Kockatea source rocks. However, evidence for multiple effective gas source rocks is limited. This study utilizes the molecular composition and carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of 34 natural gases from the Perth Basin, extending the previous study (Boreham et al., 2001) to the offshore and includes hydrogen isotopes and gases. It shows the existence of Jurassic to Permain gas systems in the Perth Basin.

Tags: Published_External, carbon, gaseous hydrocarbons, helium, hydrogen, isotope
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Acreage Release - Marine Environmental Data MapServer

This is the Acreage Release Marine Environmental Data compiled web service to be updated each year with acreage release. It contains the following publicly available datasets, for the 2016 Acreage Release - Marine Survey Towed-video Transects, Marine Sediments Database Samples, Australian Seascapes, Seabed Mud Content on the Northwest Shelf, Seabed Sand Content of the Northwest Shelf and Seabed Gravel Content of the Northwest Shelf.

Tags: Earth Sciences, MapServer, Published_External, acreage release, environment, gas, marine, offshore, petroleum, seabed, web service
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Timburty Hills No 2 bore seismic velocity survey, Queensland 1960

On 30th March 1960 a seismic velocity survey of the A.A.O. Timbury Hills No.2 bore near Roma, Queensland, was made as a joint investigation by the Bureau of Mineral Resources and Associated Australian Oilfields N.L. The bore is located about two miles north east of Roma (Plate 1) and had been drilled to a depth of 4400 ft. The formations drilled were mainly sandstone and shale of Mesozoic Age to a depth of 3845 ft, where a much harder and denser formation was encountered. This formation is called (by A.A.0.)-the Timbury Hills Formation and marks the base of the Mesozoic sediments at this location in the Great Artesian Basin. No age has yet been assigned to the Timbury Hills Formation. Detailed lithological and electric logs of the bore were made available by A.A.O. to aid in the interpretation of the velocity survey.

Tags: AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, seismics
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Quaternary Calcarenite Stratigraphy on Lord Howe Island, Southwestern Pacific Ocean and the Record of Coastal Carbonate Deposition

Lord Howe Island is a small, mid-ocean volcanic and carbonate island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Skeletal carbonate eolianite and beach calcarenite on the island are divisible into two formations based on lithostratigraphy. The Searles Point Formation comprises eolianite units bounded by clay-rich paleosols. Pore-filling sparite and microsparite are the dominant cements in these eolianite units, and recrystallised grains are common. Outcrops exhibit karst features such as dolines, caves and subaerially exposed relict speleothems. The Neds Beach Formation overlies the Searles Point Formation and consists of dune and beach units bounded by weakly developed fossil soil horizons. These younger deposits are characterised by grain-contact and meniscus cements, with patchy pore-filling micrite and mirosparite. The calcarenite comprises several disparate successions that contain a record of up to 7 discrete phases of deposition. A chronology is constructed based on U/Th ages of speleothems and corals, TL ages of dune and paleosols, AMS 14C and amino acid racemization (AAR) dating of land snails and AAR whole-rock dating of eolianite. These data indicate dune units and paleosols of the Searles Point Formation were emplaced during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 7 and earlier in the Middle Pleistocene. Beach units of the Neds Beach Formation were deposited during OIS 5e while dune units were deposited during two major phases, the first coeval with or shortly after the beach units, the second later during OIS 5 (e.g. OIS 5a) when the older dune and beach units were buried.

Large-scale exposures and morphostratigraphical features indicate much of the carbonate was emplaced as transverse and climbing dunes, with the sediment source located seaward of and several metres below the present shoreline. The lateral extent and thickness of the eolianite deposits contrast markedly with the relatively small modern dunes.

Tags: AU-NSW, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, isotopes, marine, stratigraphy
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Project 1.5: Reactive Reservoir Rocks and their Impact on CO2 Storage

Geological storage of CO2 requires fundamental knowledge and predictive capabilities on the transport and reactions of injected CO2 and associated gases to assess the short and long term consequences. CO2 can be stored in the subsurface through various mechanisms including structural trapping, solubility trapping and by precipitation of carbonate minerals.

While mineral strapping is considered to be the safest storage mechanism as it permanently immobilizes the CO2, the reaction rates and the likely importance for geosequestration is poorly understood. This project has five objectives, which aim to make CO2 storage more predictable and safer. A range of approaches will be used including desk top studies, laboratory and field experiments and geochemical modelling.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Poster/Image, Published_External, carbon dioxide, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Benthic sediment surveys of inner Darwin Harbour (GA0358) and shallow water areas in and around Bynoe Harbour (GA0359) in 2017: Chlorin measurements on seabed sediments.

