This abstract is to be submitted for the Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee Researcher's Forum on 27th-28th of March 2013, as part of the Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment launch at the event.

The Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment involves a basin-scale investigation of water resources to fill knowledge gaps about the status of water resources in the basin and the potential impacts of climate change and resource development. This report addresses findings in the Western Eromanga region. Citation: Smerdon BD, Welsh WD and Ransley TR (eds) (2012) Water resource assessment for the Western Eromanga region. A report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment. CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia

This Central Australian Fractured Rock Province dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Mesoproterozoic Musgrave Province is a significant geological feature in Central Australia, covering around 130,000 square kilometres across the tri-border region of Northern Territory, South Australia, and eastern Western Australia. It is characterized by east-west trending, metamorphosed igneous rocks, including granites, intrusions, and volcanics. The province experienced various deformation events, including the Mount West Orogeny and Musgravian Orogeny, resulting in the emplacement of granites and high-grade metamorphism. The Ngaanyatjarra Rift (1090 to 1040 Ma) is a failed intracontinental rift that formed due to magmatism-induced extension. The associated Giles Event was characterised by mafic to ultra-mafic intrusions (Giles Suite), bimodal volcanism and rift sedimentation (Bentley Supergroup), granitic intrusions and dyke emplacement. The Giles Event was followed by the emplacement of dolerite dykes including the Kullal Dyke Suite and the Amata Dolerite, approximately 1000 Ma and 825 Ma. The Peterman Orogeny played a crucial role in shaping the geological architecture of the Musgrave Province, forming the distinctive east-to-west-directed ranges.

This Maryborough-Nambour Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Maryborough Basin is a half-graben intracratonic sag basin mainly filled with Early Cretaceous rocks, overlain by up to 100 m of Cenozoic sediments. It adjoins the older Nambour Basin to the south, comprising Triassic to Jurassic rocks. The boundary between the basins has shifted due to changes in sedimentary unit classifications, with the Cretaceous units now restricted to the Maryborough Basin and Jurassic and older units assigned to the Nambour Basin. Both basins are bounded to the west and unconformably overlies older Permian and Triassic rocks in the Gympie Province and Wandilla Province of the New England Orogen. In the south of the Nambour Basin, it partly overlaps with the Triassic Ipswich Basin. The Nambour Basin in the south is primarily composed of the Nambour Formation, with interbedded conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, shale, and minor coal. Overlying this is the Landsborough Sandstone, a unit with continental, fluviatile sediments and a thickness of up to 450 m. In the north, the Duckinwilla Group contains the Myrtle Creek Sandstone and the Tiaro Coal Measures, which were formerly considered part of the Maryborough Basin but are now associated with the northern Nambour Basin. In contrast, the Maryborough Basin consists of three main Cretaceous units and an upper Cenozoic unit. The Grahams Creek Formation is the deepest, featuring terrestrial volcanic rocks, volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, and minor pyroclastic rocks. The overlying Maryborough Formation was deposited in a continental environment with subsequent marine incursion and includes mudstone, siltstone, minor sandstone, limestone, conglomerate, and tuff. The upper Cretaceous unit is the Burrum Coal Measures, comprising interbedded sedimentary rocks deposited in fluvial to deltaic environments. The uppermost unit, the Eocene to Miocene Elliott Formation, includes sandstone, siltstone, conglomerate, and shale deposited in fluvial to deltaic environments. Cenozoic sediments overlying the Elliott Formation consist of Quaternary alluvium, coastal deposits, and sand islands like Fraser Island, influenced by eustatic sea level variations. Volcanic deposits and freshwater sediments also occur in some areas. Adjacent basins, such as the Clarence-Moreton Basin and Capricorn Basin, have stratigraphic correlations with the Maryborough Basin. The Oxley Basin lies to the south, overlying the Ipswich Basin. In summary, the Maryborough Basin and the older Nambour Basin exhibit distinct geological characteristics, with varying rock formations, ages, and sedimentary features, contributing to the diverse landscape of the region.

