Authors / CoAuthors
Symington, N. | Halas, L. | Smith, M. | Thiele, Z. | Lester, J. | Sundaram, B. | LeyCooper, A.Y.
Abstract
As part of the $225 million Exploring for the Future programme, Geoscience Australia have undertaken an investigation into the resource potential of the Officer-Musgrave-Birrindudu region. Part of this project focusses on characterising palaeovalley groundwater resources within the West Musgrave region of Australia. This record presents a three-dimensional palaeovalley model and describes the method used in its generation. Understanding the 3D architecture of palaeovalleys is an important component of conceptualising the shallow groundwater system. In this region groundwater is the only significant water resource, and is critical for supporting local communities, industries and the environment. The data products released alongside this record are a base of gridded Cenozoic surface, a grid of the thickness of the Cenozoic and polygons defining the spatial extent of palaeovalleys. The study area encompasses the upper reaches of several large palaeovalleys. These valleys incised mostly crystalline rocks of the Musgrave Province and sedimentary rocks of the adjoining basin during the late Cretaceous. Subsequently, valleys were filled by Cenozoic-aged sediments, which now form the aquifers and aquitards of the modern-day groundwater system. Palaeovalley architecture has been shaped by a complex interplay of climatic, tectonic, and geological factors over geological time. In some cases, tectonic deformation has caused tilting or disruption of palaeovalleys with implications for groundwater flow. We modelled the base of Cenozoic surface across the project area and used this geological surface to identify palaeovalleys. The modelling process used airborne electromagnetic conductivity models, borehole data and geological outcrop as model inputs. Using these data, we interpreted the base of Cenozoic along AEM flightlines, at borehole locations and at the surface where Pre-Cenozoic geology was cropping out. These data were gridded to generate the base of Cenozoic surface. This surface was then used as the basis for interpreting palaeovalley extents. The resulting model is adequate for its purpose of better understanding the groundwater system. However, the model has considerable uncertainty due to uncertainty in the model inputs and data sparsity. The model performed much better within the centre of the project area within the Musgrave Province compared to the adjoining basins.
Product Type
document
eCat Id
149152
Contact for the resource
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
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- Contact instructions
- MEG
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Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
- ( Project )
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- EFTF – Exploring for the Future
- ( Project )
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- Officer-Musgrave
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- palaeovalley
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- groundwater
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- airborne electromagnetics interpretation
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- 3D modelling
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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- Geology
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2024-02-28T00:05:10
Creation Date
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Status
completed
Purpose
The purpose of this product is to release three data products relating to the 3D modelling of palaeovalley architecture in the West Musgrave Province. The three datasets are a base of Cenozoic surface, a Cenozoic thickness grid and palaoevalley extents. The accompanying report describes these products, how they were made and discusses the strengths and limitations of the model.
Maintenance Information
asNeeded
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Record RECORD 2024/007
Lineage
The base of Cenozoic model released here was generated in the Petrel software by gridding input data. These data include AEM conductivity data released by Geoscience Australia (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145265 , https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/147688 and https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/146278 ), borehole data compiled from a range of sources and surface geology from the 1:1 million scale dataset (https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/74619).
Parent Information
Extents
[-28.15, -23.80, 125.36, 130.965]
Reference System
GDA2020 / geographic 2D (EPSG: 7844)
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Association Type - operatedOnBy
West Musgrave Base of Cenozoic Surface WMS
eCat Identifier - 149352,
UUID - 49536c18-1af1-410a-994f-2971ee960cea
Association Type - operatedOnBy
West Musgrave Base of Cenozoic Surface WMTS
eCat Identifier - 149353,
UUID - 1612f09c-5fe6-43a5-9da8-44d15d4775ae
Association Type - operatedOnBy
West Musgrave Base of Cenozoic Surface WCS
eCat Identifier - 149354,
UUID - 19f6b090-1ab4-4c26-9d0c-d027b25c5f20
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