This dataset maps the geomorphic habitat environments (facies) for 213 Queensland coastal waterways. This version of the dataset includes 73 newly mapped estuaries, classified as 'Near pristine'. The classification system contains 12 easily identifiable and representative environments: Barrier/back-barrier, Bedrock, Central Basin, Channel, Coral, Flood- and Ebb-tide Delta, Fluvial (bay-head) Delta, Intertidal Flats, Mangrove, Rocky Reef, Saltmarsh/Saltflat, Tidal Sand Banks (and Unassigned). These types represent habitats found across all coastal systems in Australia. Southern and central Great Barrier Reef lagoon coasts have a broad spectrum of river, tide and wave- dominated estuaries.

Geoscience Australia, ACRES distribute Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data for a series of epochs or time frames covering Australia. The first epoch is 1972. These data have been produced and provided by the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO). AGO use the data in their National Carbon Accounting System for monitoring land clearing and revegetation. This data is only available through ACRES and ACRES Landsat Distributors, and not through the AGO. More information is available at <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/acres/prod_ser/agosuite.jsp">http://www.ga.gov.au/acres/prod_ser/agosuite.jsp</a> This data is available in 1:1M tiles or as a full continental Mosaic. Tiles areas are available at: <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/acres/prod_ser/agotilemap.jsp">http://www.ga.gov.au/acres/prod_ser/agotilemap.jsp</a>

This dataset is a polygon theme of vegetation types or structures of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It is derived from topography data (possibly 1:1000 scale) created by AUSLIG. The attributes are probably meaningless. Re-coding according to actual vegetation types is recommended if this layer is to be used for analysis. The vegetation appears to match the 1987 orthophotography, and would therefore be out of date in some areas (the 1992 planning data documentation reveals that areas have been cleared since the 1987 air photos). Coverage is over West and Home Islands.

3D successions of near-orthogonal progressive bulk inhomogeneous shortening resulting in multiple generations of folds in the Mount Isa Inlier

The established deformation paradigm for the Eastern Yilgarn Craton (EYC) has largely been developed from observations of overprinting relationships in the greenstone belts (Swager, 1989, 1997; Swager et al., 1992; Williams, 1993). Broadly, the recognised deformation (compressional history) involved early D1 recumbent folding and thrusting during N-S shortening, followed by E-W shortening through large-scale upright D2 folding and thrusting, then a period of strike-slip D3 faulting with associated folding, followed by continued regional D4 transpressive oblique and reverse faulting. Some authors have proposed early, intermediate, and late periods of extension throughout parts of this compressive history (Table 1). This study is aimed at providing a new deformation framework for the granites of the EYC. Granites form >60% of the surface expression of the province, so a more thorough understanding of their tectonic history is critical to our understanding of the evolution of the province. There are advantages of using deformed granites for establishing a time-space-event history. Granites have: 1. a well defined chrono-chemical framework across the entire province (pseudo-stratigraphy) (Champion & Sheraton, 1997); 2. a ductile mineralogy of quartz and feldspar that readily 'accepts' deformation; 3. multiple phases of granite, as sheets and dykes, which provide excellent markers for defining the subtleties of many of the events (especially the later ones); 4. exposure at various structural levels in the upper crust; and 5. a good U-Pb zircon geochronological database as a reference framework (Nelson, 1997; Fletcher, et al., 2001; Dunphy et al., 2003; Black et al., 2004). The scope of the study is to systematically describe the overprinting relationships of structures in granites for a range of structural levels and geographical positions (sites) for the major structural domains or terranes (Southern Cross, Kalgoorlie, Gindalbi-Kurnalpi-Laverton, and Merolia). The area chosen was the central EYC exposed in the area of the 1:250 000 scale map sheets of Leonora, Laverton, Menzies and Edjudina. This study area was chosen because new solid geology mapping (Whitaker and Blewett; 2002), new seismic reflection profiling (Goleby et al., 2002), and the available comprehensive geochronological database. The area also provided a different perspective for the regional deformation history to that determined from the better studied Kalgoorlie region (Swager, 1989). The approach was to systematically study the various structural elements for a range granite ages, with the granite age to be used as a time marker at each site. At each site, the structural elements before (cut by the dated phase) and after (overprint the dated phase) were systematically mapped and described. These structural elements form the data (available as separate data sheets) that were used to correlate events with adjacent sites in the same domain. These domain-wide event histories were also correlated to construct a new EYC deformation framework. Each stage of correlation becomes more interpretative. However, the original site data have been 'preserved' for evaluation and further testing.

A collaborative field trial of the Quester-Tangent View Series 5 single beam acoustic benthic mapping system was recently conducted in Wallis Lake by Geoscience Australia and Quester Tangent Corporation. The survey involved acquisition of the acoustic backscatter data from the northern channels and basins of Wallis Lake. Quester-Tangent software (IMPACT v3) was used to classify acoustic echograms that returned from the lake bottom into statistically different acoustic classes, using principal components analysis. Six acoustically different substrate types were identified in the Wallis Lake survey area. Ground-truthing was undertaken to identify the sedimentological and biological features of the lake floor that influenced the shape of the return echograms. For each sample, measurements were made of grain size, wet bulk density, total organic carbon, CaCO3 content, and mass of coarse fraction (mainly shell) material. Statistical cluster analysis and multi-dimensional scaling were utilised to identify any physical similarities between groups of ground-truthing sites. The analysis revealed four distinct and mappable substrate types in the study area. The degree of association between acoustic classes and measured sediment parameters was also quantified. Cluster and MDS analysis revealed that, based on the parameters measured, the six acoustic classes were not uniquely linked to the sediment groups, suggesting that factors other than the sediment parameters alone are influencing the acoustic signal. The spatial interpretation of the Wallis Lake Quester-Tangent data represents the first quantification of non-seagrass habitats in the deeper areas of the lake, and provides a useful indicatior of benthic habitat diversity and abundance. For future studies, a more quantitative measure of faunal burrow size and density, and also other sedimentary bedforms, is recommended.

