The chemistry of groundwater in the regional recharge zones of Triassic and Carboniferous rocks in the upper Hunter River valley of New South Wales is strongly influenced by silicate and carbonate dissolution/precipitation reactions, ion exchange and the dispersion of aerosols in infiltrated rainfall. The Wollombi Coal Measures and Jerrys Plains Subgroup of the Wittingham Coal Measures west of the Muswellbrook Anticline constitute the regional groundwater transmission zones, and the processes having the greatest influence on the chemistry of their water are dissolution/precipitation reactions and oxidation of coals. The semi-confined aquifers of the Greta Coal Measures, Maitland Group, Dalwood Group, and Wittingham Coal Measures in the eastern and southern parts of the valley discharge into unconfined sand and gravel aquifers of the Hunter River floodplain. These Permian rocks are the source of the most saline water in the valley, and the chemistry of their groundwater is largely determined by oxidation of sulphides and molecular diffusion of connate marine salts, a legacy of periodic immersion by Permian ocean water. Disequilibrium indices for calcite, dolomite and dawsonite indicate that these carbonates are being precipitated today in the groundwater of the Central Lowlands provinces; they are being dissolved in the southern and western groundwater recharge zones and are in equilibrium with water of the northern recharge zone. The iron carbonates, siderite and ankerite, are a product of a palaeohydrochemical regime characterised by saline alkaline water rich in dissolved iron disseminated from gels originally accumulated in the Permian peat swamps, but these minerals are not being precipitated in modern upper Hunter River valley groundwater. The sulphate minerals, gypsum, thenardite and bloedite, occur extensively in salt efflorescences in the Permian rocks of the Central Lowlands, but their disequilibrium indices show that none of the minerals can be precipitated in the contemporary upper Hunter River valley groundwater by processes other than evaporative concentration. Models based on incongruent dissolution of feldspars allocate much of the upper Hunter River valley groundwater to the kaolinite stability field, which is consistent with the abundance of kaolinite as an authigenic mineral in the fractured rock aquifers. Silica and cations leached from the fractured rocks are accumulating in the groundwater sinks around the margins of the Hunter River floodplain, as indicated by the large proportion of groundwater in these areas which are in equilibrium with Ca-montmorillonite. Concentrations of C a 2 + , S i 0 2 and H C 0 3 ions in upper Hunter River valley groundwater approach log-normal distributions and these species are most highly identified with continental hydrochemical processes. In contrast, the four 'elements' constituting the bulk of solutes in ocean water, CI", N a + , SOj" and Mg2 + , are distributed in two modes: the low-concentration primary mode, representing the dissemination of these species from the continental solutes store, and the secondary high-concentration mode, reflecting diffusion and oxidation of marine inputs. On a province-wide scale, composition diagrams of solute behaviour identify the Wittingham Coal Measures to the east and south of Muswellbrook Anticline, the Greta Coal Measures, and the Maitland and Dalwood Groups as systems that can be approximated by simple linear mixing models between meteoric and oceanic water. Composition diagrams for the floodplain hydrochemical provinces show that the alluvial aquifers can be represented as mixing systems between Hunter River surface water and groundwater of the fractured-rock aquifers. Principal component analyses describe the chemical evolution of upper Hunter groundwater from the Permian marine transgression through to the present continental leaching regime for similar positions along flow lines in discharge zones, groundwater of the Greta C

The Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier of northwestern Queensland is one of Australia's most important producers of copper, zinc, lead, and silver, accounting for over 40% of Australia's export earnings of these metals. Hence, it has been a focus of geological mapping and exploration for many years. BMR's interest began in the early 1950's, and by 1958 the entire inlier had been mapped at the broad reconnaissance level (1:250 000 scale) by joint BMR-GSQ (Geological Survey of Queensland) parties (Carter & others, 1961). This work established a stratigraphic framework for the inlier, and provided the first insight into its extremely complex structure. A more detailed (1:100 000 scale) second stage of mapping, again by joint BMRGSQ parties, began in 1969 and was largely completed by1980. This work extensively revised the stratigraphic picture, and the timing of major igneous events was determined using U-Pb geochronology. Blake (1987) synthesised the mapping results and prepared a 1:500 000 map of the entire inlier. The third BMR mapping stage began in 1983 and finished in 1989, and was concerned with detailed structural, penological (both igneous and metamorphic), sedimentological, and geochronological studies by BMR and BMR-supported university workers. The results of this work are presented as separate papers in this bulletin and as a set of individual geological maps at various scales on which most of the papers are based; the individual maps are synthesised into a 1:250 000 scale transect map which accompanies this bulletin. The maps are listed in the Table of Contents, and the locations of the mapped areas are shown in Figure 1. BMR is currently (1992) preparing a metallogenic analysis and Geographic Information System of the Mount Isa Inlier in ARC/INFO format (Wyborn & Gallagher, in preparation), which will incorporate the following digital datasets: the 1:500 000 scale geological map of Blake (1987); geochemical data; regional geophysical data; metallogenic data (Raymond & Fortowski, in press); and Landsat TM imagery.

Beyrichicopids and kirkbyocopes are represented in the Early Carboniferous benthic ostracod fauna of the Bonaparte Basin by at least 29 species referable to 18 genera (including two that are probably new, but unnamed). The described number of species are distributed among the ostracod families. Of the species described, eight are new (Libumella bonapartensis, Welleriella atypha, Malnina spinosa, Coryellina excaudata, C.robertsi, Selebratina serotina, Tetrarhabdus dictyon, and Scrobicula inaequalis), eight are closely related to, if not conspecific with, established taxa [Pseudoleperditia cf. venulosa, Coryellina cesarensis, Kirkbya aff. lessnikovae, K. aff. quadrata, Amphissites aff. centronotus, A. umbonatus, Kirkbyella (Berdanella) quadrata, and Scrobicula aff. inaequalis), and 13 are placed in open nomenclature, most of which are comparable with previously described taxa. The morphological similarities of the extinct Kirkbyacea and the extant Punciacea are discussed, and possible homoemorphic resemblances between them are considered. Detailed SEM examination of the reticulation pattern of the kirkbyacean species Amphissites sp.B revealed the results of epidermal cell-division during the ecdysis between the A-I stage and the presumed adult stage. Mitosis of the epidermal cells not only increases the valve surface area, but also initiates carinae by the fusion of adjacent muri of twin fossae. An interim biostratigraphic scheme for the Early Carboniferous sequence of the Bonaparte Basin consists of a succession of eight ostracod assemblages that are based on the first appearance (in ascending order) of the following species: Welleriella atypha, Coryellina robertsi, Shivaella cf. armstrongiana, Coryellina cesarensis,. Malnina spinosa sp. nov., Selebratina serotina, Scrobicula inaequalis and A mphissites sp.B. The scale of assemblages is controlled by conodont and foraminiferal zonations, and is calibrated against the Dinantian time-scale. So far, the atypha, robertsi and armstrongiana Assemblages have been recognised in the Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian) sequence of the Canning Basin. The major affinities of the Early Carboniferous beyrichicopids and kirkbyocopes from the Bonaparte Basin are with cognate species from Western Europe (Belgium, northern England), the Russian Platform, Kazakhstan, and Tibet. North American affinities are of minor significance. In general terms, the entire Early Carboniferous ostracod fauna from the carbonate shelf sediments of the Bonaparte Basin belongs to the Bairdiacea-Paraparchitacea ecozone, suggesting warm climatic conditions. The Tournaisian (Burt Range Formation; Septimus Limestone) faunas may include ecologically mixed assemblages, i.e., marine nearshore and shallow offshore, but the palaeoecological studies needed to test this model must await the description of the total Early Carboniferous ostracod fauna. The Visean (Utting Calcarenite) Kirkbyacea are as frequent (in species abundance) as the Paraparchitacea, both superfamilies ranking second to the Bairdiacea; a proportion indicative of open-marine shallow offshore conditions.

A collection of geological papers from 1970-71.

Contents: 1. Some early cretaceous plant microfossils from Queensland/ by D. Burger. 2. Palynological observations in the Officer Basin, Western Australia/by E.M. Kemp.

