This preliminary report will provide a geochemical and ionic characterisation of groundwater, to determine baseline conditions and, if possible, to distinguish between different aquifers in the Laura basin. The groundwater quality data will be compared against the water quality guidelines for aquatic ecosystem protection, drinking water use, primary industries, use by industry, recreation and aesthetics, and cultural and spiritual values to assess the environmental values of groundwater and the treatment that may be required prior to reuse or discharge.

This Record presents new zircon U Pb geochronological data obtained via Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP) from rocks sampled within the Wau 1:100 000 map sheet area, which is located on the Papuan Peninsula in eastern Papua New Guinea. Exposure in the Wau Bulolo region comprises low-grade Mesozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Owen Stanley Metamorphics, which are intruded by the mid-Miocene Morobe Granodiorite batholith, and overlain by Pliocene sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Wau Basin. The map sheet area contains the Morobe Goldfield (from which more than 3.2 Moz of alluvial gold has been mined) and the Hidden Valley epithermal Au-Ag deposit (which has a total gold resource in excess of 3 Moz), and lies about 70 km south-southeast of the giant mid-Miocene Wafi-Golpu porphyry Cu-Au deposit (>26 Moz Au and 9 Mt Cu). The geochronological data in this Record were generated as part of a collaborative project between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) of Papua New Guinea in 2012. Four samples were analysed: two from the Pliocene Bulolo Volcanics and one from the Miocene Morobe Granodiorite to establish precise, accurate magmatic crystallisation ages, and one metasandstone from the Mesozoic Owen Stanley Metamorphics for detrital zircon provenance analysis. Sample locations, descriptions, and U Pb SHRIMP results are summarised in Table 1.1.

This report presents new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon results for fifteen samples from the New England region of New South Wales (Fig. i and Table i). The work was carried out under the auspices of the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA) between Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of New South Wales. The data and age interpretations contained in this report are available in Geoscience Australia's Geochron Delivery database (http://www.ga.gov.au/geochron-sapub-web/). Summary of results and significance: 1. The 'coastal granitoids' occurring to the east of the main geographically continuous axis of granites in the central portion of the batholith range in age from 238 Ma for Round Mountain Leucoadamellite; ~230 Ma for the Yarrahapinni Granite and Valla Adamellite; ~220 Ma for Glen Esk Adamellite and Smokey Cape Adamellite; to 212 Ma for the Middle Brother Monzodiorite. Granitoid magmatism in this region has not occurred in a single early Triassic flourish, but episodically, and generally younging eastwards to the coast. 2. Leucoadamellites previously considered to be 'Triassic' (i.e. younger than the main stage of the batholith), have been shown to be older. These units - the Oban River Leucoadamellite (252 Ma) and Red Range Leucoadamellite (253 Ma) - are the same age as the major units of the Moonbi and Uralla supersuites. 3. The Mount Duval Monzogranite and Newholme Monzogranite are indistinguishable in age. The Newholme Monzogranite was recognised as a discrete unit in the Mount Duval pluton on the basis of geophysics, petrography and geochemistry. 4. The Highlands Complex, though petrographically and geochemically distinct from most other magmatism in the New England Batholith is the same age as the main magmatic stages of the Moonbi and Uralla Supersuites. 5. The Emmaville Volcanics in the Yarraford area, near to the Glen Eden porphyry tin deposit is the same age as other members of the Wandsworth Volcanic Group and the main magmatic stage (252 Ma) of the batholith. The mineralisation at Glen Eden, which is partially hosted by the volcanics, is Triassic in age, although anomalously old Re-Os ages have been determined from molybdenite within the deposits. 6. Elsmore Granite age at 250 Ma is close to in age, but just younger than that of the adjacent tin mineralised Gilgai Granite. The Elsmore Granite forms a distinct satellite intrusion to the Gilgai Granite. 7. The Culaden Granodiorite (informal) is one of a number of small porphyritic granodiorite stocks and dykes in the Emmaville-Tent-Hill-Ottery area. The 252 Ma age indicates they are not contemporaneous with the Mole Granite and predate tin mineralisation in the area. They are essentially the same age as the Wandsworth Volcanic Group. 8. The tin mineralised Pringles Monzogranite in the Watson Creek area near Bendemeer is shown to be 289 Ma, indistinguishable in age from the host Bundarra Supersuite, indicating that the intrusion and its attendant tin mineralisation is not related to younger magmatism elsewhere within the batholith.

