In the brief period 2005-2010, geothermal energy showed rapid growth in Australia with many tenements being taken up, significant exploration activities and a number of very deep wells drilled. Since that time, despite world-leading technical success, expenditure, activity, tenement holdings and personnel numbers have decreased markedly. Success has been achieved with the generation of electricity by Geodynamics Ltd at Innamincka, and the creation of a geothermal reservoir by Petratherm Ltd at Paralana. This article examines why this decline has occurred, and looks at the place of geothermal energy in Australia's Clean Energy Future.

The basement beneath Australia's offshore basins was the cradle for sediments involved in oil and gas formation. Knowledge of basement depth, boundaries and evolution provides clues to the petroleum potential of Australia's sedimentary basins. The problem is finding the right combination of geophysical techniques to define basement offshore, and knowing what adjustments to make to reduce unwanted effects in definition. Geoscience Australia's Alexey Goncharov outlines his team's exciting new basement and crustal studies that are tackling the problems.

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.

A significant proportion of the mineral endowment of eastern Australia is related to Phanerozoic granites and comagmatic volcanic rocks. Accordingly, considerable scientific research and data gathering has been focussed on these magmatic systems within eastern Australia, over the last 15 years. A major outcome has been the recognition that the nature and style of this mineralisation (porphyry Cu-Au, porphyry Cu-Mo, vein-style W, Mo, Sn, Au) clearly varies with both the mineralogy and chemistry of the related magmatism (e.g., Blevin & Chappell, 1992). Further research is increasingly recognising that the development of mineralisation, is controlled by many factors other than just the chemistry and intensive parameters intrinsic to the magmatic systems. Wall rock controls, such as oxidation state, chemical reactivity, competency, porosity and structural preparation, are now considered critical as to whether mineralisation will form. The mineralogical composition of the host rocks also appears important; certainly playing an important role in metal precipitation, e.g., many deposits are hosted by rocks rich in reductants such as magnetite, graphite and/or sulphide. Interestingly, empirical data also indicate that deposit types may be host rock specific, e.g., Haynes (2003) suggests Fe-oxide Cu-Au and porphyry Cu deposits are found in settings where host rocks contain little or no reduced carbon minerals (e.g., graphite); conversely, Wyborn (2003) suggests Au-only deposits occur where host rocks are carbonaceous. The potential for host rocks to play a significant role in the mineralising environment is clear, even more so when it is considered that mineralisation may occur up to 2-3 km from the granite body (ref). Unfortunately, previous studies of magmatism and related metallogenesis in eastern Australia have largely ignored country rocks and their role, beyond simple criteria such as level of emplacement and level of exhumation.

A defining characteristic of the seabed is the proportion that is hard, or immobile. For marine ecosystems, hard seabed provides the solid substrate needed to support sessile benthic communities, often forming 'hotspots' of biodiversity such as coral and sponge gardens. For the offshore resource and energy industry, knowledge of the distribution of hard versus soft seabed is important for planning infrastructure (pipelines, wells) and to managing risk posed by geo-hazards such as migrating sand waves or mass movements on steep banks. Maps that delineate areas of hard and soft seabed are therefore a key product to the informed management and use of Australia's vast marine estate. As part of the Australian Government's Offshore Energy Security Program (2007-2011) and continuing under the National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (2011-2015), Geoscience Australia has been developing integrated seabed mapping methods to better map and predict seabed hardness using acoustic data (multibeam sonar), integrated with information from biological and physical samples. The first method used was a two-stage, classification-based clustering method. This method uses acoustic backscatter angular response curves to derive a substrate type map. The angular response curve is the backscatter value as a function of the incidence angle, where this angle lies between the incident acoustic signal from the normal. The second method was a prediction-based classification, using a machine learning method called random forest. This method was based on bathymetry, backscatter data and their derivatives, as well as underwater video and sediment data. The techniques developed by Geoscience Australia offer a fast and inexpensive assessment of the seabed that can be used where intensive seabed sampling is not feasible. Moreover, these techniques can be applied to areas where only multibeam acoustic data are available. Importantly, the identification of seabed substrate types in spatially continuous maps provides valuable baseline information for effective marine conservation management and infrastructure development.

Geoscience Australia's Bremer Sub-basin Study is providing the first new frontier exploration opportunity under the Commonwealth Government's New Oil program.

In 2010 the UN General Assembly appointed a Group of Experts to carry out the first cycle of the Regular Process from 2010 to 2014. The immediate tasks for the Group of Experts include preparing a draft outline for the First Global Integrated Marine Assessment (the Assessment) and to design a process for drafting and reviewing it. Producing the Assessment will be a major undertaking that will have to involve many hundreds of marine experts from around the world in order to succeed. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rationale behind the draft outline for the Assessment and to explain the process envisaged for producing it by the 2014 deadline. It is emphasised that the Assessment outline is a work in progress and that amendments will be made prior to the commencement of its drafting.

Significant uranium deposits are known to be hosted by non-pedogenic calcrete. Although there are abundant non-pedogenic calcrete in Australia, calcrete-hosted uranium deposits constitute only 1% of know uranium resources in Australia. The Paterson region in Western Australia is a highly prospective area for uranium. The recent regional Paterson airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey has mapped a paleodrainage system that has the potential to form calcrete-hosted uranium deposits. This article outlines geological and geochemical factors which control the formation of calcrete-hosted uranium deposits, and present a prospectivity map for calcrete-hosted uranium mineral systems in the Paterson region.

Legacy product - no abstract available

This package presents interactive geohistory models of the regional burial, thermal and hydrocarbon maturation and expulsion history of the Vulcan Sub-basin and adjacent Ashmore Platform and Londonderry High, Timor Sea. Removed due to lack of data 17/07/15 AM