The Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) aims to collect long period magnetotelluric data on a half degree (~55 km) grid across the Australian continent. New datasets have been collected in Northern Australia, as part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program with in-kind contributions from the Northern Territory Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Queensland. This web service depicts the location of the 155 sites which were used in this study.

The Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) aims to collect long period magnetotelluric data on a half degree grid across the Australian continent. Data were collected in northern Australia under Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program from 2016 to 2019. This survey covers the area in south parts of Northern Territory and north western region of Queensland. The project aims to improve understanding of the lithospheric structure in northern Australia. It also provide pre-competitive data and knowledge for selecting mineral prospective areas in the under-explored and covered regions. This data package contains the preferred resistivity model and associated information for the project. The report provides details for data acquisition, data process and data inversion. The results provide new insights on the lithospheric architecture and mineral potential in the region.

The NSW component of the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP), is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of New South Wales which commenced in 2016. Long-period MT data have been recorded at a 55-km spacing in a rolling deployment which to date has completed 224 of a planned 320 sites in NSW. This article summarises the progress of the AusLAMP NSW program and highlights how it is contributing to our understanding of the tectonic architecture in NSW.

Geoscience Australia (GA), in partnership with State (SA, NSW, VIC, QLD, WA and TAS) and Northern Territory Geological Surveys, has applied the magnetotelluric (MT) technique to image the resistivity structure of the Australian continent over the last decade. Data have been acquired at nearly 5000 stations across Australia through a national MT survey program and regional MT surveys. Most of the data are available at GA’s website. These data provided valuable information for multi-disciplinary interpretations that incorporate various datasets. This release package includes ArcGIS shape files and Excel files of MT station locations for the completed AusLAMP and regional surveys up to December 2017.

Long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data allow geoscientists to investigate the link between mineralisation and lithospheric-scale features and processes. In particular, the highly conductive structures imaged by MT data appear to map the pathways of large-scale palaeo-fluid migration, the identification of which is an important element of several mineral system models. Given the importance of these data, governments and academia have united under the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) to collect long-period MT data across the continent on a ~55 km-spaced grid. Here, we use AusLAMP data to demonstrate the MT method as a regional-scale tool to identify and select prospective areas for mineral exploration undercover. We focus on the region between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and east of Mount Isa in Queensland. Our results image major conductive structures up to 150 km deep in the lithosphere, such as the Carpentaria Conductivity Anomaly east of Mount Isa. This anomaly is a significant lithospheric-scale conductivity structure that shows spatial correlations with a major suture zone and known iron oxide–copper–gold deposits. Our results also identify similar features in several under-explored areas that are now considered to be prospective for mineral discovery. These observations provide a powerful means of selecting frontier regions for mineral exploration undercover.. <b>Citation:</b> Duan, J., Kyi, D., Jiang, W. and Costelloe, M., 2020. AusLAMP: imaging the Australian lithosphere for resource potential, an example from northern Australia. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.

The Exploring for the Future program Showcase 2024 was held on 13-16 August 2024. Day 2 - 14th August talks included: <b>Session 1 - Architecture of the Australian Tectonic Plate</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/a8jzTdNdwfk?si=OWNlVR-FLDhF1GVM">AusArray: Australian lithosphere imaging from top to bottom</a> - Dr Alexei Gorbatov <a href="https://youtu.be/j5ox8Ke5n6M?si=YkfDno2xmZXueS1b">AusLAMP: Mapping lithospheric architecture and reducing exploration space in Australia</a> - Jingming Duan <a href="https://youtu.be/qZ6wjzx_dNc?si=NjDEzvqyEeM24-E8">Constraining the thermomechanical and geochemical architecture of the Australian mantle: Using combined analyses of xenolith inventories and seismic tomography</a> - Dr Mark Hoggard <b>Session 2 - Quantitative characterisation of Australia's surface and near surface</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/nPfa_j3_dos?si=mktfIJWXeLElIOK4">AusAEM: The national coverage and sharpening near surface imaging</a> - Dr Anandaroop Ray <a href="https://youtu.be/SU6ak98JvAw?si=DQPovulHa4poqcm0">Unlocking the surface geochemistry of Australia</a> - Phil Main <a href="https://youtu.be/Xtm45CT6e-s?si=JHU7J-ktgVrbj1Ke">Spotlight on the Heavy Mineral Map of Australia</a> - Dr Alex Walker <b>Session 3 – Maps of Australian geology like never before</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/aRISb1YYigU?si=3byJbqW0qRTqCB8-">An Isotopic Atlas of Australia: Extra dimensions to national maps</a> - Dr Geoff Fraser <a href="https://youtu.be/khSy-WAkw-w?si=F-Y67FX3jXN5zZaz">First continental layered geological map of Australia</a> - Dr Guillaume Sanchez <a href="https://youtu.be/Z3GlCJepLK4?si=k_tbaKdmxGBmoSro">An integrated 3D layered cover modelling approach: Towards open-source data and methodologies for national-scale cover modelling</a> - Sebastian Wong View or download the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/149800">Exploring for the Future - An overview of Australia’s transformational geoscience program</a> publication. View or download the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/149743">Exploring for the Future - Australia's transformational geoscience program</a> publication. You can access full session and Q&A recordings from YouTube here: 2024 Showcase Day 2 - Session 1 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHBsq0-pC8c">Architecture of the Australian Tectonic Plate</a> 2024 Showcase Day 2 - Session 2 - <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=xih4lbDk-1A">Quantitative characterisation of Australia's surface and near surface</a> 2024 Showcase Day 2 - Session 3 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeTLc1K-Cds">Maps of Australian geology like never before</a>

