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  • Radio-loud quasars at high redshift (z ≥ 4) are rare objects in the universe and rarely observed with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). But some of them have flux density sufficiently high for monitoring of their apparent position. The instability of the astrometric positions could be linked to the astrophysical process in the jetted active galactic nuclei in the early universe. Regular observations of the high-redshift quasars are used for estimating their apparent proper motion over several years. We have undertaken regular VLBI observations of several high-redshift quasars at 2.3 GHz (S band) and 8.4 GHz (X band) with a network of five radio telescopes: 40 m Yebes (Spain), 25 m Sheshan (China), and three 32 m telescopes of the Quasar VLBI Network (Russia)—Svetloe, Zelenchukskaya, and Badary. Additional facilities joined this network occasionally. The sources have also been observed in three sessions with the European VLBI Network in 2018–2019 and one Long Baseline Array experiment in 2018. In addition, several experiments conducted with the Very Long Baseline Array in 2017–2018 were used to improve the time sampling and the statistics. Based on these 37 astrometric VLBI experiments between 2017 and 2021, we estimated the apparent proper motions of four quasars: 0901+697, 1428+422, 1508+572, and 2101+600. Citation: Oleg Titov <i>et al </i>2023 <i>AJ</i><b> 165</b> 69

  • <div>The Petroleum Systems Summary database stores the compilation of the current understanding of petroleum systems information by basin across Australia. The Petroleum Systems Summary database and delivery tool provide high-level information of the current understanding of key petroleum systems for areas of interest. For example, geological studies in the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program have included the Canning, McArthur and South Nicholson basins (Carr et al., 2016; Hashimoto et al., 2018). The database and tool aim to assist geological studies by summarising and interpreting key datasets related to conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon exploration. Each petroleum systems summary includes a synopsis of the basin and key figures detailing the basin outline, major structural components, data availability, petroleum systems events chart and stratigraphy, and a précis of the key elements of source, reservoir and seal. Standardisation of petroleum systems nomenclature establishes a framework for each basin after Bradshaw (1993) and Bradshaw et al. (1994), with the source-reservoir naming conventions adopted from Magoon and Dow (1994).&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The resource is accessible via the Geoscience Australia Portal&nbsp;(https://portal.ga.gov.au/) via the Petroleum Systems Summary Tool (Edwards et al., 2020).</div>

  • <div>The lithology, geochemistry, and architecture of the continental lithospheric mantle (CLM) underlying the Kimberley Craton of north-western Australia has been constrained using pressure-temperature estimates and mineral compositions for &gt;5,000 newly analyzed and published garnet and chrome (Cr) diopside mantle xenocrysts from 25 kimberlites and lamproites of Mesoproterozoic to Miocene age. Single-grain Cr diopside paleogeotherms define lithospheric thicknesses of 200–250 km and fall along conductive geotherms corresponding to a surface heat flow of 37–40 mW/m 2. Similar geotherms derived from Miocene and Mesoproterozoic intrusions indicate that the lithospheric architecture and thermal state of the CLM has remained stable since at least 1,000 Ma. The chemistry of xenocrysts defines a layered lithosphere with lithological and geochemical domains in the shallow (&lt;100 km) and deep (&gt;150 km) CLM, separated by a diopside-depleted and seismically slow mid-lithosphere discontinuity (100–150 km). The shallow CLM is comprised of Cr diopsides derived from depleted garnet-poor and spinel-bearing lherzolite that has been weakly metasomatized. This layer may represent an early (Meso to Neoarchean?) nucleus of the craton. The deep CLM is comprised of high Cr2O3 garnet lherzolite with lesser harzburgite, and eclogite. The peridotite components are inferred to have formed as residues of polybaric partial mantle melting in the Archean, whereas eclogite likely represents former oceanic crust accreted during Paleoproterozoic subduction. This deep CLM was metasomatized by H2O-rich melts derived from subducted sediments and high-temperature FeO-TiO2 melts from the asthenosphere.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation:</strong></div><div>Sudholz, Z.J., et al. (2023) Mapping the Structure and Metasomatic Enrichment of the Lithospheric Mantle Beneath the Kimberley Craton, Western Australia,&nbsp;<em><i>Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems</i>,</em>&nbsp;24, e2023GC011040.</div><div>https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC011040</div>

