AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
National Base Map WMTS

The National Base Map service provides seamless topographic colour mapping for the whole of Australia, including the outer islands of Norfolk, Lord Howe &amp; Macquarie Islands, the external territories of Cocos (Keeling), Christmas, Heard and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory. The service consists of data sourced from Geoscience Australia, Australian Antarctic Division &amp; OpenStreetMap. The data for Christmas Island has been sourced from the Christmas Island Edition 1 NATMAP Topographic Mapping dataset (1:30,000 scale). The data for Cocos (Keeling) Islands has been sourced from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Edition 1 NATMAP Topographic Mapping dataset (1:25,000 scale). Vegetaion for the the Australian continent is an aggregated layer from ACLUMP (Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program). The topographic information was checked in 2008 using satellite imagery, and supplemented using other sources in 2009. Limited field checking has been undertaken for these data and therefore some information may not be accurate. Information and assistance was supplied by the Attorney General's Department (Territories of Australia) and Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Parks Australia). Geoscience Australia gratefully acknowledges contibutions to data content.) When viewing the map of mainland Australia beyond 1:100,000 scale, the data is derived from the Geoscience Australia GEODATA TOPO 250K product, except roads which are OpenStreetMap data, and in from 1:100,000 scale the data is derived from OpenStreetMap data ( © OpenStreetMap contributors). The suburbs layer is sourced from the Suburb 2018 and 2020 data, Australian Bureau of Statistics. The map portrays detailed graphic representations of features that appear on the Earth's surface. These features include cultural, hydrography, marine, transport, vegetation and relief themes. The SRTM data was acquired by NASA in February 2000 and was publicly released under Creative Commons licensing from November 2011 in ESRI Grid format. The SRTM DEM has quite different characteristics to DEMs derived by interpolation from topographic data. The SRTM data is derived from radar measurements that are dense (there is essentially a measurement at almost every grid cell) but noisy. The main processing of the SRTM DEM product has included: stripe removal, void filling and vegetation offset removal. Processing methods are further described in the 1 and 3 second SRTM Derived Products User Guide (Geoscience Australia, 2011). The bathymetry image used for this map is sourced from Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com.

Tags: Australia, Earth Sciences, Islands, National Base Map, National Map, Published_External, Topography, WMTS, base map, topographic, web service
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
The Mesozoic strata of Roper River and Urapunga 1:250 000 sheets

Lower Cretaceous strata of the Roper River and the Urapunga 1:250,000 Sheets were examined during the 1960 and 1961 field seasons. Field observations on lithology and palaeogeography were summarised in previous Records (Skwarko,1961a,b), and these, together with the identification of the fossils collected and their dating has provided material for this Record. Fossils were collected at only three localities on the Roper River 1:250,000 Sheet area, the greater portion of which is at present covered by the sea, and it has been found convenient to discuss these two sheets under a common title.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, geology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
History of benthic colonisation beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica

This study presents compelling evidence for a diverse and abundant seabed community which has developed over the course of the Holocene beneath the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. Fossil analysis of a 47 cm long sediment core reveals a rich modern fauna, dominated by filter feeders (sponges and bryozoans), with an abundant infauna predominantly of polychaetes. The down-core assemblage reveals a succession in the colonisation of this site. The lower portion of the core (prior to ~9600 yr BP) is completely devoid of preserved fauna. The first colonisers of the site after this time were the mobile benthic organisms. Their occurrence in the core is matched by the first appearance of planktonic taxa, indicating a retreat of the ice shelf following the last glaciation to within sufficient distance to advect planktonic particles via bottom currents. The benthic infauna and filter feeders emerged during the peak abundance of the planktonic organisms, indicating their dependence on this advected food supply which is brought via bottom currents flowing from the open shelf waters of Prydz Bay. Understanding patterns of species succession in this environment has important implications for determining the potential significance of future global change. The collapse of Antarctic ice shelves, as has happened in recent times, would significantly change the organic supply regime, and therefore the nature of these sub-ice shelf benthic communities.

