A 3D map of the Cooper Basin region has been produced over an area of 300 x 450 km to a depth of 20 km (Figure 1). The map was constructed from 3D inversions of gravity data using geological data to constrain the inversions. It delineates regions of low density within the basement of the Cooper / Eromanga Basins that are inferred to be granitic bodies. This interpretation is supported by a spatial correlation between the modelled bodies and known granite occurrences. The map, which also delineates the 3D geometries of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, therefore incorporates both potential heat sources and thermally insulating cover, key elements in locating a geothermal play. A smaller region of the Cooper Basin 3D map (Figure 1) has been used as a test-bed for GeoModeller's 3D thermal modelling capability. The thermal modelling described herein is a work in progress and is being carried out to test the capability of the thermal modelling component of 3D GeoModeller, as well as to test our understanding of the thermal properties of the Cooper Basin region.

As part of Geoscience Australia's analysis of the Capel-Faust basins this report summarises the construction methodology and the resulting geological and prospectivity implications of the Capel-Faust 3D geological model. The Capel and Faust basins are located over the northern part of the Lord Howe Rise, a large offshore frontier region composed of a number of rift basins with unknown petroleum prospectivity. Geoscience Australia has been undergoing a program of data acquisition in this area over a number of years, yet most dataset coverage remains regional with little well control. Given the diversity of acquired data, the comparative sparseness of coverage (despite the new data acquisition) and the structural complexity of basins, effective data integration and analysis methods were essential in the Capel-Faust region. By using the 3D visualisation and modelling environment provided by GOCAD, the diverse datasets were captured, processed and interpreted to create an integrated basin model that enabled key geological and prospectivity questions to be answered.

As part of Geoscience Australia's Onshore Energy Security Program the authors have investigated whether there is any evidence that a sandstone hosted uranium system has operated in the Eromanga Basin and assessed the basin's potential to host significant uranium mineralisation.

The frontier Capel and Faust Basins, 800 km east of Brisbane in water depths of 1000-3000 m, are generating interest in light of Australia's energy security concerns. The basins are a focus of Geoscience Australia's efforts to provide pre-competitive knowledge of offshore frontier regions to the petroleum exploration industry. A variety of new geophysical data has recently been obtained over these remote basins. A regional-scale residual gravity map, prepared from satellite-altimetry data and upward continuation, highlighted a series of N-S elongate gravity lows interpreted to represent basin depocentres. A 2D reflection seismic survey was designed on the basis of this gravity-inferred basin distribution. The survey was conducted in late 2006/early 2007 and provided 106-fold data to 12 s TWT on 5920 km of dip and strike lines. Sonobuoy data were recorded for velocity information. Additional ship-borne gravity and magnetic data were collected during the seismic survey and on a subsequent swath bathymetry and geological sampling survey in late 2007. The latter survey focussed on the north-western part of the seismic grid where depocentres appear to be best developed. The complex of small depocentres means that 2D potential field modelling is not appropriate, but the potential field data are being used as constraints to interpolate horizon and basement picks between the 20-50 km spaced seismic lines. Ultimately, these efforts will lead to a complete 3D picture of the upper crust that will assist assessments of the prospectivity of these remote but tantalising basins.

The Geoscience Australia World Wind Suite is a suite of tools built around the NASA World Wind Java SDK including the World Wind Data Viewer and Animator tools. The tool suite has been released as open source under the Apache 2.0 license and is available through Github (http://www.ga.gov.au/ga-m3dv/ga-worldwind-suite). Individual products in the suite are catalogued individually under IDs 69165 and 73044.

