The Exploring for the Future program Showcase 2024 was held on 13-16 August 2024. Day 4 - 16th August talks included: <b>Session 1 – Deep Dives into the Delamerian</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/09knAwPnD7s?si=acdu6pQgIj7DNlnj">Scaffold to success: An overview of the Delamerian Orogen, and its crustal and lithospheric architecture</a> - Chris Lewis <a href="https://youtu.be/5GQC5f5IkWc?si=rLPqxoZFkxGAEPEf">Only time will tell: Crustal development of the Delamerian Orogen in space and time</a> - David Mole <a href="https://youtu.be/PhdIYE49eqU?si=d7acyv5rbTW_wTiO">Is it a big deal? New mineral potential insights of the Delamerian Orogen</a> - Dr Yanbo Cheng <b>Session 2 – Deep dives into Birrindudu, West Musgrave and South Nicholson–Georgina regions</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/DEbkcgqwLE8?si=sBKGaMTq_mheURib">Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey: Resource studies and results</a> - Paul Henson <a href="https://youtu.be/k9vwBa1fM9E?si=VOG19nBC1DAk-jGH">Tracing Ancient Rivers: A hydrogeological investigation of the West Musgrave Region</a> - Joshua Lester <a href="https://youtu.be/Du1JANovz8M?si=1XEOF87gxhSP9UF3">Water's journey: Understanding groundwater dynamics in the South Nicholson and Georgina basins, NT and QLD </a>- Dr Prachi Dixon-Jain <b>Session 3 – Groundwater systems of the Curnamona and upper Darling-Baaka River</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/nU8dpekmEHQ?si=WygIzefKNzsU4gUA">Groundwater systems of the upper Darling-Baaka floodplain: An integrated assessment</a> - Dr Sarah Buckerfield <a href="https://youtu.be/AKOhuDEPxIA?si=ebradAT6EBwHhPQ_">Potential for a Managed Aquifer Recharge Scheme in the upper Darling-Baaka floodplain: Wilcannia region</a> - Dr Kok Piang Tan <a href="https://youtu.be/epUdD8ax2FQ?si=_aMO_e_ZDZESgLOR">Aquifer alchemy: Decoding mineral clues in the Curnamona region</a> - Ivan Schroder Exploring for the Future: Final reflection – Karol Czarnota Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity – Andrew Heap 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 4 - Session 1 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nuIQsl71cY">Deep Dives into the Delamerian</a> 2024 Showcase Day 4 - Session 2 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N3dIZRAcHk">Deep dives into Birrindudu, West Musgrave and South Nicholson–Georgina regions</a> 2024 Showcase Day 4 - Session 3 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ddvLAnUdOI">Groundwater systems of the Curnamona and upper Darling-Baaka River</a>

<div>The Exploring for the Future program, led by Geoscience Australia, was a $225 million Australian Government investment over 8 years, focused on revealing Australia’s mineral, energy, and groundwater potential by characterising geology.&nbsp;&nbsp;This report provides an overview of activities, results, achievements and impacts from the Exploring for the Future program, with a particular focus on the last four years (2020-2024). &nbsp;</div>

Australia remains underexplored or unexplored, boasting discovery potential in the mineral, groundwater, and energy resources hidden beneath the surface. These “greenfield” areas are key to Australia’s future prosperity and sustainability. Led by Geoscience Australia, Australia’s national government geoscience organisation, the Exploring for the Future program was a groundbreaking mission to map Australia’s mineral, energy, and groundwater systems in unparalleled scale and detail. The program has advanced our understanding of Australia’s untapped potential. Over the course of 8 years, the Exploring for the Future program provided a significant expansion of public, precompetitive geoscience data and information, equipping decision-makers with the knowledge and tools to tackle urgent challenges related to Australia’s resource prosperity, energy security, and groundwater supply.