Tags: AQ, Antarctic data, Article, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, habitat, marine, palaeoclimatology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
AHO Reference Surfaces Banks Strait 0.5m 2023 (20230009R)

The Banks Strait Reference Surfaces bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) on 17 Dec 2021. This surface was created from a contracted national reference survey within Banks Strait to Cape Barren, TAS, collected for the purpose of calibrating multibeam echosounders.&nbsp;It was conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program, acquired using Kongsberg EM 2040 MkII and Kongsberg EM 2040P, and processed using QPS Qimera. A grid in 0.5m resolution is provided for the surveyed site within this survey area in MSL, LAT and Ellipsoid vertical datum. The dataset was then exported as a 0.5m resolution, 32 bit floating point GeoTIFF grid of the survey area.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth Science | Oceans | Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography | Bathymetry, HVC_144641, Oceans, Published_External, bathymetric grids, bathymetry, marine, multibeam
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Improving the understanding of the Canning Basin

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program has established new techniques to collect onshore pre-competitive datasets on an unprecedented scale. The Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) is a Western Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage exploration for the long-term sustainability of the state’s resources sector. Integration of EFTF and EIS datasets has improved understanding of the geology across northern Australia, and the associated energy, mineral and groundwater resources potential. 

The onshore Canning Basin covers approximately 530 000 km2, and has proven prospectivity for conventional oil and gas, mainly in the northern part of the basin. Potential exists for unconventional resources that remain largely unexplored and untested. Gas resource assessments suggest that the basin has significant potential for recoverable shale gas and tight gas. Even with exploration continuing along the flanks of the Fitzroy Trough, the Canning Basin remains one of the least explored Paleozoic basins in the world (DMIRS, 2020). 

Australia’s longest onshore seismic line, 18GA-KB1, acquired in the southern Canning Basin addresses a long standing data gap across the Kidson Sub-basin and Waukarlycarly Embayment that assists with the resource evaluation of this frontier region. The Kidson Sub-basin covers 91 000 km2 and has a sag basin architecture. Preliminary interpretation of the seismic data indicates that the sedimentary basin is approximately 6 km deep, and includes a conformable package of Ordovician–Devonian siliciclastic, carbonate and evaporite facies of exploration interest. The Carboniferous succession is interpreted as not being present. Located on the western end of the seismic line, the newly drilled deep stratigraphic well Waukarlycarly 1 penetrated 2680.53 m of Cenozoic and Paleozoic strata and provides stratigraphic control for the geology imaged in the Waukarlycarly Embayment. A comprehensive elemental and δ13C isotope chemostratigraphy study assists with stratigraphic correlations within Ordovician sedimentary strata across the region (Forbes et al., 2020a, b).

Oil and gas discoveries throughout the Canning Basin were generated from Paleozoic marine source rocks, deposited under stratified oxic and euxinic water columns. Three distinct petroleum systems, the Ordovician (Larapintine 2), Late Devonian (Larapintine 3) and latest Devonian–early Carboniferous (Larapintine 4), are recognized based on the geochemical character of their associated fluids and each display strong stratigraphic control (Carr et al., 2020). Widespread generation of gas from Paleozoic sources is evident from molecular analyses of gases recovered from petroleum wells and fluid inclusions (Boreham et al., 2020). Currently the Larapintine 2 Petroleum System is deemed most prospective system in the Kidson Sub-basin.

Tags: Canning Basin, EARTH SCIENCES, EFTF, Exploring For The Future, GEOLOGY, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Applications of Geophysical Information to the Design of a Representative System of Marine Protected Areas in Southeastern Australia

Management of the marine environment in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone is addressed by an Oceans Policy that was put forward by the government in 1998. The policy is being implemented through Regional Marine Plans, including the development of a network of representative Marine Protected Areas. The southeast region of Australia has been the first part of the Exclusive Economic Zone to undergo regional marine planning (in 2003) and Marine Protected Area development processes are currently in progress.

This article can be found in Geological Association of Canada

Tags: AU-EEZ, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine, marine survey
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Archaeocyatha of the Amadeus and Georgina Basins

The Todd River Dolomite (Amadeus Basin) and Mount Baldwin Formation (Georgina Basin) are a part of the Early Cambrian platform cover of the central Australian craton. Marine dolostones of these rock units preserve a limited archaeocyathan-radiocyathan fauna, including Aldanocyathus greeni Kruse sp. nov., Coscinocyathus bilateralis (Taylor), Dictyocyathus, Aruntacyathus toddi Kruse gen. et sp. nov. (Metacyathidae), and Radiocyathus minor (Bedford and Bedford). ?Aruntacyathus rossi Kruse sp. nov. and Beltanacyathus Bedford and Bedford are known traditionally from the Todd River Dolomite. On the basis of the common occurrence of elements of Faunal Assemblage No. 2 (Daily, 1956), the Todd River Dolomite and Mount Baldwin Formation can be correlated with the lower part of the Ajax and Wilkawillina Limestones of South Australia. The central Australian and corresponding South Australian archaeocyathan faunas appear to be coeval with those of the Atdabanian and possibly early Lenian stages of Siberia.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, NT, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Permian fossiliferous rocks from near the south-west margin of the Canning Basin, Western Australia

