This project was commissioned by Dr Clinton B Foster (AGSO) to provide a palynological reconnaissance of selected samples from six Eucla Basin wells in south-western South Australia and south-eastern Western Australia.

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

In the course of a study to examine the depths to various regolith layers in the North Arunta area, anomalous geochemistry values where noticed in an area of particularly dense drilling. Company reports were obtained to further examine the area investigate if a prospect had been identified. A detailed magnetic survey (100 m line spacing) of the area was also revealed. With the aid of the company reports and data geology and mineralisation of the Abrolhos prospects have been investigated.

Geoscience Australia (GA) was engaged by Sydney Water Corporation (SW) to review existing geological, geophysical and geotechnical data from the Sydney region in an effort to better understand seismic hazard in SW's area of operations. The goal is to improve SW's understanding of the level of earthquake risk to their infrastructure in order to support their asset management practices. Of particular interest is improving SW's understanding of asset damage or loss and potential network disruption, following a large earthquake. The project outputs comprise two milestone reports. This document represents the first of these, and presents an earthquake hazard assessment of the SW area of operations based on the bedrock hazard definition outlined in the Australian Standard AS1170.4-2007. It also includes a seismic site classification of the soil conditions across the area based on mapped geology. The second milestone report, to be delivered by the end of June 2010, will incorporate a full probabilistic seismic hazard assessment of the SW area of operations, in addition to the hazard maps presented in the current report. The opening chapter of this first milestone report provides brief background information on earthquakes and the geology in the Sydney region. The second chapter covers the development and validation of the seismic site classification maps for the Sydney region. Two maps were produced; one created using the United States National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) classification scheme and one using the Australian Earthquake Loading Standard (AS1170.4-2007) classification scheme. Assessment of both the modified NEHRP and AS1170.4-2007 Australian Standard classifications have shown that both can be considered to satisfactorily represent the distribution of materials with varying potential to amplify earthquake ground shaking. This has been established by reclassifying existing mapped geology according to each classification, and testing the predicted classifications against independently acquired data from sub-surface investigations in the region. The final chapter presents maps showing the expected level of earthquake hazard in the SW area of operations using the site classification schema, hazard factors and tables given in AS1170.4-2007. A total of six hazard maps for SW's area of operations are presented for three spectral periods (0 s, 0.2 s and 1.0 s) and return periods of 500 years and 800 years. The results show that ground shaking at 0.2 s spectral period generally represents the highest hazard at 500 year and 800 year return periods. For areas with similar AS1170.4-2007 bedrock hazard values the environments characterised by Cenozoic sedimentary units have the highest earthquake hazard. While every effort has been made to ensure that the maps provided are as reliable as possible, GA cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information presented as the products are subject to the limitations of the available input data and changes in best practice methods. Therefore, this information should not be solely relied upon when making commercial decisions. In particular, local site conditions can be highly variable at the scale of individual structures, and only a site specific assessment can truly characterise the site conditions and thus the hazard at any given site.

The information within this document and associated DVD is intended to assist emergency managers in tsunami planning and preparation activities. The Attorney General's Department (AGD) has supported Geoscience Australia (GA) in developing a range of products to support the understanding of tsunami hazard through the Australian Tsunami Warning System Project. The work reported here is intended to further build the capacity of the Tasmanian State Government in developing inundation models for prioritised locations.

This professional opinion assesses the viability of utilising the priority aquifer target GWMAR1 to secure Broken Hill's water supply, both as an extractive only scheme and as a conjunctive use scheme employing Managed Aquifer Recharge as a key component. This work comes under the arrangements of the Broken Hill Managed Aquifer Recharge Project Phase 3a Memorandum of Understanding. The report addresses, with confidence levels, the following issues: Option 1: Groundwater Extraction Only. This includes an estimation of the water storage capacity and ambient groundwater salinity of the GWMAR1 priority target and the Jimargil sub-area. Different confidence levels are attached to these two estimates, reflecting the focus of work to date on the Jimargil sub-area. Broader groundwater quality issues will also be discussed. An assessment is also made of the issues with respect to direct groundwater extraction as the sole option for securing Broken Hill's water supply for a minimum of 3 years (approximately 30GL). Option 2 assesses the use of the GWMAR1 priority aquifer as part of a conjunctive water supply incorporating Managed Aquifer Recharge. This includes an assessment of the suitability of the priority MAR target at Jimargil based on the National MAR Risk Assessment Guidelines. The report also includes specification of the remaining information gaps and potential risks to a project to utilise the aquifer for (1) Groundwater extraction and (2) a conjunctive supply utilising Managed Aquifer Recharge. Broken Hill and Menindee. The report also includes a short summary of communities in Australia that currently rely on Managed Aquifer Recharge to supply their potable water, and management issues associated with this supply, and future considerations to a possible implementation phase of providing water security to Broken Hill and Menindee from a regional aquifer.