A short article describing the outcomes of the Tasman Frontier Petroleum Industry Workshop held at Geoscience Australia on 8 and 9 March 2012.

The eastern Yilgarn Craton (EYC) of Western Australia is Australia's premier gold and nickel province, and has been the focus of geological investigations for over a century. Geoscience Australia, in conjunction with partners in the Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre conducted a series of projects between 2001 and 2008 (Y4 project team, 2008). This article summarises the highlights and new findings from the research, many of which challenge previous paradigms on the tectonics and architecture, as well as the relationship of gold to structure, magmatism and metamorphism. Although a Yilgarn-based study, the results have general implications for other Archaean terranes.

Palaeogrographic analysis of the Early Cretaceous South Perth Supersequence.

Legacy product - no abstract available

Despite the clear unambiguous link between gold mineralisation and structural control in the well-endowed eastern Yilgarn Craton (EYC), the tectonic history of this region remains controversial. The current paradigm describes the tectonic history to have evolved in a relatively simple progressive manner with the main `D2? and subsequent events (D3 and D4) being the result of maximum shortening oriented ~E?W or ENE?WSW. Although most previous studies have focussed on the structural geology of the greenstones, both greenstones and granites (Fig. 1) have been assumed to have experienced the same event history (Swager, 1997: Precambrian Research 83, 11-41). This article outlines a new approach taken to better understand the tectonic and geodynamic evolution of this important part of Australia.

Geoscience Australia has recently conducted absolute gravity observations at Davis and Mawson stations in the Australian Antarctic Territory to establish accurate gravity reference points for past and future gravity surveys. These absolute gravity observations are the first such measurements undertaken at any of the Australian Antarctic stations and will not only provide an accurate absolute datum for future gravity work but will also enable gravity surveys that have already been conducted in the Australian Antarctic Territory to be tied to the same datum, thus allowing past and future gravity surveys to be accurately merged and combined.

Twenty sets of elevation and gravity profiles across the Australian continent and its margins were prepared by computer from a data bank of 260 000 observations. Their concise and accurate presentation enables crustal blocks to be identified from their elevation and surface character. The profiles indicate that the continent consists of rigid crustal blocks containing the cratonised remnants of ancient mobile belts. Some blocks have been eroded to great depth, others are blanketed by sediments and many are undergoing passive isostatic adjustment. Differential vertical movements between adjacent small blocks suggest that some are not in isostatic equilibrium, and differences in regional free-air anomaly level over distances of up to 6 degrees of arc confirm that complete isostasy does not prevail. Around the outer zone of the continent, the dominant direction of movement is downwards, presumably in response to erosion of the base of the crust. However, horizontal compression may be preventing some of the blocks from subsiding, resulting in topographic features, including the Australian Alps.

We have completed a new Web interface that makes it easier for AGSO's clients to find and order products sold by the AGSO Sales Centre. The new system is on AGSO's Web site at http://www.agso.gov.au/databases/catalog /html. Alternatively, from AGSO's home page at http://www.agso.gov.au, click on the `Products' button and select `AGSO Products' from the pull-down menu of online databases. The new interface is similar to the `Products Database' it replaces, but is based on the `AGSO Catalog', a new metadata system designed to keep track of all of AGSO outputs - including products, publications, datasets and resources. The new interface will be followed shortly by a Web interface for finding publications, papers and articles by AGSO staff members.

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