Geoscience Australia carried out a marine survey on Carnarvon shelf (WA) in 2008 (SOL4769) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through colocated sampling of surface sediments and infauna, observation of benthic habitats using underwater towed video and stills photography, and measurement of ocean tides and wavegenerated currents. Data and samples were acquired using the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Research Vessel Solander. Bathymetric mapping, sampling and video transects were completed in three survey areas that extended seaward from Ningaloo Reef to the shelf edge, including: Mandu Creek (80 sq km); Point Cloates (281 sq km), and; Gnaraloo (321 sq km). Additional bathymetric mapping (but no sampling or video) was completed between Mandu creek and Point Cloates, covering 277 sq km and north of Mandu Creek, covering 79 sq km. Two oceanographic moorings were deployed in the Point Cloates survey area. The survey also mapped and sampled an area to the northeast of the Muiron Islands covering 52 sq km. cloates_3m is an ArcINFO grid of Point Cloates of Carnarvon Shelf survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software

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.

Diatom assemblages in sandy deposits of the 2004 tsunami at Phra Thong Island, Thailand may provide clues to flow conditions during the tsunami. The tsunami deposits contain one or more beds that fine upward, commonly from medium sand to silty very fine sand. Diatom assemblages of the lowermost portion of the deposit predominantly comprise of unbroken beach and subtidal species that live attached to sand grains. The dominant taxa shift to marine plankton species in the middle of the bed and to a mix of freshwater, brackish, and marine species near the top. These trends are consistent with expected changes in current velocities of tsunami through time. During high current velocities, medium sand is deposited; only beach and subtidal benthic diatoms attached to sediment can be incorporated into the tsunami deposit. High shear velocity keeps finer material, including planktonic diatoms in suspension. With decreasing current velocities, finer material including marine plankton can be deposited. Finally, during the lull between tsunami waves, the entrained freshwater, brackish, and marine species settle out with mud and plant trash. Low numbers of broken diatoms in the lower medium sand implies rapid entrainment and deposition, whilst selective breakage of marine plankton (Thalassionema nitzschioides, and Thalassiosira and Coscinodiscus spp.) in the middle portion of the deposit probably results from abrasion in the turbulent current before deposition.

Part of Ministerial submission includes 4 maps in GeoCat Record 71221 Not for sale or public distribution Manager LOSAMBA project, EGD

Geoscience Australia has recently completed a marine survey in the offshore northern Perth Basin, off Western Australia (Jones et al., 2011b; Jones, 2011c, Upton and Jones, 2011). One of the principal aims of the survey was the collection of evidence for natural hydrocarbon seepage. The survey formed part of a regional reassessment of the basin's petroleum prospectivity in support of frontier exploration acreage Release Area W11-18. This reassessment was initiated under the Australian Government's Offshore Energy Security Program and formed part of Geoscience Australia's continuing efforts to identify a new offshore petroleum province. The offshore northern Perth Basin was identified as a basin with new frontier opportunities. New data demonstrated that proven onshore-nearshore petroleum system is also effective and widespread in the offshore (Jones et al., 2011a). Evidence for a Jurassic petroleum system was also demonstrated in the Release Area W11-18 (Jones et al., 2011a). The marine survey results provide additional support for the presence of an active petroleum system in the northern Perth Basin.

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

This Bulletin presents the results of a marine geological survey carried out by BMR in the Arafura Sea in 1969 as part of a program of regional geological reconnaissance mapping of the Australian continental shelf. It is a continuation of work in the Timor Sea and northwest shelf (van Andel, Veevers, 1967; Jones, 1968, 1970). The area surveyed is the northern Australian continental shelf between longitudes 130° and 136°E and between latitudes 8° and 12°S (Fig. 1), an area of about 240 000 km-. From 2 to 25 May the Japanese research submersible Yomiuri and its mothership, the converted deepsea tug Yamato, were made available. The major part of the survey lasted from 21 September to 6 December 1969, using the chartered oil-rig supply vessel San Pedro Sound as a platform.

The data currently held for bathymetry has been extracted from the GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) produced by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK).

Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) methods for near-surface hydrogeological investigations have undergone significant improvements in the past 10-15 years, particularly in the development of calibrated systems designed for high-resolution groundwater and environmental investigations (Sorensen & Auken, 2004; Auken et al., 2006). Important advances have been also been made in the development of rapid computational methods for AEM inversion (e.g. Christensen, 2002; Christensen et al., 2009), enabling conductivity models to be available for integration into real-time, short-term hydrogeological investigations (Lawrie et al., 2012). The processing of AEM data and the presentation of electrical conductivity data as maps and sections is now routine, and particularly effective for regional mapping in shallow-dipping sedimentary environments (Lane, 2002; Lawrie et al., 2009, 2012). In Australia, the application of electromagnetic (EM) methods for hydrogeological investigation is made more complex by the highly salinized nature of many landscapes, which can also be often deeply and variably weathered. In many instances, the electrical conductivity distribution does not equate with formation (and/or hydrogeological) boundaries, but instead to a combination of groundwater salinity and formation composition and texture (Lawrie et al., 2000, 2009). Despite these additional challenges, AEM is the only broadacre technique that can detect and resolve key functional elements of near-surface groundwater systems (Spies & Woodgate, 2005). The complex electrical structure of Australia's near-surface landscapes and the presence of conductive layers and basement in many regolith terrains has necessitated the development of constrained inversion approaches that utilise a priori geological, hydrogeological and hydrogeophysical data (Green & Munday, 2004; Lane et al., 2004; Lawrie et al., 2012). Constrained inversions, combined with rigorous technology selection, and appropriate calibration and validation procedures have enabled the successful mapping of potential groundwater resources and salinity hazards in several floodplain environments (Walker et al., 2004; Lawrie et al., 2009, 2012; Christensen & Lawrie, 2012). Importantly, studies in Australia have also demonstrated that the benefits from new AEM technologies and constrained inversion modeling are maximised when these technologies are employed within multi-disciplinary, systems-based approaches to the analysis of problems (George et al., 2003). Systems-based approaches incorporate an understanding of landscape evolution and scale, utilise modern investigative approaches to the conceptualisation of groundwater systems, and incorporate data on mineralogy, petrophysics, hydrology, ecology, topography, hydrogeochemistry and hydrodynamics. Within this multi-disciplinary research framework, the power and long-term value of AEM-based datasets for groundwater management lies largely in providing stakeholders with a range of customized interpretation products derived from the integration of electrical conductivity data with other hydrogeological, hydrogeophysical and hydrochemical datasets (George et al., 2003; Lawrie et al., 2000, 2009, 2012). The Broken Hill Managed Aquifer Recharge (BHMAR) project, in western N.S.W., Australia, has built significantly on the principles, methodologies, experience and products developed for salinity mapping and management in Australia. This included, a staged approach to technology selection and survey design, and the use of a 4D systems approach to integrate