Late Palaeozoic fossils have been recorded previously from near the south-west margin of the Canning Basin. Glauert (1926, p.43-48) records and lists brachiopods and a nautiloid collected by L.J. Jones from near No. 27 Well, Canning Stock Route, north-east of Lake Disappointment. Reeves (1949, Appendix, p.34) records Ammodiscus nitidus collected by him from 4 miles north-east of No. 6 Well, Canning Stock Route. He considered that the rocks here were equivalent to the Noonkanbah Formation of the Fitzroy Basin. During the 1954 field season J.N. Casey, a member of the Bureau Field Party operating in the Canning Basin composed of D.M. Traves, J.N. Casey and A.T. Wells, collected marine shelly fossils from two additional localities which were handed to the authors for identification and age determination. The two collections confirm the presence of marine Permian rocks in this area.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, palaeontology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Characterisation and Correlation of Active Hydrocarbon Seepage using Geophysical Data Sets: an Example from the Tropical, Carbonate Shelf, the Yampi Shelf, Northwest Australia

For the first time in Australia, active present-day hydrocarbon seepage has been imaged on the tropical carbonate Yampi Shelf, in 50 and 90 m water depth. Seepage features consist of gas plumes in the water column associated with specific seabed features, such as clusters of reflective blocks, hard-grounds, pockmark fields and mounds. Seepage activity and intensity appear to vary with changes in pressure related to macro-tidal cycles. The seabed features coincide with sub-surface features such as areas of seismic signal attenuation under high amplitude reflectors, seismic discontinuities and bright spots. Hydrocarbon migration-seepage pathways appear to be controlled by the reactivation of pre-existing fractures and dykes within the basement. The types of seabed features and their preservation on a tropical carbonate shelf are strongly influenced by the coarse bioclastic nature of sediments and the high energy of macro-tidal currents and storm reworking.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
New insights into the Late Permian–Early Triassic depositional history in the southern Bonaparte Basin – Extended Abstract 2021 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. Of these, the Blacktip gas field has been in production since 2009, while additional identified gas resources are under consideration for development. The sedimentary succession extends across the Permian–Triassic stratigraphic boundary, and shows a change in lithofacies changes from the carbonate dominated Dombey Formation to the siliciclastic dominated Tern and Penguin formations. The timing, duration, distribution and depositional environments of these formations in the Petrel Sub-basin and Londonderry High is the focus of this study.
The sedimentary succession extending from the Dombey to the Penguin formations is interpreted to represent marginal marine facies which accumulated during a long-lasting marine transgression that extended over previous coastal and alluvial plain sediments of the Cape Hay Formation. The overlying Mairmull Formation represents the transition fully to marine deposition in the Early Triassic. 
Regional scale well correlations and an assessment of available biostratigraphic data suggest marginal marine deposition systems were initiated outboard before the End Permian Extinction event, subsequently migrated inboard at about the Permian–Triassic stratigraphic boundary, and continued to be deposited through the faunal and floral recovery phase as Triassic species became established. The depositional history of the basin is translated to a chronostratigraphic framework which has implications for predicting the character and distribution of petroleum system elements in the Petrel Sub-basin and Londonderry High.

Appeared in The APPEA Journal 61(2) 699-706, 2 July 2021

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Palaeontology (incl. Palynology), Petroleum and Coal Geology, Published_External, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy)
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Seasonal Changes in Major Ions, Nutrients and Chlorophyll a at two Sites in the Swan River Estuary, Western Australia

Seasonal variations in major ions, nutrients and chlorophyll a were examined at two sites in the upper reaches of the Swan River estuary, Western Australia. Intra-annual variations between the variables were strongly influenced by seasonal riverine discharge, though major ions behaved highly conservatively across a wide range of salinity. Reduced discharge following winter produced strong density stratification that coincided with upstream salt wedge propagation and produced distinct physico-chemical identities of surface and bottom waters. Anoxia of bottom waters associated with the salt wedge region induced increased concentrations of ammonium and phosphate, especially at the deeper of the two sites. Locally variable groundwater flow may have also been important in transporting sediment porewater nutrients into the water column. The seasonality of riverine discharge produced large intra-annual variations in temperature (13-29Â°C) and salinity (3-30). Transient increases in turbidity occurred when the salt wedge coincided with the position of sampling locations. The subsequent flocculation process likely contributed to further oxygen consumption and nutrient regeneration from the bottom sediments, while simultaneously depositing nutrient-rich flocs with low molar N:P ratios (3-8) to the sediment surface. Nutrient ratios and absolute nutrient concentrations suggest that nitrogen is the nutrient most likely to limit phytoplankton growth over most of the year.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, geochemistry, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Planktonic Foraminiferal d13C Records from Southern Ocean Sediment Traps: New Estimates of the Oceanic Suess Effect

