Magnetotelluric data were acquired for Geoscience Australia by contract along the north-south 08GA-C1-Curnamona seismic traverse to the east of Lake Frome from November 2008 to January 2009 as part of the Australian Government's energy security initiative. 25 sites were spaced an average of 10 km apart, and five-component broadband data were recorded with a frequency bandwidth of 0.001 Hz to 250 Hz and dipole lengths of 100 m. Apparent resistivity and phase plots are presented, along with dimensional analyses of the data based on rotational invariants, the representation of the data by the phase tensor, and Parkinson arrows. These analyses provide insight into the complexity of the Earth conductivity giving rise to the MT responses and are a useful precursor to modelling.

Magnetotelluric (MT) data have been acquired in 2008 and 2009 at 40 broadband (0:01 s to 500 s) and 12 long-period (10 s to 10 000 s) sites along the east-west deep seismic reflection transect of northern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The MT survey is a joint project between the University of Adelaide and Geoscience Australia and is funded by the Australian Government as part of the Onshore Energy Security Program. Long-period sites are spaced 20 km apart and broadband sites infill this spacing to 10 km with also some 5 km spacing. This ensures sufficient coverage to map the upper crustal to upper mantle structures beneath northern Eyre Peninsula.

Geoscience Australia (GA) has been acquiring both broadband and long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data over the last few years along deep seismic reflection survey lines across Australia, often in collaboration with the States/Territory geological surveys and the University of Adelaide. Recently, new three-dimensional (3D) inversion code has become available from Oregon State University. This code is parallelised and has been compiled on the NCI supercomputer at the Australian National University. Much of the structure of the Earth in the regions of the seismic surveys is complex and 3D, and MT data acquired along profiles in such regions are better imaged by using 3D code rather than 1D or 2D code. Preliminary conductivity models produced from the Youanmi MT survey in Western Australia correlate well with interpreted seismic structures and contain more geological information than previous 2D models. GA has commenced a program to re-model with the new code MT data previously acquired to provide more robust information on the conductivity structure of the shallow to deep Earth in the vicinity of the seismic transects.

To investigate the standard electrical conductivity profile beneath a continent, we conducted a magnetotelluric (MT) observation with long dipole span near Alice Springs, central Australia. We utilized geomagnetic data acquired at the Alice Springs geomagnetic observatory operated by Geoscience Australia. Using the BIRRP processing code (Chave and Thomson, 2004), we estimated the MT and GDS (geomagnetic depth sounding) transfer functions for periods from 100 to 10 to 6 sec. The MT-compatible response functions converted from GDS response functions are resistive compared to the Canadian Shield (Chave et al., 1993) for periods around 10 to 5 sec. The calculated MT responses also have generally high apparent resistivity values over the entire period range. We inverted the average MT responses into a one-dimensional conductivity profile using Occam inversion (Constable et al., 1987). The resultant conductivity profile is extremely resistive (0.001 to 0.0001 S/m) down to the mantle transition zone. We compared this one-dimensional structure with electrical conductivity profiles predicted from compositional models of the earth's upper mantle by calculating phase diagrams in the CFMAS (CaO-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2) system. The on-craton and off-craton chemical composition models (Rudnick et al., 1998) were adopted for the tectosphere. The Perple_X (e.g. Connolly, 2005) programs were used to obtain mineral proportions and compositions with depth. The calculated conductivity profiles with on- and off-craton models show significantly larger magnitude than the observed. The result suggests the continental lithosphere (tectosphere) beneath Australia is extremely dry and its temperature profile is cooler than that used in the calculation.

Geoscience Australia has been acquiring deep crustal reflection seismic transects throughout Australia since the 1960s. The results of these surveys have motivated major interpretations of important geological regions, contributed to the development of continental-scale geodynamic models, and improved understanding about large-scale controls on mineral systems. Over the past five years, Geoscience Australia has acquired over 6000 km of deep crustal seismic reflection data under the auspices of the Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC), Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP), AuScope Earth Imaging (part of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy), and all mainland State and Territory governments. These seismic datasets continue to underpin fundamental research into the geodynamics of the Australian continent and provide the third dimension for pre-competitive geoscience information related to mineral and energy resources in selected provinces and basins. Regional seismic reflection surveys currently utilise three Hemi 50 or 60 vibrators at 80 m VP with 40 m group interval, resulting in 75 fold data to 20 s TWT. In-house processing is aimed at providing a whole of crust image, without sacrificing shallow detail. Gravity readings are also collected along the lines at 400 m intervals to assist integrated regional interpretations based on the seismic traverses. Magnetotelluric (MT) soundings, including both broad-band and long period, have been acquired along most traverses. MT provides an image of the conductivity of the crust which is complementary to the structural information obtained from reflection seismic. Geoscience Australia is currently developing an in-house MT processing and modelling capability.