Australian mineral exploration spending in 2002-03 rose by 14.4% to $732.5, the first significant increase since 1996-97. Global non-ferrous mineral exploration budgets rose 26% to an estimated US$2.4 billion in 2003. Australia's share of reported world budgets was US$339.3 million (15.5%). All States and the Northern Territory recorded increases in mineral exploration activity. Western Australia dominated with $423.6 million, 57.8% of total Australian mineral exploration expenditure in 2002-03. Gold was the major commodity sought with spending of $378.4 million, 51.7% of the total. There were significant increases in iron ore, coal and nickel exploration. Company exploration activities generated a significant number of drill intersections of economic interest, particularly for gold and nickel, in several mineral provinces. A number of junior companies commenced production of nickel and/or have nickel projects at an advanced stage.

The Lord Howe Rise and Norfolk Ridge are major north-south structural highs that are separated by the Fairway Basin and the New Caledonia Basin. The Fairway Basin is the shallower of the two basins and is generally in water less than 3000 m deep. The New Caledonia Basin lies further east in water generally deeper than 3600 m. In the area studied on the Franklin research cruise FR9/01, the two basins are about 300 km wide and 900 km long. About 2800 km of 24 channel seismic profiles provided vital information in a very poorly known region. In the Central Fairway Basin in the north, two new east-west cross-sections found more diapirs, and evidence of a bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) indicating the presence of gas hydrates, and young faulting. They increased our knowledge of a part of the basin known to have petroleum potential. In the south, there are six east-west multichannel seismic cross-sections in an area of Australian jurisdiction, where there were none. These seismic profiles show that the deep water depression south of 26.20 S is an extension of the Fairway Basin. It is limited by the Lord Howe Rise to the west and the northern extension of the West Norfolk Ridge to the east, and is roughly 700 km long and 100 km wide: an area of 70,000 km. The basin contains sediments more than 2 seconds thick in places, shallow and deep diapirs (especially north of 29 S), and a BSR in some regions. Water depths are 1200 m to 3600 m. Clearly, the South Fairway Basin has some petroleum potential, although the apparent maximum thickness of sediment (<3 km) found so far is discouraging. Twenty-six Quaternary cores were recovered on the seismic profiles across the basins, partly to further investigate the nature of the BSR in the region (gas hydrate or not). The cores recovered a variety of foram-bearing nanno oozes and nanno oozes, in water depths of 1297-3517 m, and in latitudes of 24-32 S. Uniformly pale core colours in the north suggest purely oxidising conditions, but multicoloured cores in the south, indicating fluctuations in redox conditions, are probably related to inflow of varied bottom water through time. The cores contain negligible quantities of gas. Furthermore, the pore waters do not show the sharp chemical gradients of sulfate, chloride and methane, which would indicate that significant accumulations of gas hydrates were present. This negative result may be because of the highly oxidised nature of the surface sediment, so our results shed no light on the nature of the BSR. Twenty-one samples from low in cores, and three from dredges, have been examined for planktic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils: both groups are abundant and well preserved, and all core base samples are of Pleistocene age. The foraminiferal assemblages are typically subtropical to warm temperate, dominated largely either by the Globorotalia (Truncorotalia) or the Gr. inflata groups. The nannofossil ages show a clear relationship between location and the age of the core bases. As most cores are of similar lengths, there probably is a systematic variation in sedimentation rates. The four oldest cores, all from the north, have the lowest average sedimentation rates (~4 mm/1000 years), but they are on slopes and may be winnowed. The other northern cores have lower sedimentation rates (~10 mm/1000 years) than the southern cores (25 mm/1000 years), perhaps because productivity has been higher south of 26.45 S than further north. A northern dredge from the Fairway Basin contains chalk and radiolarite with Early Eocene foraminifera and late Early to early Middle Miocene nannofossils. A southern dredge from the eastern Lord Howe Rise contains a volcanic breccia with poorly preserved Early Pliocene foraminifera and Late Miocene to Late Pliocene nannofossils in micrite infillings.

2004 updated version of Helby, Morgan & Partridge (1987)

The Airborne gravity 2004 workshop was held in Sydney on August 15, in conjunction with ASEG-PESA Sydney 2004 (the ASEG's 17th Geophysical Conference and Exhibition). The aims of the workshop were to provide participants with a review of the current state of the art in airborne gravity instrumentation, to present case histories of the use of these methods in minerals and petroleum applications, and to distribute sample data sets. 'Airborne gravity' is used in this context to include both airborne gravimeter and airborne gravity gradiometer methods. The papers in this GA Record reflect the two themes of the workshop, providing a comprehensive review of systems currently in operation as well as some still under development, and case histories involving examples from surveys spanning the globe.