The carbon isotopic composition is measured for three species of planktonic foraminifera (Globigerina bulloides, Globorotalia inflata and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (s.)) from Southern Ocean sediment traps. The sediment traps represent the annual flux of foraminifera in Subtropical to Polar Frontal environments from the western Pacific/Southern Australia sector. Comparison between the seasonal d13C composition of the foraminifera and estimated d13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) allows disequilibrium effects to be determined. Disequilibrium exhibits a latitudinal trend, with greatest offsets from equilibrium at lower latitudes. This effect causes a north to south increase in foraminiferal d13C, while the d13CDIC displays a decrease across these latitudes. Disequilibrium in G. bulloides can be accounted for by changes in temperature. The relationship between disequilibrium and temperature which we derive in this field study is consistent with the laboratory relationship of Bemis et al. [2000] . Corrected d13C for G. bulloides is closely correlated to seasonal changes in nutrients at each site, indicating the utility of G. bulloides d13C as a nutrient tracer in Southern Ocean environments. Comparison between flux-weighted sediment trap values and nearby core tops indicates a modern depletion in d13C, which we attribute to the oceanic Suess effect. The imprint of this effect on the foraminiferal isotopes provides further evidence for the equilibration between surface waters and the atmosphere in the Subantarctic Zone.

Tags: Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Duntroon sand investigation: results of percussion drilling

At the request of the Commonwealth Department of Works fourteen holes were drilled on a 300-foot grid to determine whether any deposits of builders sand or fine aggregate underlie a small river flat (encompassed on three sides by the Molonglo River) in the vicinity of the Royal Military College, Duntroon. The results of the drilling show that a narrow strip of ground bordering the river is underlain by either clean or washable gravel sand which could probably be used for building purposes.

Tags: AU-ACT, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Triassic environments in the Canning Basin, Western Australia

A review of the lithology, sedimentary structures and palaeontology, supplemented by original investigations, suggests that the Triassic system in the Canning Basin can be subdivided into four broad environmental episodes. The sequence records a slow transgression culminating in the Smithian, when the riverine plain in the southeastern Fitzroy Graben was drowned. The resulting shallow embayment in the Fitzroy Graben supported a much impoverished marine biota, made up of species tolerant of reduced saline conditions caused by substantial run-off of fresh water from surrounding streams. A regression began in the Spathian and continued throughout the later Triassic, although there were minor transgressions with marine incursions: the environment evolved into a low-relief coastal alluvial plain, with meandering streams and lakes. A general trend to increasing aridity is evident, with an increase red beds, and is correlated with the withdrawal of the Blina Sea. Finally in Ladinian time the region became an area of non-deposition and remained so until the early Jurassic.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, WA
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
EOMAP_20220329.0835 Christmas Island Marine Park Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Acquisition (20220021S)

Parks Australia - Indian Oceans Territory (IOT) Grants Project: Satellite-Derived Bathymetry and Seafloor Habitat Classification Mapping of Christmas Island Marine Park

 

This project mapped Satellite-derived Bathymetry (SDB) and seafloor habitats at 2m horizontal spatial resolution, for the shallow waters (~0-25 m) of Christmas Island Marine Park. SDB data was processed using EOMAP's proprietary software and algorithm package Watcor-X, which generates SDB using multi-spectral satellite data. The SDB is based on the physics-based inversion method of the radiative transfer equation which models the pathway of light and its interaction through different media (e.g. atmosphere and water column). The thematic classification of the seabed was based on multispectral satellite image analytics. Satellite imagery was pre-processed by applying a set of image correction procedures to reduce environmental noise, resulting in a standardised reflectance surface of the subsurface and seafloor. The information on seafloor reflectance at different wavelengths was used to run an object-based classification procedure which groups objects of similar spectral characteristics, shape and texture into different classes of major seafloor habitat type.

 

These critical geospatial data layers provide the essential environmental baseline information for the long-term monitoring and management of the IOT Marine Parks. Having access to digital, georeferenced, high-resolution, satellite-derived maps of bathymetry and benthic habitats of shallow water areas, is of fundamental use in the areas of navigation and safety-at-sea, ecological research, environmental modelling, management and conservation, and monitoring the impacts from climate change.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, EARTH SCIENCES, HVC-144641, Oceans, Parks Australia - Indian Oceans Territory (IOT) Grants Project, Published_External, bathymetry, marine, satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB)
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data