This service has been created specifically for display in the National Map and the chosen symbology may not suit other mapping applications. The Australian Topographic web map service is seamless national dataset coverage for the whole of Australia. These data are best suited to graphical applications. These data may vary greatly in quality depending on the method of capture and digitising specifications in place at the time of capture. The web map service portrays detailed graphic representation of features that appear on the Earth's surface. These features include the administration boundaries from the Geoscience Australia 250K Topographic Data, including state forest and reserves.

Abstract for Institute of Australian Geographers 2016 conference, 29 June-1 July, Adelaide

Abstract for ASEG on benchmarking of the suitability of passive seismic techniques for cover depth estimation.

This document is linked to the Values to Our Nation booklet and the strategic plan. It contains a description of the PFGI values stream, it's objectives, projections and products, and how it aligns with the value streams complement of Geoscience Australia.

Geoscience Australia is attending and participating at the LOCATE16 conference. Materials produced to support the activities include: A LOCATE16 specific presentation template, and a set of postcards and complementing 1M Pull up banner that links to our corporate augmented reality ap.

As a participating organisation in the Global Mapping Project, and following discussions held at the 22nd meeting of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM), the Secretariat of the ISCGM has requested the assistance of Geoscience Australia in the validation of intermediate products of global land cover, the Global Land Cover by National Mapping Organisation (GLCNMO) version 3. The request sent to Geoscience Australia involves the use of existing maps and other materials, based on expertise and knowledge to report the validation of the GLCNMO version 3 datasets.

The characterisation of regolith geochemical and geophysical properties is a key theme of the UNCOVER initiative. This information is crucial to understanding the relationships between regolith and bedrock as an aid to mineral exploration under cover. This study applies Self-Organising Maps (SOM) to cluster catchment-scale geochemical data from the National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) and first and second order statistical summaries by catchment area of airborne geophysical data. SOM is a machine learning technique that has the potential to reveal new and hidden patterns in multilayer (high-dimensional) datasets that are not evident in conventional analysis. Input variables that contribute significantly to the separation of clusters defined by SOM are identified. The spatial relationship between known gold mines/occurrences and catchments with high gold concentration in their outlet sediment is investigated. We show that clusters associated with significantly high gold concentrations are found to represent catchments immediately downstream of regions known to host gold mineralisation. The identification catchment clusters with high gold concentration downstream from gold mines is a significant result as it suggests gold is being liberated from regions of gold mineralisation and transported downstream. Gold is subsequently deposited in sediments where hydrological energy decreases at the break in slope. The approach documented here suggests that high dimensional catchment-scale geochemical data and summaries of geophysical data can be combined to highlight regions not previously recognised to host gold mineralisation.

Tectono-geomorphic landscape features in Australia, many of which are neotectonic, can be interpreted in the context of long-term patterns of large earthquake occurrence and used to inform contemporary earthquake hazard science. Such features often represent our only means of defining seismic source parameters such as fault slip-rate, large earthquake recurrence and magnitude. They therefore provide an avenue for extending the short historic catalogue of seismicity to timeframes commensurate with the slow strain accumulation rates characteristic of intraplate environments. In addition to being a key input to seismic hazard assessment, there is a growing realisation that analyses of tectono-geomorphic landscape features might also be used to inform mineral exploration, groundwater resource assessment and agricultural land use planning. The Avonmore Scarp in the Campaspe River valley of north-central Victoria is one such example of a tectono-geomorphic (and neotectonic) landscape feature. The controlling fault displaces Ordovician basement, a Paleogene `deep lead paleovalley (including a valley-fill basalt flow), and overlying sediments. The north-south oriented fault scarp (excluding two en echelon segments to the north-east) has a 35 km long surface expression and a maximum vertical topographic offset of 45 m, preserving evidence of perhaps 23 surface-rupturing earthquakes of around magnitude seven (Mw7.0). Displacement involving bedrock at (or near) the surface at the southern end of the scarp is likely to preserve a larger number of events than in the younger alluvium further north, owing to possible reworking within the valley. The potential for strain sharing with other structures in the region has implications for the spatial and temporal occurrence of large earthquakes in central Victoria, and consequently for seismic hazard. The fault system, particularly the more recently reactivated shallowly west-dipping faults, is spatially associated with ?Paleozoic mineralised structures within basement rocks. Neotectonic deformation is likely to have influenced the physical and chemical dispersion of pathfinder elements and prospective materials. In addition, the Avonmore Scarp and its associated faulting have implications for groundwater resources within the Campaspe River valley. In particular, structural deformation may be influencing the distribution, quality, and thus sustainability of local groundwater systems. The fault-related reorganisation of drainage systems has also exerted controls over the distribution and properties of agricultural soils within the valley.

The southern Thomson Orogen of northernmost NSW is one of the least exposed provinces in Australia, and the nature and location of its boundary with the northern Lachlan Orogen remains poorly understood. One candidate is the poorly characterised Olepoloko Fault: some workers have interpreted this crustal-scale geophysical feature as a suture juxtaposing disparate provinces; others contend that it is intra-orogenic. To test these competing hypotheses, we investigate the character of the lower crust on both sides of the Olepoloko Fault, as imaged by Lu-Hf and O-isotope systematics of magmatic zircons in granites with U-Pb ages in the range 430410 Ma. This temporal range should maximise the resolution of spatial variation in isotopic trends. Two hundred kilometres south of the Olepoloko Fault, granites from the central Lachlan Orogen (Nymagee area) indicate derivation from one or more evolved sources (Hf = -8 to -3, 18O = 7 to 10). A similar distance to the north, granites from the inboard Thomson Orogen (Hungerford area) are similar (Hf = -8 to -1, 18O = 8 to 10). Surprisingly, granites in the Cuttaburra area (proximal to the central section of the Olepoloko Fault) are not easily distinguished from either set of inboard granites (Hf = -9 to -7, 18O ~ 7). This contrasts with Thomson granites at the western end of the Olepoloko Fault (Tibooburra area) and Lachlan granites at the eastern end (Byrock area): both are characterised by juvenile Hf (-2 to 0; 0 to +5 respectively), and 18O (6 to 7; 5 to 8 respectively) values indicating a lesser role for supracrustal input. Data coverage remains sparse in this reconnaissance study; however, we have not yet identified any contrast in Lu-Hf or O-isotopic character between the interiors of the Lachlan and Thomson Orogens. Granites to the north of the north-dipping Olepoloko Fault in the Cuttaburra area may have been sourced from either orogen, as `Lachlan crust appears to underlie `Thomson crust here. In the southwest Thomson Orogen, the Tibooburra granites lie within a NW-trending zone of distinctive magnetic character 60120 km wide, bounded by the Olepoloko Fault and Tongo Fault. The lower crust of the northeastern Lachlan Orogen is more juvenile in composition in the Louth-Eumarra Shear Zone, and future analyses will interrogate regional trends in this area, by (1) analysing granites on the northern (Thomson) side of the easternmost extent of the Olepoloko Fault, and (2) exploring links between granites in the Byrock area and those of the Macquarie Arc further east. The status of Olepoloko Fault as a suture is not yet clear; however, our results demonstrate the presence of relatively juvenile crust of both sides of it (at opposite ends). The isotopic data complements geophysical datasets and will inform future investigations, including the current pre-competitive drilling program being run by GA in partnership with GSNSW and GSQ. The drilling program will also provide samples from under cover to infill the isotopic coverage in the region.

Short abstract for Australian Earth Sciences Convetion 2016