Geoscience Australia has completed a regional study of the greenhouse gas storage prospectivity for the Petrel Sub-basin (Bonaparte Basin), offshore Northern Territory. The Bonaparte Basin is a mature petroleum exploration province and well placed for possible CO2 storage. Former greenhouse gas acreage release areas, as well as the recommendation of the Carbon Storage Taskforce provided the impetus for the collection of pre-competitive data and a regional geological study. In 2009, the Taskforce had identified large, low risk storage capacity within the Mesozoic formations of the Petrel Sub-basin. Data acquisition was designed to cover an area of low seismic coverage and to better define potential traps and seal integrity. A total of 4091 km of high resolution, 2D seismic data was acquired in early 2012 and is currently available through pre-competitive data through Geoscience Australia. Also, a marine environment survey, which comprised collection of biophysical data, as well as seabed and shallow surface geophysical data, was completed. These data sets provide a baseline for future monitoring, as well as assistance in understanding uncertainty in leakage pathways. These datasets have been integrated and interpreted in a 3D visualisation and modelling environment where different geological scenarios could be tested. A basic geological model encompassing stratigraphic horizons and structure was constructed and then populated using well data as well as extrapolation methods such as facies modelling. This geological and reservoir engineering project has assessed prospective plays for CO2 injectivity and migration using the predicted CO2 sources available in the region. The findings of this study adds to the knowledge of Australia's offshore basins and supports both government and industry for future CO2 storage exploration in the Bonaparte Basin, as well as the carbon capture and storage industry in general. WABS

The Mesozoic Beagle Sub-basin is in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia. Oil discovered at Nebo 1 in 1993 highlights an active petroleum system. The central Beagle Sub-basin, this study's focus, has a north-south trending horst-graben architecture. Detailed mapping of the 1529 km2 Beagle Multi-client 3D seismic survey gave insight into its geological history. The Rhaetian to Valanginian syn-rift succession comprises fluvio-deltaic and marine sediments deposited during low rates of crustal extension. During post-rift thermal subsidence, sediments onlapped eroded and tilted fault blocks formed during the syn-rift phase. Consequently, the Early Cretaceous regional seal is absent in the central study area. Overlying sedimentary successions are dominated by a prograding carbonate wedge. Potential source, reservoir and seal facies are present from the Triassic to earliest Cretaceous. 1D burial history modelling indicates that in Nebo 1, potential source rocks from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous became oil mature after the emplacement of the regional seal. At Manaslu 1, these sediments are immature. Potential source rocks are currently at maximum burial depth and thermal maximum. Trap integrity in the pre and syn-rift succession could be jeopardized by fault reactivation, however post-rift traps may be preserved. Potential plays include compaction folds over tilted horst blocks, anticlines, basin-floor fans and intra-formational traps. Hydrocarbons could use deep faults to migrate into Early Cretaceous plays. Younger sediments lack migration pathways so are unlikely to host significant hydrocarbons. Poor quality source rocks and reservoirs, and poor source rock distribution may also contribute to disappointing exploration results.

This project commenced in November 2012 and is intended to provide satellite data and related scientific services to support the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's monitoring of how the condition of riparian vegetation responds to changing river run-off and wetland inundation levels. Under this project, Geoscience Australia started to build a satellite data processing infrastructure; named the 'datacube', as a proof of concept for expected on-going time series analysis applications including historical flood and bathymetry mapping. The work incorporates an automated processing chain for Landsat satellite images from Geoscience Australia's extensive archive, into customised high level intermediate products, including automated ortho-rectification, atmospheric correction, cloud-removal, and mosaicking, and finally into statistics on the spectral and derivative indices (that is, vegetation condition indices or various types) for the summer periods of December-March, each year for the period 2000-2013. These vegetation indices and associate statistics are then used, by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and its collaborators, as inputs to a mathematical model of vegetation types and their respective conditions within the Murray-Darling Basin.