Layer 07 Base of Hutton Sandstone surface Surface produced for the Great Artesian Water Resource Assessment (GABWRA) by Geoscience Australia (http://www.ga.gov.au). This surface was created for 3D visualisation of the Base of Hutton Sandstone. The surface is available in the following formats 1. GOCAD surface (.ts) 2. ESRI grid 3. ASCII grid (.grd) Use limitations: 1. GOCAD surface requires program capable of reading GOCAD *.ts (triangulated surface) files 2. ASCII grid data requires re-interpolation by end-user resulting in minor differences to accompanying GOCAD *.ts surface This layer is part of a set comprised of: Layer 01 3-second Digital Elevation Model surface (catalogue #75990) Layer 02 Base of Cenozoic surface (catalogue #75991) Layer 03 Base of Mackunda Formation and equivalents surface (catalogue #76021) Layer 04 Base of Rolling Downs Group surface (catalogue #76022) Layer 05 Base of Hooray Sandstone and equivalents surface (catalogue #76023) Layer 06 Base of Injune Creek Group surface (catalogue #76024) Layer 07 Base of Hutton Sandstone surface (catalogue #76025) Layer 05-07 Base of Algebuckina Sandstone surface (catalogue #76952) Layer 08A Base of Evergreen and Marburg formations (catalogue #76026) Layer 08B Base of Poolowanna Formation (catalogue #76953) Layer 09 Base of Precipice Sandstone and equivalents surface (catalogue #76027) Layer 10 Base of Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence surface (catalogue #76028) This dataset and associated metadata can be obtained from www.ga.gov.au, using catalogue number 76025.

We present a new method for the inversion of airborne gamma-ray spectrometric line data to a regular grid of radioelement concentration estimates on the ground. The method incorporates the height of the aircraft, the 3D terrain within the field of view of the spectrometer, the directional sensitivity of rectangular detectors, and a source model comprising vertical rectangular prisms with the same horizontal dimensions as the required grid cell size. The top of each prism is a plane surface derived from a best-fit plane to the digital elevation model of the earth's surface within each grid cell area. The method is a significant improvement on current methods, and gives superior interpolation between flight lines. It also eliminates terrain effects that would normally remain in the data with the use of conventional gridding methods.

Flythrough movie showing the bathymetry, seabed habitats and biota of the outer continental shelf within the Flinders Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR), offshore from Flinders Island northeast Tasmania. The bathymetric image is derived from multibeam sonar collected by Geoscience Australia in 2012 using a 30 kHz Simrad EM3002 system on RV Challenger. Videos and seabed images were collected by the University of Tasmania and CSIRO as part of the same field program. Key features on the shelf bathymetry include low profile reefs, flat sandy seabed and the heads of two submarine canyons. The reefs provide hard substrate for sponge gardens whereas the sand flats are mostly barren. The two submarine canyons are sites of local upwelling, and attract large schools of Tasmanian Striped Trumpeter. The Flinders CMR is a study site for the Marine Biodiversity Research Hub, funded through the National Environmental Research Program (NERP). ..

Layer 08A Base of Evergreen and Marburg formations Surface produced for the Great Artesian Water Resource Assessment (GABWRA) by Geoscience Australia (http://www.ga.gov.au). This surface was created for 3D visualisation of the Base of Poolowanna Formation. The surface is available in the following formats 1. GOCAD surface (.ts) 2. ESRI grid 3. ASCII grid (.grd) Use limitations: 1. GOCAD surface requires program capable of reading GOCAD *.ts (triangulated surface) files 2. ASCII grid data requires re-interpolation by end-user resulting in minor differences to accompanying GOCAD *.ts surface. This layer is part of a set comprised of: Layer 01 3-second Digital Elevation Model surface (catalogue #75990) Layer 02 Base of Cenozoic surface (catalogue #75991) Layer 03 Base of Mackunda Formation and equivalents surface (catalogue #76021) Layer 04 Base of Rolling Downs Group surface (catalogue #76022) Layer 05 Base of Hooray Sandstone and equivalents surface (catalogue #76023) Layer 06 Base of Injune Creek Group surface (catalogue #76024) Layer 07 Base of Hutton Sandstone surface (catalogue #76025) Layer 05-07 Base of Algebuckina Sandstone surface (catalogue #76952) Layer 08A Base of Evergreen and Marburg formations (catalogue #76026) Layer 08B Base of Poolowanna Formation (catalogue #76953) Layer 09 Base of Precipice Sandstone and equivalents surface (catalogue #76027) Layer 10 Base of Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence surface (catalogue #76028) This dataset and associated metadata can be obtained from www.ga.gov.au, using catalogue number 76953.

The physical properties of non-porous basement rocks are directly related to the mineralogy of those rocks. The MineralMapper3D software package originally developed by Nick Williams at the Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC), Geoscience Australia, uses the physical properties of minerals to provide bounds on estimates of the abundance of specified minerals in non-porous basement rocks. This approach is applicable to both estimates of density and magnetic susceptibility derived from 3D inversions of gravity and magnetic data as well as physical measurements on specimens or down-hole derived physical properties.