The Onshore Basin Inventory is a summary of data and geological knowledge of hydrocarbon-prone onshore basins of Australia. Volume 1 of the inventory covers the McArthur, South Nicholson, Georgina, Wiso, Amadeus, Warburton, Cooper and Galilee basins. Under the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, Geoscience Australia expanded this work to compile the Onshore Basin Inventory volume 2, which covers the Officer, onshore Canning and Perth basins. These reports provide a whole-of-basin inventory of geology, petroleum systems, exploration status and data coverage. Each report also summarises aspects that require further work. The Onshore Basin Inventory has provided scientific and strategic direction for pre-competitive data acquisition under the EFTF energy work program. Here we provide an overview of the Onshore Basin Inventory, with emphasis on its utility in shaping the EFTF energy systems data acquisition and analysis program. <b>Citation:</b> Carr, L.K., Bailey, A.H.E., Palu, T.J. and Henson, P., 2020. Onshore Basin Inventory: building on Geoscience Australia’s pre-competitive work program with Exploring for the Future In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.

Although the Canning Basin has yielded minor gas and oil within conventional and unconventional reservoirs, the relatively limited geological data available in this under-explored basin hinder a thorough assessment of its hydrocarbon potential. Knowledge of the Paleozoic Larapintine Petroleum Supersystem is restricted by the scarcity of samples, especially recovered natural gases, which are limited to those collected from recent exploration successes in Ordovician and Permo-Carboniferous successions along the margins of the Fitzroy Trough and Broome Platform. To address this shortcoming, gases trapped within fluid inclusions were analysed from 121 Ordovician to Permian rock samples (encompassing cores, sidewall cores and cuttings) from 70 exploration wells with elevated mud gas readings. The molecular and carbon isotopic compositions of these gases have been integrated with gas compositions derived from open-file sources and recovered gases analysed by Geoscience Australia. Fluid inclusion C1–C5 hydrocarbon gases record a snapshot of the hydrocarbon generation history. Where fluid inclusion gases and recovered gases show similar carbon isotopes, a simple filling history is likely; where they differ, a multicharge history is evident. Since some fluid inclusion gases fall outside the carbon isotopic range of recovered gases, previously unidentified gas systems may have operated in the Canning Basin. Interestingly, the carbon isotopes of the fluid-inclusion heavy wet gases converge with the carbon isotopes of the light oil liquids, indicating potential for gas–oil correlation. A regional geochemical database incorporating these analyses underpins our re-evaluation of gas systems and gas–gas correlations across the basin. <b>Citation:</b> Boreham, C.J., Edwards, D.S., Sohn, J.H., Palatty, P., Chen, J.H. and Mory, A.J., 2020. Gas systems in the onshore Canning Basin as revealed by gas trapped in fluid inclusions. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.

Coastal aquifers are vulnerable to seawater intrusion, which is a significant issue in Australia. Geoscience Australia and the Nation Centre of Groundwater Research and Training undertook an assessment of Australia's vulnerability to seawater intrusion. The assessment utilised multiple approaches, including a vulnerability factor analysis; typological analysis; mathematical analysis; qualitative and quantitative analysis; and future land surface inundation and population growth analysis. This is presented as an abstract for the 2013 IAH Congress.