  • <div>Diamond exploration over the past decade has led to the discovery of a new province of kimberlitic pipes (the Webb Province) in the Gibson Desert of central Australia. The Webb pipes comprise sparse macrocrystic olivine set in a groundmass of olivine, phlogopite, perovskite, spinel, clinopyroxene, titanian-andradite and carbonate. The pipes resemble ultramafic lamprophyres (notably aillikites) in their mineralogy, major and minor oxide chemistry, and initial 87Sr/ 86Sr and <em>ε</em>Nd-<em>ε</em>Hf isotopic compositions. Ion probe U-Pb geochronology on perovskite (806 ± 22 Ma) indicates the eruption of the pipes was co-eval with plume-related magmatism within central Australia (Willouran-Gairdner Volcanic Event) associated with the opening of the Centralian Superbasin and Rodinia supercontinent break-up. The equilibration pressure and temperature of mantle-derived garnet and chromian (Cr) diopside xenocrysts range between 17 and 40 kbar and 750–1320°C and define a paleo-lithospheric thickness of 140 ± 10 km. Chemical variations of xenocrysts define litho-chemical horizons within the shallow, middle, and deep sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). The shallow SCLM (50–70 km), which includes garnet-spinel and spinel lherzolite, contains Cr diopside with weakly refertilized rare earth element compositions and unenriched compositions. The mid-lithosphere (70–85 km) has lower modal abundances of Cr diopside. This layer corresponds to a seismic mid-lithosphere discontinuity interpreted as pargasite-bearing lherzolite. The deep SCLM (&gt;90 km) comprises refertilized garnet lherzolite that was metasomatized by a silicate-carbonatite melt.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation:</strong></div><div>Sudholz, Z. J., et al. (2023). Petrology, age, and rift origin of ultramafic lamprophyres (aillikites) at Mount Webb, a new alkaline province in Central Australia. <i>Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems</i>, 24, e2023GC011120.</div><div>https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GC011120</div>

  • <div>The annual Asia Pacific Regional Geodetic Project (APRGP) GPS campaign is an activity of the Geodetic Reference Frame Working Group (WG) of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP). This document describes the data analysis of the APRGP GPS campaign undertaken between the 11th and 17nd of September 2022. Campaign GPS data collected at 116 sites in seven countries across the Asia Pacific region were processed using version 5.2 of the Bernese GNSS Software in a regional network together with selected IGS (International GNSS Service) sites. The GPS solution was constrained to the ITRF2014 reference frame by adopting IGS14 coordinates on selected IGS reference sites and using the final IGS earth orientation parameters and satellite ephemerides products. The average of the root mean square repeatability of the station coordinates for the campaign was 2.0 mm, 2.4 mm and 7.5 mm in north, east and up components of station position respectively.</div>

  • <div>Offshore probabilistic tsunami hazard assessments (PTHAs) are increasingly available for earthquake generated tsunamis. They provide standardized representations of tsunami scenarios, their uncertain occurrence-rates, and models of the deep ocean waveforms. To quantify onshore hazards it is natural to combine this information with a site-specific inundation model, but this is computationally challenging to do accurately, especially if accounting for uncertainties in the offshore PTHA. This study reviews an efficient Monte Carlo method recently proposed to solve this problem. The efficiency comes from preferential sampling of scenarios that are likely important near the site of interest, using a user-defined importance measure derived from the offshore PTHA. The theory of importance sampling enables this to be done without biasing the final results. Techniques are presented to help design and test Monte Carlo schemes for a site of interest (before inundation modelling) and to quantify errors in the final results (after inundation modelling). The methods are illustrated with examples from studies in Tongatapu and Western Australia.</div> Abstract submitted/presented to the International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) 2022 - Sydney (https://icce2022.com/). Citation: Davies, G. (2023). FROM OFFSHORE TO ONSHORE PROBABILISTIC TSUNAMI HAZARD ASSESSMENT WITH QUANTIFIED UNCERTAINTY: EFFICIENT MONTE CARLO TECHNIQUES. <i>Coastal Engineering Proceedings</i>, (37), papers.18. https://doi.org/10.9753/icce.v37.papers.18

  • <div>On January 15, 2022, an ongoing eruption at the Hunga volcano generated a large explosion which resulted in a globally observed tsunami and atmospheric pressure wave. This paper presents time series observations of the event from Australia including 503 mean sea level pressure (MSLP) sensors and 111 tide gauges. Data is provided in its original format, which varies between data providers, and a post-processed format with consistent file structure and time-zone. High-pass filtered variants of the data are also provided to facilitate study of the pressure wave and tsunami. For a minority of tide gauges the raw sea level data cannot be provided, due to licence restrictions, but high-pass filtered data is always provided. The data provides an important historical record of the Hunga volcano pressure wave and tsunami in Australia. It will be useful for research in atmospheric and ocean waves associated with large volcanic eruptions. <b>Citation:</b> Davies, G., Wilson, K., Hague, B. et al. Australian atmospheric pressure and sea level data during the 2022 Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcano tsunami. <i>Sci Data</i> <b>11</b>, 114 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-02949-2