New Ireland is a narrow island 360 km from northwest to southeast and up to 48 km wide. The broader southern part of the island is steeply mountainous, with peaks to 2400 m above sea level in the Hans Meyer Range, and is diagonally bisected by the Kamdaru and Weitin valleys. The central and northwestern parts of the island are extensively capped by limestone plateaux which are tilted to the north-northeast. The plateau in the northwest is known as the Schleinitz Range, and the higher plateau in the central region is the Lelet Plateau. A low saddle separates the Lelet Plateau from the southern mountains. Outcrop is generally poor and extensively weathered beneath the dense primary rainforest that blankets the island, though entrenched river gorges provide some good, though relatively inaccessible, sections. The oldest rocks are the lower to middle (or lower upper) Oligocene Jaulu Volcanics. These consist of lapilli tuff, agglomerate, and subordinate porphyritic pyroxene andesite lava, and are intruded by gabbro, norite, diorite, tonalite, trondhjemite, granodiorite, and leucocratic dyke rocks, which have been named the Lemau Intrusive Complex. Some or all of these intrusives may be related to the Jaulu Volcanics; K/Ar ages are 31.8Â} 1.0 m.y., 17.5 Â} 0.6 m.y., and 13.8 Â} 0.5 m.y. The Jaulu Volcanics and Lemau Intrusive Complex are best exposed in southern New Ireland, where erosion has been deepest. Elsewhere they are exposed only along the southwestern fall of the ranges, where the limestone plateaux have been removed by erosion. The upper lower Miocene Lossuk River Beds are a thin series of clastic sedimentary rocks derived from the Jaulu Volcanics, which they unconformably overlie, and are found only in the northwest. The main limestone units are the Lelet Limestone, which forms the plateaux in the centre and northwest, and the Surker Limestone in the south. The two were probably partly lateral equivalents, but the Lelet Limestone has a longer range (lower Miocene to Pliocene or Pleistocene, compared with lower to middle Miocene). The narrow neck of land between the outcrop areas of Lelet Limestone in the northwest and Surker Limestone in the southeast is largely occupied by uppermost Miocene volcaniclastic (partly turbidite) and biogenic ooze sediments of the Rataman Formation, which are probably deep-water contemporaries of higher beds of the Lelet Limestone. The white, chalky Punam Limestone unconformably overlies the Rataman Formation along a narrow strip of the foothills near the northeastern coast of south-central New Ireland. It is Pliocene or younger. Embayments in the Punam Limestone are filled with Plio-Pleistocene sediments of the Uluputur Beds, which comprise intraformational conglomerate, lithic sandstone, and siltstone. A thick succession of fanglomerate and beach sands, in places cemented to conglomerate and sandstone, flanks eastern and western coasts of the southern, mountainous part of the island. These sediments, named the Maton Conglomerate, unconformably overlie the Jaulu Volcanics, from which they were derived, and also overlie in places the Rataman Formation and Surker and Punam Limestones. The conglomerate is overlain only by Pleistocene to Holocene coral terraces. The Weitin and Sapom Faults are the major structural features on New Ireland. Movement on the Weitin Fault may be left-lateral. New Ireland developed presumably on oceanic crust by seafloor (and possibly subaerial) volcanism in the early and middle Oligocene. A landmass emerged in the early Miocene, when the Lossuk River Beds were deposited, and then probably subsided steadily throughout the Miocene and early Pliocene and was rapidly uplifted in the late Pliocene and Quaternary, when a flight of terraces on the northeastern fall of the Lelet Plateau was probably cut by wave-erosion. Left-lateral faulting and crustal extension (?transform faulting) in the late Miocene may have opened a rift between central and southern New Ireland, in whic

pt. 1. Igneous and metamorphic -- pt. 2. Sedimentary rocks -- pt. 3. Igneous and metamorphic