This Daly Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Daly Basin is a geological formation consisting of Cambrian to Ordovician carbonate and siliciclastic rocks, formed approximately 541 million to 470 million years ago. The basin stretches about 170 km in length and 30 km in width, shaped as a northwest elongated synform with gentle dips of less than 1 degree, likely due to prolonged sedimentary deposition in the shallow seas of the Centralian Superbasin, possibly along basin-scale faults. The primary groundwater reservoir within the Daly Basin is found in the Cambrian Daly River Group. This group comprises three units: the Tindall Limestone, Jinduckin Formation, and Oolloo Dolostone. The Tindall Limestone, which lies at the base, consists of grey, mottled limestone with some maroon-green siltstone or dark grey mudstone. The transition from the Tindall Limestone to the overlying Jinduckin Formation is marked by a shift from limestone to more siliciclastic rocks, indicating a change from open-shelf marine to peri-tidal environments. The Jinduckin Formation, situated above the Tindall Limestone, is composed of maroon-green dolomitic-siliciclastic siltstone with interbeds of dolomitic sandstone-siltstone, as well as dolostone and dolomitic quartz sandstone lenses. It gradually transitions into the carbonate-rich Oolloo Dolostone, with the highest finely laminated dolomitic sandstone-siltstone interbeds at the top of the Jinduckin Formation. The Oolloo Dolostone, the uppermost unit of the Daly River Group, comprises two members: the well-bedded lower Briggs Member, consisting of fine- to medium-grained crystalline dolostone and dolomitic quartz sandstone, and the massive upper King Member. Overlying the Daly River Group is the Ordovician Florina Formation, consisting of three carbonate intervals separated by two fine-grained, glauconite-bearing quartz sandstone units. The Florina Formation and the Daly River Group are covered unconformably by Cretaceous claystone and sandstone of the Carpentaria Basin, which extends over a significant portion of the Daly Basin.

This Murray Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Murray Basin, a significant sedimentary basin in Australia, displays varying sediment thickness across its expanse, with the thickest layers concentrated in its central regions. The basin's geological evolution is characterised by distinct depositional phases. During the Paleocene to Eocene Renmark Group phase, sedimentary deposits encompass fluvial sands at the base, transitioning into paralic carbonaceous clay and lignite layers. These sediments indicate the shift from riverine to shallow marine environments, dating back to the Paleocene and Eocene periods. The Oligocene to Middle Miocene period encompasses the Ettrick Formation and Murray Group Limestone. The former includes marl, and the latter displays glauconitic grey-green marl and bryozoal limestone, revealing prevailing marine conditions during the Oligocene to Middle Miocene. In the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Bookpurnong Formation, marine shelly dark grey clay and silt, previously known as the Bookpurnong Beds, coexist with Pliocene fluvial to marginal marine quartz sands (Loxton Sands), marking the transition back to terrestrial and nearshore marine settings. During the Late Pliocene to Pleistocene, the Blanchetown Clay, a substantial unit within Lake Bungunnia, signifies lacustrine phases. Overlying ferricretes in the central/eastern basin and the Norwest Bend Formation's oyster coquinas in the western region, the clay exhibits variable coloration and laminations. Lastly, the Pleistocene to Holocene phase witnesses river-induced reworking and erosion of underlying sediments, giving rise to the Shepparton and Coonambidgal formations. In the western Murray Basin, Cenozoic sedimentary rocks are relatively thin, typically measuring under 200-300 meters. The Renmark Trough area presents a maximum thickness of 600 meters.

This Carpentaria Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Carpentaria Basin is a vast intra-cratonic sedimentary basin situated on and offshore in north-eastern Australia, covering around 550,000 square kilometres across Queensland and the Northern Territory. It comprises predominantly sandstone-rich rock units deposited during sea level highs from the Late Jurassic to Mid Cretaceous. The basin overlies a heterogeneous Proterozoic basement and is separated from contemporaneous sedimentary structures by basement highs and inliers. Four main depocentres within the larger Carpentaria Basin form four major sub-basins: the Western Gulf Sub-basin, Staaten Sub-basin, Weipa Sub-basin, and Boomara Sub-basin. While the basin is extensive and continuous in Queensland, it becomes more heterogeneous and discontinuous in the Northern Territory. Remnants of the basin's stratigraphy, referred to as the Dunmarra Basin, are found along the Northern Territory coast and inland. The depositional history commenced during the Jurassic with down warping near Cape York Peninsula, resulting in the Helby beds and Albany Pass beds' concurrent deposition. The basin experienced marine transgressions during the Cretaceous, with the Gilbert River Formation widespread and the Wallumbilla Formation occurring during sea level highs. The Carpentaria Basin's strata are relatively undeformed and unmetamorphosed. The Northern Territory sequence displays slightly different stratigraphy, limited to the height of the Aptian marine transgression above the Georgina Basin. The Walker River Formation and Yirrkala Formation represent key units in this area, outcropping as tablelands and mesas largely unaffected by tectonism.