<div>The Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin straddling the Northern Territory and Western Australia and is a region of focus for the second phase of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program (2020–2024). Hydrocarbon exploration in the Birrindudu Basin has been limited and a thorough assessment of the basin's petroleum potential is lacking due to the absence of data in the region. To fill this data gap, a comprehensive analytical program including organic petrology, programmed pyrolysis and oil fluid inclusion analysis was undertaken on cores from six drill holes to improve the understanding of the basin’s source rock potential and assess petroleum migration. Organic petrological analyses reveal that the primary maceral identified in the cores is alginite mainly originating from filamentous cyanobacteria, while bitumen is the most common unstructured secondary organic matter. New reflectance data based on alginite and bitumen reflectance indicate the sampled sections have reached a thermal maturity suitable for hydrocarbon generation. Oil inclusion analyses provide evidence for oil generation and migration, and hence elements of a petroleum system are present in the basin. Presented at the Australian Energy Producers (AEP) Conference & Exhibition (https://energyproducersconference.au/conference/)

<div><strong>Output Type: </strong>Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Short Abstract: </strong>As part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, Geoscience Australia acquired new 2D seismic reflection data across the northwestern Northern Territory (NT). Identified as an area of little knowledge during the Birrindudu Basin Inventory activity the Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey was acquired between August and September 2023 by Geoscience Australia and co-funded by the Northern Territory Government. The survey crosses the Proterozoic rocks of the Birrindudu Basin that are thought to be age equivalent to those within the McArthur Basin and Mount Isa Province to the east, which contain some of the world’s largest sediment-hosted base metals deposits, including McArthur River and Century and Mt Isa Pb-Zn-Cu mines. Further, additional complimentary studies provide evidence for an effective petroleum system in the Birrindudu Basin, demonstrated by the occurrence of live oil bleeds in the drill hole 99VRNTGSDD1 and good source rocks were identified mostly in the Paleoproterozoic Limbunya Group. However, many data gaps exist and much of the prospectivity for hydrocarbons in the Birrindudu Basin is inferred from the presence of equivalent-aged rocks in the highly prospective Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic McArthur Basin. To address data gaps, this new regional 2D seismic data was acquired and combined with a comprehensive sampling and analytical program on newly collected drill core samples, to assess the basin’s resource potential. The Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey has increased the seismic coverage of the Birrindudu Basin by ~900 km, and links to surveys in both the Beetaloo Sub-basin and Tanami. Interpretation of these deep seismic lines in combination with newly acquired data from drill cores and legacy 2D seismic lines will substantially improve the knowledge of mineral and energy systems in the northwestern Northern Territory.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation: </strong>Henson, P., Anderson, J.R., Southby, C., Carson, C., Costelloe, R.D., Jorgensen, D., Grosjean, E. & Carr, L.K., 2024. Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey - resource studies and results. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://doi.org/10.26186/149332</div>

<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.</div><div><br></div><div>The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) Fluid Inclusion Petrography and Microthermometry analysis of samples for the drillhole 99VRNTGSDD1, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory (Company reference number MT#F1230005c).</div><div><br></div><div>This eCat Record accompanies the report containing the results of fluid inclusion stratigraphy on this drillhole (eCat record 148973).</div>

<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.</div><div><br></div><div>The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) Fluid Inclusion Petrography and Microthermometry analysis of samples for the drillhole WLMB001B, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory (Company reference number MT#FI230004a).</div><div><br></div><div>This eCat Record accompanies the report containing the results of fluid inclusion stratigraphy on this drillhole (eCat record 149178)</div>

This service delivers airborne electromagnetics (AEM) derived conductivity grids for depth intervals representing the top 22 layers from AEM modelling in the West Musgrave region (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147969). The grids were generated from the AEM conductivity models released as part of the Western Resource Corridor AusAEM survey (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147688), the Earaheedy and Desert Strip AusAEM survey (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145265) and several industry surveys (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/146278) from the West Musgraves region. The AEM conductivity models resolve important subsurface features for assessing the groundwater system including lithological boundaries, palaeovalleys and hydrostatigraphy.