AusLAMP is a collaborative national project to cover Australia with long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data in an approximately 55 km spaced array. Signatures from past tectonothermal events can be retained in the lithosphere for hundreds of millions of years when these events deposit conductive mineralogy that is imaged by MT as electrically conductive pathways. MT also images regions of different bulk conductivity and can help to understand the continuation of crustal domains down into the mantle, and address questions on the tectonic evolution of Australia. The AusLAMP data presented here were collected as part of three separate collaborative projects involving several organisations. Geoscience Australia (GA), the Geological Survey of South Australia, the Geological Survey of New South Wales, the Geological Survey of Victoria, and the University of Adelaide all contributed staff and/or funding to collection of AusLAMP data; GA and AuScope contributed instrumentation. The data cover the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic Curnamona Province, the Neoproterozoic Flinders Ranges, and the Cambrian Delamerian Orogen, encompassing eastern South Australia and western New South Wales and western Victoria. This project represents the first electrical resistivity model to image the entire Curnamona Province and most of the onshore extent of the Delamerian Orogen, crossing the geographical state borders between South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, strong resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight-year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.</div><div><br></div><div>The Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) is a collaborative national survey that acquires long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data on a half-degree grid spacing across Australia. This national scale survey aims to map the electrical conductivity/resistivity structure in the crust and mantle beneath the Australian continent, which provides significant additional information about Australia’s geodynamic framework as well as valuable pre-competitive data for resource exploration. As part of the Exploring for the Future Program, Geoscience Australia has completed AusLAMP data acquisition at 32 sites across the southwest and southeast region of Western Australia. The data were acquired using LEMI-424 instruments and were processed using the LEMI robust remote referencing process code.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>This data release contains acquired time series data and processed data at each site. The time series data are in original format (.txt) recorded by the data logger and in MTH5 hierarchical format. The open-source MTH5 Python package (https://github.com/kujaku11/mth5) was used to convert the recorded data into MTH5 format. The processed data are in Electrical Data Interchange (EDI) format.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>We acknowledge the Geological Survey of Western Australia for assistance with field logistics and land access, traditional landowners, private landholders and national park authorities within the survey region, without whose cooperation these data could not have been collected.</div><div><br></div><div>Time series data is available on request from clientservices@ga.gov.au - Quote eCat#&nbsp;149416.</div>

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government. As part of Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program with contributions from the Geological Survey of Queensland, long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data for the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) were collected using Geoscience Australia's LEMI-424 instruments on a half-degree grid across Queensland from April 2021 to November 2022. This survey aims to map the electrical resistivity structures in the region. These results provide additional information about the lithospheric architecture and geodynamic processes, as well as valuable precompetitive data for resource exploration in this region. This data release package includes processed MT data, a preferred 3D resistivity model projected to GDA94 MGA Zone 54 and associated information for this project. The processed MT data were stored in EDI format, which is the industry standard format defined by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The preferred 3D resistivity model was derived from previous EFTF AusLAMP data acquired from 2016-2019 and recently acquired AusLAMP data in Queensland. The model is in SGrid format and geo-referenced TIFF format.

This animation shows how Magnetotelluric (MT) Surveys Work. It is part of a series of Field Activity Technique Engagement Animations. The target audience are the communities that are impacted by our data acquisition activities. There is no sound or voice over. The 2D animation includes a simplified view of what magnetotelluric (MT) stations and equipment looks like what the equipment measures and how the survey works.