In geoscience we often use ‘quality’ to describe our activities and products, but what does ‘quality’ actually look like? How do we measure it and determine if something is the ‘quality’ facility or ‘quality’ data we say it is? This is not simply an esoteric thought experiment – it matters: end-users and stakeholders are already making decisions potentially affecting whole communities and worth millions of dollars based on their understanding of the quality of our geochemical analytical data. These products are the foundation of Geoscience Australia’s reputation as a trusted advisor to government, communities and industry. This talk will guide you through the Geoscience Australia Laboratory, paying particular focus to our role in quality control and assurance for a range of analytical data products, including our core analytical capabilities in Organic Geochemistry, Microanalysis and Physical Properties. You will hear how the labs are evolving as we build new facilities and build on our capabilities. You will learn more about the importance of quality, how it is defined and some tools to apply in your own work.

Geoscience Australia's value to the nation, outlined in our overarching Strategy 2028, is through our science. However, the way that we apply our science to support a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment cannot be taken for granted. Our new Science Strategy 2028, to be launched by Geoscience Australia's Chief Scientist, Dr Steve Hill, during this event, will support Strategy 2028 in our mission to be the nation's trusted advisor on the geology and geography of Australia. It will provide strategic direction for developing and delivering the science that underpins our core business. Dr Hill will outline how our guiding Science Principles apply to our way of working -- not just the way in which we work as an organisation, but also in the way that we work with our partners in using science to create benefits for all Australians.

The AusAEM survey is the world's largest airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey flown to date, extending across an area exceeding 3.5 million km2 over Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales Victoria and South Australia. Airborne electromagnetics is a geophysical method at the forefront in addressing the challenge of exploration under cover. In collaboration with the state and territory geological surveys, Geoscience Australia has led a national initiative whose goal is to acquire AEM data at a nominal line spacing of 20 km across Australia. The interpreted AEM conductivity sections were inverted using Geoscience Australia's open source Layered Earth Inversion Sample-By-Sample Time Domain Electromagnetics (GALEISBSTDEM) inversion. Horizontal along-flight line resolution is 12.5 m, and the vertical resolution varies exponentially with depth. Inversion cell sizes increase from 4.0 m at the surface to ~55 m in the bottom cell of the conductivity sections, ~500 m below surface. Consequently, the ability to resolve fine detail varies with depth. Using this dataset, we interpret the depth to chronostratigraphic surfaces, assembled stratigraphic relationship information, and delineated structural and electrically conductive features. Our results improved understanding of upper-crustal geology, led to 3D mapping of palaeovalleys, prompted further investigation of electrical conductors and their relationship to structural features and mineralisation, and helped us continuously connect correlative outcropping units separated by up to hundreds of kilometres. Our interpretation is designed to improve targeting and outcomes for mineral, energy and groundwater exploration, and contributes to our understanding of the chronostratigraphic, structural and upper-crustal evolution of northern Australia. Almost 200,000 regional depth measurements have been collected, each attributed with detailed geological information, are an important step towards a national geological framework, and offer a regional context for more detailed, smaller-scale AEM surveys. The AusAEM programme delivers much more than just reliable depth-to-cover estimates and the location of paleochannels. It can reveal basin architecture and regionally map structures, making it a crucial layer of data for mineral, energy and groundwater and exploration. It has become an essential part of data-driven decision making for conservation and environmental management.

From minerals to meteorites, this presentation will delve into the amazing specimens held at the National Mineral & Fossil Collection, explore our recent work and projects, and identify our diverse stakeholders that we interact with as part of our goals of custodianship, education, outreach, and research support. The National Mineral & Fossil Collection houses world-class mineral, meteorite, fossil, and rock thin-section specimens. The collection is of scientific, historic, aesthetic, and social significance. Geoscience Australia is responsible for the management and preservation of the collection, as well as facilitating access to the collection for research, geoscience education, and public engagement. The collection contains an impressive: • 20,000 gem, mineral and meteorite specimens from localities in Australia and across the globe. • 45,000 published palaeontological specimens contained in the Commonwealth Palaeontological Collection (CPC). • 1,000,000 unpublished fossils in a ‘Bulk Fossil’ collection. • 100,000 rock thin section slides. • 200 historical geoscience instruments including, cartography, geophysical, and laboratory equipment.

Australia as it exists today is a product of geological processes that have occurred over its 4.5 billion year history. Isotopic studies are one approach to understanding the history and evolution of the Australian continent. Isotope geochronology tells us about the timing of a wide range of geological processes like crystallisation, deformation and cooling of rocks. Isotope geochemistry informs on the precursor components from which the rocks formed, and can act as 'paleogeophysical' sensors to tell us more about the subsurface. The Isotopic Atlas of Australia brings together five of the most widely used isotopic systems in geology and delivers publicly available maps and datasets in a consistent format. This work is unlocking the collective value of decades of investment in data collection, and facilitating qualitative and quantitative comparison and integration with other datasets such as geophysical images. This talk will be an introduction to the world of isotopes as applied to understand geology, and an overview of the Isotopic Atlas recently produced as part of the Exploring for the Future Program.