  • <div>The project ‘Assessing the Status of Groundwater in the Great Artesian Basin’ assessed existing and new geoscientific data and technologies, including satellite data, to improve our understanding of the groundwater system and water balance in the GAB. An updated classification of GAB aquifers and aquitards was produced, linking the hydrostratigraphic classification used in Queensland (Surat Basin) with that used in South Australia (western Eromanga Basin). This revised hydrogeological framework was produced at the whole-of-GAB scale, through the development and application of an integrated basin analysis workflow, producing an updated whole-of-GAB stratigraphic interpretation that is consistent across jurisdictional boundaries. Groundwater recharge rates were estimated across eastern GAB recharge area using environmental tracers and an improved method that integrates chloride concentration in bores, rainfall, soil clay content, vegetation type and surficial geology. Significant revisions were made to the geometry and heterogeneity of the groundwater recharge beds, by acquiring, inverting and interpreting regional scale airborne electromagnetic (AEM) geophysical data, identifying potential connectivity between aquifers, possible structural controls on groundwater flow paths and plausible groundwater sources of spring discharge. A whole-of-GAB water balance was developed to compare inflows and outflows to the main regional aquifer groups. While the whole-of-GAB and sub-basin water balances provide basin-wide perspectives of the groundwater resources, they also highlight the high uncertainties in the estimates of key water balance components that need to be considered for groundwater resource management. Assessment of satellite monitoring data from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) shows promise for remote monitoring of groundwater levels at a whole-of-GAB scale in the future to augment existing monitoring networks. This presentation was given at the 2022 Australasian Groundwater Conference 21-23 November (https://www.aig.org.au/events/australasian-groundwater-conference-2022/)

  • <div>The integrity and strengths of multi-technique terrestrial reference frames such as ITRF2020 depend on the precisely measured and expressed local tie connections between space geodetic observing systems at co-located observatories. A local tie survey was conducted at the Mount Pleasant Geodetic observatory, in Hobart in March 2023. The aim of the survey was to precisely measure the local terrestrial connections between the space-based geodetic observing systems co-located at the observatory, which includes a permanent International GNSS Service (IGS) site (HOB2&nbsp;A 50116M004), and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio telescopes. In particular, this report documents the indirect measurement of the VLBI invariant reference point for both the 12m (7374&nbsp;A 50116S007) and 26m (7242 A 50116S002) radio telescopes at the site. Geoscience Australia has routinely performed classical terrestrial surveys at Mount Pleasant since 1995. A high precision survey was conducted between the survey pillars surrounding the observatory. These survey pillars were monitored to ensure their stability as part of a consistent, stable terrestrial network from which local tie connections were made to the VLBI and GNSS systems. The relationship between points of interest included the millimetre level accurate connections and their associated variance covariance matrix.</div><div><br></div>

  • <div>The wet tropospheric component and clock phase variations are the most important factors that limit the accuracy of the geodetic VLBI products. These fast fluctuations can be introduced into the parametric model as a correlated stochastic noise and treated in a special way using the least square collocation method (LSCM). An a-priori covariance function is used to construct the non-diagonal covariance matrix. We have developed a procedure to calculate the wet troposphere delay and the clock offset for each observation epoch. The wet troposphere delays calculated by the LSCM are in perfect agreement with the water vapour radiometer (WVR) data, within the uncertainty of 2-3 mm. This information is then incorporated into the NGS data file and used in the second iteration. As a result, the procedure for analysing the VLBI data becomes simpler and faster, since the remaining observational error is Gaussian, and the matrix of the observational covariance can be treated as diagonal. For the calibrated VLBI data, the simple least squares method (without breaking the 24-hour experiment into small bins) is applied, followed by a reduction in the number of estimated parameters. All VLBI data between 1993 and 2023 were processed with pre-calibrated tropospheric and clock delays. The result was tested with two independent software packages, OCCAM and VieVS, and showed a good efficiency with respect to the traditional approach. The accuracy of the estimates reaches: 1 mm for VLBI site positions, 3 µas for UT1-UTC values, 40 mas for X- and Y-pole components. The formal error of the most observed ICRF reference radio source positions drops to 1-2 µas, and the ”floor” (or ”inflated”) error for the future ICRF realization would also be reduced. This paper shows that the new data analysis procedure produces results which align with the announced VGOS goals for the S/X VLBI data. Finally we report a detection of the negative parallax effect with an amplitude of −15.8(±0.5) µas. Abstract presented at the 2024 13th General Meeting of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS), Tsukuba, Japan