<div>Previous work by the SA government and CSIRO[i] highlighted the value of integrating AEM data with other geological and hydrogeological data to model palaeovalley groundwater systems and develop regional hydrogeological conceptualisations. This allows better-informed water supply decisions and management for communities in remote parts of Australia where these systems provide the only available and long-term water resource. The Exploring for the Future Musgrave Palaeovalley module seeks to apply similar work flows across the western Musgrave Province and adjacent Officer and Canning basins.</div><div>Open file mineral exploration AEM data from 11 surveys in WA and SA flown between 2009 and 2012 were re-processed and inverted to produce conductivity models and a suite of derived datasets. Geoscience Australia’s Layered-Earth-Inversion was used as a single standard processing and inversion method to improve continuity and data quality.</div><div>These legacy AEM data, originally for mineral exploration, have been incorporated with DEM-derived landscape attributes, previous palaeovalley mapping and available bore lithologies to model palaeovalley base surfaces. This presentation will provide an example from four blocks of AEM data to show how repurposing data from mineral exploration, public bore data and landscape analysis can be used to identify palaeovalley systems which provide critical water supplies for remote and regional communities and industry[ii].</div><div>This approach can be used to model palaeovalley systems from a range of geoscientific and other datasets. The Exploring for the Future Musgrave Palaeovalley module has acquired ~23,000 line km of AEM across parts of WA and the NT at line spacings of 1 and 5 km. This new precompetitive data will be used to model palaeovalley system geometry and integrate with new and existing AEM, drilling, landscape, groundwater chemistry and surface geophysics data to test hydrogeological conceptualisations of these groundwater systems.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> [i] Costar, A., Love, A., Krapf, C., Keppel, M., Munday, T., Inverarity, K., Wallis, I. &&nbsp;Sørensen, C. (2019). Hidden water in remote areas – using innovative exploration to uncover the past in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. MESA Journal 90(2), 23 - 35 pp.</div><div>Krapf, C., Costar, A., Stoian, L., Keppel, M., Gordon, G., Inverarity, K., Love, A. &&nbsp;Munday, T. (2019). A sniff of the ocean in the Miocene at the foothills of the Musgrave Ranges - unravelling the evolution of the Lindsay East Palaeovalley. MESA Journal 90(2), 4 - 22 pp.</div><div>Krapf, C. B. E., Costar, A., Munday, T., Irvine, J. A. & Ibrahimi, T., 2020. Palaeovalley map of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (1st edition), 1:500 000 scale. Goyder Institute for Water Research, Geological Survey of South Australia, CSIRO.</div><div>https://sarigbasis.pir.sa.gov.au/WebtopEw/ws/samref/sarig1/wci/Record?r=0&m=1&w=catno=2042122. </div><div>Munday, T., Taylor, A., Raiber, M., Sørensen, C., Peeters, L. J. M., Krapf, C., Cui, T., Cahill, K., Flinchum, B., Smolanko, N., Martinez, J., Ibrahimi, T. &&nbsp;Gilfedder, M., 2020a. Integrated regional hydrogeophysical conceptualisation of the Musgrave Province, South Australia, Goyder Institute for Water Research Technical Report Series 20/04, Goyder Institute for Water Research, Adelaide.</div><div>Munday, T., Gilfedder, M., Costar, A., Blaikie, T., Cahill, K., Cui, T., Davis, A., Deng, Z., Flinchum, B., Gao, L., Gogoll, M., Gordon, G., Ibrahimi, T., Inverarity, K., Irvine, J., Janardhanan, Sreekanth, Jiang, Z., Keppel, M., Krapf, C., Lane, T., Love, A., Macnae, J., Mariethoz, G., Martinez, J., Pagendam, D., Peeters, L., Pickett, T., Robinson, N., Siade, A., Smolanko, N., Sorensen, C., Stoian, L., Taylor, A., Visser, G., Wallis, I. &&nbsp;Xie, Y., 2020b. Facilitating Long-term Outback Water Solutions (G-Flows Stage 3): Final Summary Report. Goyder Institute for Water Research, Adelaide, http://hdl.handle.net/102.100.100/376125?index=1. </div><div>[ii] Symington, N. J., Ley-Cooper, Y. A. &&nbsp;Smith, M. L., 2022. West Musgrave AEM conductivity models and data release. Geoscience Australia, Canberra, https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/146278.&nbsp;</div> This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2022 Sub 22 Conference 28-30 November (http://sub22.w.tas.currinda.com/)

This service delivers airborne electromagnetics (AEM) derived conductivity grids for depth intervals representing the top 22 layers from AEM modelling in the West Musgrave region (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147969). The grids were generated from the AEM conductivity models released as part of the Western Resource Corridor AusAEM survey (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147688), the Earaheedy and Desert Strip AusAEM survey (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145265) and several industry surveys (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/146278) from the West Musgraves region. The AEM conductivity models resolve important subsurface features for assessing the groundwater system including lithological boundaries, palaeovalleys and hydrostatigraphy.