The clean energy transition will require a vast increase in metal supply, yet discoveries of new mineral deposits are declining. Recently, several case studies have demonstrated links between electrical conductors imaged using magnetotelluric (MT) data and mineral deposits. Use of MT methods for exploration is therefore growing but the general applicability has not yet been tested. We look at spatial relationships between conductors and three deposit styles and find that volcanic hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) and copper porphyry deposits show weak to moderate correlations with conductors in the upper mantle. In contrast, orogenic gold deposits show strong correlations with mid-crustal conductors. These differences likely reflect differences in the way these deposits form, and suggest a metamorphic-fluid source for orogenic gold is significant. The resistivity signature can be preserved for hundreds of millions of years, and therefore MT can be a powerful tool for mineral exploration.

Compilation of age and endowment data on volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS), porphyry copper, orthomagmatic nickel, orogenic gold, granite-related rare metal and pegmatite deposits (nearly 1200 deposits from 21 mineral provinces) indicate that metallogenic patterns change over time. For much of Earth’s history, the metallogenesis of convergent margins is marked by a relatively systematic temporal progression of deposits, the convergent margin metallogenic cycle (CMMC): VHMS, calc-alkalic porphyry copper and orthomagmatic nickel → orogenic gold → alkalic porphyry copper, granite-related rare metal and pegmatite. Typically CMMCs last 70-170 Myr, and the progression appears to be related to the convergent margin tectonic cycle (Collins and Richards, 2008). Prior to ~3100 Ma, however, CMMCs are not recognised. Rather, these old mineral provinces are characterised by long metallogenic histories (400-500 Myr) with an irregular distribution of deposits. The Mesoarchean to Mesoproterozoic is characterised mostly by mineral provinces with short (80-150 Myr) metallogenic histories and a single CMMC. Between 1900 Ma and 1800 Ma, however, some mineral provinces (e.g. Trans-Hudson and Sveccofennian) are characterised by multiple CMMCs, with total metallogenic histories that last up to 200 Myr. Paleoproterozoic provinces with multiple CMMCs formed by the consumption of internal seas, whereas mineral provinces on outward-facing convergent margin typically have only one CMMC. After ~800 Ma, convergent margins are mostly long-lived (290-480 Myr) and are characterised by multiple CMMCs with complex metallogenic histories. The changes in the metallogenesis of convergent margins reflect changes in tectonic processes through time. Prior to 3100 Ma, stagnant lid tectonics, which did not involve subduction, resulted in the formation of oceanic plateaus with irregular periods of mineralisation. After the initiation of subduction at ~3100 Ma, the style of metallogenesis changed. The dominance of provinces with a single CMMC from 3100 to 800 Ma suggests that convergent margins were unstable and could be shut down easily. This is consistent with models of shallow-break-off subduction whereby the subducting slab breaks off at shallow levels due to the lower plate strength in the Archean and the early part of the Proterozoic. When the slab breaks off, the subduction system shuts down and produces a single CMMC. Only in cases where factors such as closure of internal seas force continued subduction do multiple CMMCs occur. The change to longer metallogenic histories and multiple CMMCs at ~800 Ma is likely the consequence of the cooling of the mantle, which increases plate strength, allowing subduction of cold slabs deeper into the mantle and more stable convergence: continuous ridge push and the density of oceanic crust causes re-initiated of subduction further outboard rather than complete termination of subduction when the convergent margin is perturbed by the accretion of an exotic block or other tectonic event. Subduction only terminates upon collision of two major crustal blocks. As a consequence, the metallogenic history or geological young convergent margins is long with multiple CMMIs and/or complex temporal interleaving of deposit types.

Hydrogen for energy storage and transport is a key part of the energy transition. Caverns in salt formations can provide high integrity and large-scale storage (>200 GWh). Australia has several basins with thick salt in the subsurface that are prospective for underground hydrogen storage and Geoscience Australia's archive of digital data and physical samples is a crucial resource in assessing these deposits and finding more. New models for the deposition of giant salt deposits, new technologies and the new energy landscape make salt and hydrogen an exciting research frontier.

For the first time in Australia, ground gravity, airborne gravity/gravity gradiometry, and satellite gravity observations have been combined to produce a series of National Gravity Grids covering an area more than twice the size of Australia. This involved the combination of observations made on the land, in the air, and by satellite - more than 1,800 ground gravity surveys, 14 airborne gravity and gravity gradiometry surveys, and satellite gravity observations. Underpinning this accomplishment is the Australian Fundamental Gravity Network - a series of gravity benchmarks that allow the joining of gravity data into a seamless whole. This presentation will discuss both the utility of the network and how it feeds into the production of the grids, plus the process of creating the national scale grids using such varied sources of gravity data.

The presentation will introduce the basic components of the drone/UAV/RPAs, summarise the rules for operating a drone as part of a business or undertaking (including operating under a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operators Certificate – ReOC) and present some of the science and scientists utilising RPAs for their work at Geoscience Australia and beyond. The talks will include environmental research in Antarctica, landscape analysis after large earthquakes, machine learning to spot dangerous sharks and validating satellite reflectance, all with the assistance of drones.