This report outlines the high precision level survey completed between the SEAFRAME tide gauge and continuous GPS station in Honiara, Solomon Islands from 27 March to 4 April 2012.

This report outlines the high precision level survey completed between the Sea Level Fine Resolution Acoustic Measuring Equipment (SEAFRAME) tide gauge and the Continuous Global Navigation Satellite System (CGNSS) station in Nuku'alofa, Tonga from 9th to 16th April 2013.

This report outlines the high precision level survey completed between the SEAFRAME (Sea Level Fine Resolution Acoustic Measuring Equipment) tide gauge and continuous GPS (Global Positioning System) station and the newly established GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Station in Port Vila, Vanuatu from 16th - 21st October 2012.

The annual Asia Pacific Regional Geodetic Project (APRGP) GPS campaign is an important activity of the Geodetic Reference Frame for Sustainable Development Working Group (WG) of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP). This document overviews the data analysis of the APRGP GPS campaign undertaken in 2013. The GPS data were processed using version 5.0 of the Bernese GPS Software in a regional network together with selected IGS (International GNSS Service) sites. The GPS solution was constrained to the ITRF2008 reference frame through adopting IGb08 coordinates on selected IGS reference sites and using the final IGS earth orientation parameters and satellite ephemerides products.

This paper presents the initial building vulnerability schema proposed for the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Collaborative Research Centre (BNHCRC) project entitled 'Cost-Effective Mitigation Strategy Development for Building Related Earthquake Risk'. The development of a building schema which categorises Australian building stock into distinctive vulnerability classes is an integral part of the risk and impact assessment process. In undertaking this categorisation a review was undertaken of existing earthquake vulnerability schema found in the literature alongside a schema developed by an expert group for Australia. The schemas found in the literature were HAZUS, the United Nations' Global Assessment Report on Risk, RiskScape, the Global Earthquake Model, USGS PAGER, and the European Macroseismic Scale-98. Also included was the Australian specific schema developed based on the recommendations made at a workshop in Melbourne in February 2001 (Stehle et al., 2001). Key building parameters from each of these were considered along with the building types found in the countries or regions where these schemas were developed. The proposed schema categorises buildings by the building attributes Building Usage, Primary Lateral Load Resisting System, Height Range, Proximity to Coast, Wall Type, Wall Material, Roof Material, and Age. The draft schema has been developed in recognition of the current and projected ability to define national building exposure and of the parallel BNHCRC mitigation projects examining vulnerability to wind and riverine flooding. While vulnerability schemas are very hazard specific, alignment has been sought with the other hazards where possible. The draft schema is considered to be a preliminary version, and is expected to evolve during the project as it develops new knowledge on vulnerability and mitigation options for key high risk Australian building types.

This Record presents data collected as part of the ongoing NTGS-GA geochronology project between July 2013 and June 2014 under the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA). In total, 6 new U-Pb SHRIMP zircon and monazite geochronological results derived from 6 samples from the Arunta Region in the Northern Territory are presented herein (Table 1; Figure 1). One igneous sample was collected from LAKE MACKAY1 in the western Arunta Region, and a second igneous sample from the Central Arunta Region (ALCOOTA). Another 4 samples are from JERVOIS RANGE in HUCKITTA in the Eastern Arunta, and comprise metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks.

An integrated analysis of biological and geoscientific data collected from the nearshore marine environment of the Vestfold Hills was used to identify benthic habitats and associated communities and examine relationships between benthic community composition and environmental characteristics. A 48 km2 area was surveyed using a multibeam echosounder system (MBES) to produce high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter intensity maps of the seabed. Epibenthic community data and in situ observations of substrate composition and seafloor bedforms and features were obtained from towed underwater video. A comparison of top-down and bottom-up approaches to defining benthic habitats was used to improve understanding of the applicability of mapping methodologies. On a broad scale, both approaches produced habitat classes distinguished largely by geomorphic features, with substrate and depth identified as the main controls of benthic community composition, however, the relationship between benthic community composition and environmental characteristics is complex with many variables contributing to differences in community composition. The top-down approach was based on geomorphic units defined using abiotic characteristics and the assemblages identified within the geomorphic were very broad did not always show clear distinction between assemblages. Conversely, the bottom-up approach generated additional habitat classes, identified clear defining taxa for each class, greater distinction between the benthic communities, and allowed identification of additional environmental factors (i.e. sea ice cover) that influence benthic community distribution that are not discernible from geomorphic information alone. The habitat types identified and mapped using the bottom-up approach include shallow boulder fields and exposed bedrock which are dominated by dense macroalgae communities, and steep slopes, muddy basins and sandy plains which are dominated by invertebrate communities. The results indicate that a bottom-up approach is preferable for benthic habitat mapping, however, where detailed information is not available, geomorphic information provides a reasonable indication of the distribution of benthic habitats and communities. This study highlights the utility of multibeam sonar for interpretation of sea floor morphology and substrate and the multibeam data provide a physical framework for understanding benthic habitats and the distribution of benthic communities. This research provides the scientific context and spatial framework for managing the Vestfold Hills nearshore marine environment and provides a baseline for assessing environmental change.

