The Surface Hydrology Points (Regional) dataset provides a set of related features classes to be used as the basis of the production of consistent hydrological information. This dataset contains a geometric representation of major hydrographic point elements - both natural and artificial. This dataset is the best available data supplied by Jurisdictions and aggregated by Geoscience Australia it is intended for defining hydrological features.

Description of FreeGs: a web-enabled database of thermodynamic properties hosted at Geoscience Australia.

Islands in the Pacific region rely heavily on their fresh groundwater, and for a number of islands it is the only reliable source of freshwater throughout the year. Stresses on groundwater resources in many Pacific Island countries are set to escalate in the future with projected population and economic growth. In addition, there are likely to be future climate impacts on groundwater availability and quality. Although a number of studies have been undertaken at a local scale, very limited information is available to consider the impacts of future climates on groundwater systems at a regional scale. This project provides a first-pass regional-scale assessment of the relative potential vulnerability of groundwater to: (i) low rainfall periods and (ii) mean sea-level rise for 15 Pacific Island countries and territories. The dataset associated with this report can be obtained from www.ga.gov.au using title "Pacific Island Groundwater Vulnerability to Future Climates Dataset" or catalogue number 81575.

The Great Artesian Basin Research Priorities Workshop, organised by Geoscience Australia (GA), was held in Canberra on 27 and 28 April 2016. Workshop attendees represented a spectrum of stakeholders including government, policy, management, scientific and technical representatives interested in GAB-related water management. This workshop was aimed at identifying and documenting key science issues and strategies to fill hydrogeological knowledge gaps that will assist federal and state/territory governments in addressing groundwater management issues within the GAB, such as influencing the development of the next Strategic Management Plan for the GAB. This report summarises the findings out of the workshop.

A PowerPoint presentation showing regional interpretations of data from the Frome airborne electromagnetic survey, presented at a workshop on 30 November 2011 at the University of Adelaide, South Australia

The National Major Dam Walls dataset presents the spatial locations; in point and polygon format, of all known major dam walls within Australia.

No abstract available

This dataset maps the geomorphic habitat environments (facies) for 63 Northern Territory coastal waterways. This version of the dataset includes 48 newly mapped estuaries, classified as 'Near pristine'. The classification system contains 12 easily identifiable and representative environments: Barrier/back-barrier, Bedrock, Central Basin, Channel, Flood- and Ebb-tide Delta, Fluvial (bay-head) Delta, Intertidal Flats, Mangrove, Rocky Reef, Saltmarsh/Saltflat, Tidal Sand Banks (and Unassigned). These types represent habitats found across all coastal systems in Australia. Estuaries on the northern Arnhem Land, Gulf of Carpentaria coasts are predominantly tide-dominated estuaries, which vary greatly in size and floodplain characteristics.

The first large scale projects for geological storage of carbon dioxide on the Australian mainland are likely to occur within sedimentary sequences that underlie or are within the Triassic Cretaceous Great Artesian Basin aquifer sequence. Recent national and state assessments have concluded that certain deep formations within the Great Artesian Basin show considerable geological suitability for the storage of greenhouse gases. These same formations contain trapped methane and naturally generated carbon dioxide stored for millions of years. In July 2010, the Queensland Government released exploration permits for Greenhouse Gas Storage in the Surat and Galilee basins. An important consideration in assessing the potential economic, environmental, health and safety risks of such projects is the potential impact carbon dioxide migrating out of storage reservoirs could have on overlying groundwater resources. The risk and impact of carbon dioxide migrating from a greenhouse gas storage reservoir into groundwater cannot be objectively assessed without an adequate knowledge of the natural baseline characteristics of the groundwater within these systems. Due to the phase behaviour of carbon dioxide, geological storage of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state requires depths greater than 800m, but there are few hydrogeochemical studies of these deeper aquifers in the prospective storage areas. Historical hydrogeochemical data were compiled from various State and Federal Government agencies. In addition, hydrogeochemical information has been compiled from thousands of petroleum well completion reports in order to obtain more information on the deeper aquifers, not typically used for agriculture or human consumption. The data were passed through a quality checking procedure to check for mud contamination and ascertain whether a representative sample had been collected. The large majority of the samples proved to be contaminated but a small selection passed the quality checking criteria.

This document represents part of Geoscience Australia's contribution to the National Estuaries Assessment and Management (NE) project, Theme 5 (Assessment and Monitoring), Task 5A 'Conceptual Models of Australian Estuaries and Coastal Waterways'. The report contains comprehensive conceptual models of the biophysical processes that operate in a wide range of estuaries and coastal waterways found around Australia. Geomorphic conceptual models have been developed for each of the seven types of Australian estuaries and coastal waterways. Each conceptual model comprises a three-dimensional block diagram depicting detailed summaries of the structure, evolutionary characteristics, and geomorphology of each coastal waterway type, which are ?overlain? by flow diagrams that depict some of the important biotic and abiotic processes, namely: hydrology, sediment dynamics, and nutrient dynamics. Geomorphology was used as the common 'base layer' in the conceptual models, because sediment is the fundamental, underlying substrate upon which all other estuarine processes depend and operate. In the conceptual models, wave-dominated systems are depicted as having a relatively narrow entrance that restricts marine flushing, and low water-column turbidity except during extreme events. Tide-dominated systems feature relatively wide entrances, which likely promote efficient marine flushing, very large relative areas of intertidal habitats, and naturally high turbidity due to strong turbulence induced by tidal currents. Strong evidence exists suggesting that estuaries (both wave- and tide-dominated) are the most efficient 'traps' for terrigenous and marine sediments, and these are depicted as providing the most significant potential for trapping and processing of terrigenous nutrient loads. Intertidal areas, such as mangroves and saltmarshes, and also the central basins of wave-dominated estuaries and coastal lagoons, are likely to accumulate the majority of trapped sediments and nutrients. Conceptual model diagrams, with overlays representing environmental processes, can be used as part of a decision support system for environmental managers, and as a tool for comparative assessment in which a more integrative and shared vision of the relationship between components in an ecosystem can be applied.