title: Hydrogeochemistry of the Curnamona and Mundi region
Creators: name: I., Schroder
name: N., Reid
name: I., Schroder
name: R., Thorne
name: C., Folkes
name: S., Hore
name: M., Eastlake
name: A., Petts
name: T., Evans
name: A., Fabris
name: T., Pinchand
name: A., Henne
name: B.R., Palombi
Publisher: name: Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: EFTF – Exploring for the Future
subject: Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian
subject: MinEx CRC – Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre
subject: Curnamona Province
subject: groundwater
subject: hydrogeochemistry
subject: hydrostratigraphy
subject: Eromanga Basin
subject: Lake Eyre Basin
subject: Mineral exploration
subject: Exploration geochemistry
subject: hierarchical clustering
subject: geochemical indices
subject: sulfur isotope
subject: Exploration geochemistry
subject: Published_External

description: <strong>Output Type: </strong>Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract<br><strong>Short Abstract: </strong>Groundwater geochemistry is an important and often under-appreciated medium to understand geology below surface and is a valuable tool as part of a regional mineral exploration program. This study presents an assessment of hydrogeochemical results from the Curnamona and Mundi region with respect to their insights into mineral prospectivity and characterisation of groundwater baselines. The work is a collaboration with the Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre (MinEx CRC), the Geological Survey of New South Wales and the Geological Survey of South Australia as part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program. It combines new and legacy groundwater chemistry from 297 samples to identify multiple elevated multi-element anomalies (Ag, Pb, Cd) and signatures of sulfide mineralisation (d34S and sulfur excess), which are interpreted as potential features from subsurface Broken Hill Type mineralisation (Pb-Zn-Ag). Additional multi-element anomalies (Cu, Mo, Co, Au) may be attributable to Cu-Au, Cu-Mo and Au mineralisation. We then apply hierarchical cluster analysis to understand sample hydrostratigraphy and characterise robust hydrogeochemical baselines for the major aquifer systems in the region. This reveals that the majority of anomalies are restricted to groundwaters derived from basement fractured rock aquifer systems, with a couple anomalies observed in the Lake Eyre Basin cover, which helps narrow the search-space for future groundwater-based mineral exploration in this region (to prioritise these aquifers and anomalies). In addition, we demonstrate the capability of these local hydrogeochemical baselines to support more sensitive resolution of hydrogeochemical anomalies relating to mineralisation, as well as reveal hydrogeological processes such as mixing.<br><strong>Citation: </strong>Reid, N., Schroder, I., Thorne, R., Folkes, C., Hore, S., Eastlake, M., Petts, A., Evans, T., Fabris, A., Pinchand, T., Henne A., &amp; Palombi, B.R., 2024. Hydrogeochemistry of the Curnamona and Mundi region. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://doi.org/10.26186/149509