The Australasian geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) array consisting of three new 12-meter radio telescopes in Australia (Hobart, Katherine and Yarragadee), a 12-meter radio telescope in New Zealand (Warkworth) and a correlation facility in Perth started operations in 2011. The daily positions of the AuScope array are estimated with a precision of a few mm, whereas their daily estimates vary within a range of 20-30 mm on the annual scale. Analysis of geodetic VLBI sessions also reveals small linear trends in the time series of baseline lengths between the Australian and New Zealand stations. A seasonal signal with amplitude of about 10 mm was detected for the baseline Hobart--Katherine. This signal is consistent with seasonal variations of baselines between collocated GNSS stations. We argue this signal should be incorporated in the fitting model to improve the estimates of positions and linear velocities.

Over the last several decades since late 70th - earlier 80th, Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the State and Territory geological surveys, cooperative research centres, universities and industry has acquired more than 17,000 line kilometres of the deep seismic reflection data across Australia to better understand the crustal architecture and geodynamic evolution of key geological provinces and basins. An atlas of images deep crustal seismic reflection profiles (1978-2011) penetrating the whole crust, with accompanying geological maps has been released to provide access to overview of crustal architecture across the Australian continent.

The Cooper Basin is a Late Carboniferous-Middle Triassic intracratonic basin in north-eastern South Australia and south-western Queensland. The basin is Australia's premier onshore hydrocarbon producing province and is nationally significant, providing domestic gas for the East Coast Gas Market. Exploration activity in region is experiencing a revival with numerous explorers pursuing newly identified unconventional hydrocarbon plays, however the undiscovered unconventional gas resources in the basin remains poorly defined. This study reviews the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Cooper Basin, with a focus on unconventional gas resources. Regional basin architecture is characterised through compilation and integration of formation tops, structure surfaces and isopach maps, indicating that the wider extent of the Toolachee and Patchawarra formations may extend further north in Queensland than previously mapped. Source distribution and quality are reviewed demonstrating the abundance of source material across the whole basin. The Toolachee and Patchawarra formations are the richest source units, however organic rich rocks areTOC is also present in the Nappamerri, Daralingie and Epsilon formations, and the Roseneath and Murteree shales. Petroleum systems modelling, incorporating new compositional kinetics, source quality and TOC maps, highlights the variability in burial, and thermal and hydrocarbon generation histories between depocentres. Although initial hydrocarbon generation occurred in the Permian, peak oil and gas expulsion across the basin occurred in the Cretaceous. Pressure distribution estimates are made for all major depocentres to better characterise variation in overpressure distribution. The Cooper Basin hosts a range of unconventional gas plays types, including the very extensive basin-centred gas play and tight gas accumulations in the Gidgealpa Group, deep coal seam gas associated with the Patchawarra and Toolachee formations, as well as the less-extensive shale gas plays in the Murteree and Roseneath sShales. However the overlapping nature of these plays makes it more convenient to consider them within the context of a single combined Gidgealpa Group unconventional gas play. The possible extent of the combined Gidgealpa Group gas play fairway is defined using a common risk segment mapping workflow. Low and high confidence play fairway extents are also calculated. In South Australia and the western most areas of Queensland, the combined gas play fairway maps show that the Nappamerri and Allunga troughs are highly prospective, along with the deepest areas of the Patchawarra and Arrabury troughs. The play fairway maps also shows prospectivity potential for unconventional gas further northeast in Queensland, including areas of the Windorah Tough and Ullenbury Depression, although reservoir thickness and maturity are the key risks for this play type outside the central depocentres and overpressure remains less well constrained due to lack of data. The prospectivity of the Cooper Basin for unconventional hybrid plays for gas far exceeds its currently known conventional resources by at least an order of magnitude. Whilst significant additional work is required to better characterise key petroleum systems elements, the play fairway area estimated for the combined Gidgealpa Group gas play is significantly larger than that of the Roseneath and Murteree shale gas plays alone, suggesting very large volumes of gas in place and highlighting the Cooper Basin's significance as a world class unconventional gas province.