Magnetotelluric (MT) techniques measure natural time variations of the Earth's magnetic and electric fields to infer subsurface electrical conductivity structure. Data are collected over a range of frequencies, providing insights into how this structure varies with depth. Depending on the Earth conductivity and frequencies used, information can be obtained from the near surface to depths of hundreds of kilometres. MT surveying has been used in a wide variety of geological scenarios, from investigations of continental-scale structures to mineral and geothermal exploration, and even in the search for ground-water, and many such surveys have now been undertaken in South Australia. Recently, surveys have been conducted by Geoscience Australia (GA) under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP) along deep crustal seismic reflection transects, in part in collaboration with the University of Adelaide (UA), the Geological Survey of South Australia, Primary Industry and Resources South Australia (GSSA, PIRSA) and the Australian National Seismic Imaging Resource (ANSIR) across the Gawler Craton and Curnamona Province. Given the wide range of applications for MT data, it is proposed to deliver these data online as industry-standard electrical data interchange (EDI) files, starting with the most modern datasets. This paper presents an overview of the MT data and reports presently available for South Australia. All MT data are available for download online from the South Australian Resources Information Geoserver (SARIG), and both seismic and MT data acquired by GA and collaborators under the OESP are available for download from the GA web site.

This article presents the results of studies in North Queensland associated with the 2007 Mt Isa-Georgetown-Charters Towers seismic survey. Results include seismic interpretation, geophysical studies and 3D maps, tectonic and metallogenic syntheses and energy potential assessment.

As part of the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program and the Queensland Government's Smart Mining and Smart Exploration initiatives, deep seismic reflection surveys (~2300 line km) were conducted in North Queensland to establish the architecture and geodynamic framework of this area in 2006 (Mt Isa Survey; also involving OZ Minerals and pmd*CRC) and 2007 (Cloncurry-Georgetown-Charters Towers Survey; also involving AuScope). The purpose here is to use new geodynamic insights inferred from the seismic and other data to provide comments on the large-scale geodynamic controls on energy and other mineral potential in North Queensland.

Magnetotelluric (MT) data were acquired in September 2009 in a collaborative project by Primary Industry and Resources, South Australia (PIRSA), Geoscience Australia and the University of Adelaide (UA) along the east-west southern Flinders ranges seismic traverse in South Australia. The seismic and MT data acquisition are part of the Australian Government's energy security program, with main funding being provided by PIRSA under the Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) initiative. The MT data form a valuable complimentary addition to the seismic data for the investigation of energy potential and crustal architecture of this region. National facility Auscope MT instruments based at UA were used (through ANSIR agreement) to record both broadband data with a frequency range 200 Hz to 0.008 Hz and long period data with a frequency range of 10 Hz to 0.0001 Hz. This enables sensing of Earth electrical conductivity from near-surface in the crust to depths well below the Moho. Two orthogonal components of the magnetic field were measured with induction coils for the broadband acquisition, and three components of the magnetic field were recorded with fluxgate sensors for the long-period data. Two horizontal components of the electric field were measured at each site with orthogonal NS and EW dipoles ~50 m long. Data were recorded at fifteen sites with a nominal spacing of 10 km covering a profile ~150 km in length. Data are processed to industry standard EDI files prior to the generation of apparent resistivity and phase plots. A suite of plots are created to investigate dimensionality including, skew angle, phase tensor ellipses and Parkinson arrows. Parkinson arrows point to regions of high conductance and away from more resistive blocks. Preliminary analysis of the long period data has revealed that the Parkinson arrows generally point to the east at higher frequencies. At lower frequencies these arrows swing southerly pointing to the south east.

In 2007, three seismic lines were collected by Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Queensland from Cloncurry to south of Charters Towers via Croydon and Georgetown, and a fourth line by AuScope to the northeast of Mt Surprise. Signals were recorded to ~20 seconds two-way travel time (TWT), which equates to about 60 kilometres in depth. The recent lines are among the latest in a series of deep seismic profiles conducted across Queensland since 1980.