Benthic sediment sampling of Inner Darwin Harbour (GA0358) and shallow water areas in and around Bynoe Harbour (GA0359) was undertaken between May 29 and June 19, 2017. Partners involved in the surveys included Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources within the Northern Territory Government (NT DENR) (formerly the Department of Land and Resource Management (DLRM)). These surveys form part of a four year (2014-2018) science program aimed at improving knowledge about the marine environments in the regions around Darwin and Bynoe Harbour’s through the collection and collation of baseline data that will enable the creation of thematic habitat maps to underpin marine resource management decisions.  This project is being led by the Northern Territory Government and is supported by the INPEX-led Ichthys LNG Project, in collaboration with - and co-investment from GA and AIMS. This dataset comprises total chlorin and chlorin index measurements made on seabed sediments.

Tags: Published_External, continental shelf, geochemistry, marine, marine baselines, marine survey, seabed
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
A field guide to basin architecture and crustal evolution in the Paleoproterozoic-earliest Mesoproterozoic sequences of Mount Isa, northern Australia: a record of (Nuna) supercontinent breakup

Paleoproterozoic-earliest Mesoproterozoic sequences in the Mount Isa region of northern Australia preserve a 200 Myr record (1800-1600 Ma) of intracontinental rifting, culminating in crustal thinning, elevated heat flow and establishment of a North American Basin and Range-style crustal architecture in which basin evolution was linked at depth to bimodal magmatism, high temperature-low pressure metamorphism and the formation of extensional shear zones. This geological evolution and record is amenable to investigation through a combination of mine visits and outcrop geology, and is the principal purpose of this field guide.

Rifting initiated in crystalline basement -1840 Ma old and produced three stacked sedimentary basins (1800-1750 Ma Leichhardt, 1730-1670 Ma Calvert and 1670-1575 Ma Isa superbasins) separated by major unconformities and in which depositional conditions progressively changed from fluviatile-lacustrine to fully marine. By 1685 Ma, a deep marine, turbidite-dominated basin existed in the east and basaltic magmas had evolved in composition from continental to oceanic tholeiites as the crust became increasingly thinned and attenuated. Except for an episode of minor deformation and basin inversion at c. 1640 Ma, sedimentation continued across the region until onset of the Isan Orogeny at 1600 Ma.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, crustal structure, geochronology, sedimentary basins, sequence stratigraphy, tectonic history
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Geochemical characteristics of early Carboniferous petroleum systems in Western Australia

A geochemical study was conducted to establish oil-oil correlations and evaluate potential source rocks within the latest Devonian–earliest Carboniferous succession of the onshore Canning Basin, Western Australia. Aromatic hydrocarbons, together with the routinely used saturated biomarker ratios and stable carbon isotopes, demonstrate that the recently discovered Ungani oilfield located on the southern margin of the Fitzroy Trough are similar, but not identical, to the early Carboniferous Larapintine 4 (L4) oil family present to the north of the Fitzroy Trough on the Lennard Shelf. The L4 oil family has been correlated to a lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian) source rock core sample from the Laurel Formation at Blackstone-1 although its bulk geochemical properties signify that it could generate substantially more gas than liquid hydrocarbons.


The Ungani oils can be distinguished from the L4 oils by their higher concentrations of paleorenieratane and isorenieratane, coupled with more depleted &delta;13C values for n-alkanes, pristane and phytane compared with other components. Hopane isomerisation ratios show distinct grouping of the two oil families that reflect both source and maturity variations. The oil from Wattle-1 ST1 on the Lennard Shelf also has an unusual composition, exhibiting some molecular and isotopic features similar to both the L4 and Ungani oils. Source rocks for the Ungani and Wattle-1 ST1 oils are unknown since their geochemical signature does not match that of the Tournaisian Laurel Formation or the Middle−Upper (Givetian–Frasnian) Devonian Gogo Formation which sourced the Devonian-reservoired Larapintine 3 oils at Blina and Janpam North-1. It is postulated that such potential oil-prone source rocks could occur within the Famennian–Tournaisian succession.

<b>Citation:</b> Gemma Spaak, Dianne S. Edwards, Clinton B. Foster, Andrew Murray, Neil Sherwood, Kliti Grice, Geochemical characteristics of early Carboniferous petroleum systems in Western Australia,<i> Marine and Petroleum Geology</i>, Volume 113, 2020, 104073, ISSN 0264-8172.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.104073

Tags: Biomarkers, Canning Basin, Carboniferous, Devonian, EARTH SCIENCES, Published_External, Ungani oilfield, alkylbenzenes, aromatic carotenoids, oil-sourced correlation, photic zone euxinla, stable carbon isotopes
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off South Australia

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off South Australia.
One of the 27 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789).
Depicting Australia's extended continental shelf approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008 and various maritime zones.  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.

Tags: AU-SA, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, continental shelf, marine, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data