Volcanic ash represents a serious hazard to communities living in the vicinity of active volcanoes in developing countries like Indonesia. Geoscience Australia, the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction (AIFDR) and the Indonesian Centre for Volcanology and Geohazard Mitigation (CVGHM) have adapted an existing open source volcanic ash dispersion model for use in Indonesia. The core model is the widely used volcanic ash dispersion model FALL3D. A python wrapper has been developed, which simplifies the use of FALL3D for those with little or no background in computational modelling. An application example is described here for Gunung Ciremai in West Java, Indonesia. Scenarios were run using eruptive parameters within the acceptable range of possible future events for this volcano, granulometry as determined through field studies and a meteorological dataset that represented a complete range of possible wind conditions expected during the dry and rainy seasons for the region. Implications for varying degrees of hazard associated with volcanic ash ground loading on nearby communities for dry versus rainy season wind conditions is discussed. Communities located on the western side of Gunung Ciremai are highly susceptible to volcanic ash ground loading regardless of the season whereas communities on the eastern side are found to be more susceptible during the rainy season months than during the dry. This is attributed to prevailing wind conditions during the rainy season that include a strong easterly component. These hazard maps can be used for hazard and impact analysis and can help focus mitigation efforts on communities most at risk.

The 1 second SRTM derived DEM-H Version 1.0 is a 1 arc second (~30m) gridded digital elevation model (DEM). The DEM-H captures flow paths based on SRTM elevations and mapped stream lines, and supports delineation of catchments and related hydrological attributes. The dataset was derived from the 1 second smoothed Digital Elevation Model (DEM-S; ANZCW0703014016) by enforcing hydrological connectivity with the ANUDEM software, using selected AusHydro V1.6 (February 2010) 1:250,000 scale watercourse lines (ANZCW0503900101) and lines derived from DEM-S to define the watercourses. The drainage enforcement has produced a consistent representation of hydrological connectivity with some elevation artefacts resulting from the drainage enforcement. A full description of the methods is in preparation (Dowling et al., in prep). This product is the last of the series derived from the 1 second SRTM (DSM, DEM, DEM-S and DEM-H) and provides a DEM suitable for use in hydrological analysis such as catchment definition and flow routing.

Geoscience Australia undertook a marine survey of the Vlaming Sub-basin in March and April 2012 to provide seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of this sedimentary basin. The survey was undertaken under the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to help identify sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2 within reasonable distances of major sources of CO2 emissions. The Vlaming Sub-basin is located offshore from Perth, Western Australia, and was previously identified by the Carbon Storage Taskforce (2009) as potentially highly suitable for CO2 storage. The principal aim of the Vlaming Sub-basin marine survey (GA survey number GA334) was to look for evidence of any past or current gas or fluid seepage at the seabed, and to determine whether these features are related to structures (e.g. faults) in the Vlaming Sub-basin that may extend up to the seabed. The survey also mapped seabed habitats and biota in the areas of interest to provide information on communities and biophysical features that may be associated with seepage. This research addresses key questions on the potential for containment of CO2 in the Early Cretaceous Gage Sandstone (the basin's proposed CO2 storage unit) and the regional integrity of the South Perth Shale (the seal unit that overlies the Gage Sandstone). This dataset comprises sediment oxygen demand measurments from seabed sediments.

Geoscience Australia undertook a marine survey of the Vlaming Sub-basin in March and April 2012 to provide seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of this sedimentary basin. The survey was undertaken under the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to help identify sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2 within reasonable distances of major sources of CO2 emissions. The Vlaming Sub-basin is located offshore from Perth, Western Australia, and was previously identified by the Carbon Storage Taskforce (2009) as potentially highly suitable for CO2 storage. The principal aim of the Vlaming Sub-basin marine survey (GA survey number GA334) was to look for evidence of any past or current gas or fluid seepage at the seabed, and to determine whether these features are related to structures (e.g. faults) in the Vlaming Sub-basin that may extend up to the seabed. The survey also mapped seabed habitats and biota in the areas of interest to provide information on communities and biophysical features that may be associated with seepage. This research addresses key questions on the potential for containment of CO2 in the Early Cretaceous Gage Sandstone (the basin's proposed CO2 storage unit) and the regional integrity of the South Perth Shale (the seal unit that overlies the Gage Sandstone). This dataset comprises bulk organic carbon and nitrogen isotopes and concentrations from seabed sediments (0-2 cm).