The Kubor Anticline began as a basement fold on the northeast margin of the Australian continental block in Palaeozoic time. It is bounded in the north by the New Guinea Mobile Belt (Bain, 1973; Dow et al 1973), a tectonically active zone within younger continental crust which accreted to the northern edge of the continent in Mesozoic time. Uplift of the northern edge of the older continental block resulted in gravity sliding, folding, and thrusting of the overlying Tertiary and uppermost Mesozoic rocks (Papuan Fold Belt), but the basement and the lower part of the cover rocks were only broadly folded and faulted (e.g. Kubor Anticline). Within the Mobile Belt the rocks are strongly deformed and intensely faulted. The oldest rocks exposed are low-grade greenschists formed by regional metamorphism of sedimentary and volcanic rocks of probable Palaeozoic age (Omung Metamorphics). They crop out only in the core of the Kubor Anticline, where they are intruded by acid to basic large plutons and small stocks (Kubor Granodiorite) of probable Late Permian age.In the west and northeast, the Kubor Granodiorite is conformably overlain by small patches of Upper Permian or Triassic limestone and arkose (Kuta Formation). Upper Triassic dacites and basalts (Kana Volcanics) are also unconformable on the metamorphic and plutonic rocks, but are not in contact with the Kuta Formation.The basement, Kuta Formation, and Kana Volcanics are overlain unconformably by the upper part of the Wahgi Group (about 7000 m of Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous clastic and volcanic rocks), and the same sequence forms the limbs of the anticline.The southern and western limbs of the Kubor Anticline are overlain with paraconformity by upper Palaeocene? mudstone and sandstone (Pima Sandstone) and Eocene-Oligocene limestone (Nebilyer Limestone) respectively. At the east end of the northern limb, the Upper Cretaceous rocks are overlain with slight unconformity by about 300 m of Eocene-Oligocene foraminiferal limestone (Chimbu Limestone), which forms the base of the sequence in the Yaveufa Syncline. The Eocene-Oligocene limestones are everywhere overlain by Miocene limestone or elastics. The Nebilyer Limestone at the western closure of the Kubor Anticline is overlain by fine elastics with interbedded limestone, marl, and mudstone (Aure Beds) which grade southwards into massive shelf limestone (Darai Limestone).The northern limb of the Kubor Anticline is cut by the Bismarck Fault Zone along the southern margin of the New Guinea Mobile Belt. The Bismarck Fault Zone is 20 km wide and consists of a disturbed zone of subparallel anastomosing faults, thrusts, and tight overturned folds. There is at least 3000 m of vertical displacement (north side up) spread over the width of the fault zone in the vicinity of Mount Wilhelm. No economic mineral deposits are known in the Kubor area.

The lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy, and the systematics, of larger foraminiferids at several Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene localities in Australia are described. In particular, sediments of this interval in the North West Cape area of the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, have yielded diverse faunas of larger and planktic foraminiferids. Sections studied and sampled elsewhere were Ashmore Reef No. 1 well in the Bonaparte Gulf Basin; Gage Roads No. 2 well in the Perth Basin; the Batesford and Bochara Limestones in Victoria; Wreck Island No. 1 well in Queensland; and the Tutamoe, Puketi, and Waitiiti Formations, the Waikuku Limestone, the Stillwater Mudstone, and the Orakei Greensand Member of the East Coast Bays Formation, all in New Zealand. Forty species and subspecies, representing 25 genera or subgenera of larger foraminiferids, have been recorded. Wherever possible, biometric methods have been used to discriminate between taxa. Such studies suggest that the rates of evolution of some groups of larger foraminiferids in New Zealand were different from those in the Australian region. Among the taxa that are illustrated and described in detail are two subspecies of Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidina) proposed as new: Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidina) howchini praehowchini and Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidina) orakeiensis waikukuensis. Topotypes of L. (N.) orakeiensis hornibrooki and L. (N.) howchini howchini have been discussed and figured.

The acquisition of wire-line logs from selected waterbores in the Great Artesian Basin, Australia, the digitising of the logs, the log data, the data on the waterbores logged and the database containing these data are described in this report. The use of the wire-line logs is discussed within the context of an overview of the geology and hydrogeology of the Great Artesian Basin. The geophysical logs allow the definition of geological ie. lithostratigraphic units and hydrogeological units ie. aquifers and confining beds, and their characteristics, and provide an accurate and reliable data set.