During the period August 1942 - August 1943, a boring campaign was conducted in the Coorabin section of the coalfield by the Commonwealth Coal Commission. The boring was done by the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission of New South Wales under the supervision of the Mineral Resources Survey Branch of the Department of Supply and Shipping. When the Coal Commission withdrew, and before the plant was removed from the field, an additional bore was put down by the Department of Supply and Shipping in the Oaklands section of the field. This report contains the results of analyses of the bores.

Results of a micro-faunal examination of samples from bores Nos. 188, 195, 208, and 213, parish of Maryvale, Victoria.

This report deals with the results obtained in tests with the electrical resistivity method on the brown coalfields at Morwell and Traralgon, Victoria, in an attempt to develop a rapid method of determining the presence of the coal and its depth below the surface. These tests were carried out in the latter part of 1943 by the Geophysical Section of the Mineral Resources Survey at the request of the Victorian Electricity Commission. Thirty-four resistivity-electrode separation tests were made over a wide variety of geological sections in the parishes of Maryvale, Hazelwood and Loy Yang. These tests were preceded by a number of tests by specific resistivity made on various types of overburden and on coal exposed in the open cuts at Yallourn. This report discusses the results of these tests although verbal information concerning them has already been made available to the Commission's officers. It will be shown that under certain conditions, the predictions of the depth to coal are reliable within fairly narrow limits while under other conditions the predictions are misleading. It is proposed in the first instance to outline the method and apparatus used in these tests. In addition, it is considered advisable to outline the methods of interpretation employed in order that the conclusions reached will by fully appreciated. In addition to discussing the resistivity results, the report deals briefly with the possibility of using gravity methods on the same prospecting problem. Calculations have been made of gravity anomalies to be expected from certain coal sections and it is shown that under favourable conditions this might prove of value in determining the presence and position of the coal.

This report summerises the kinds, sources, and handlers or processors of asbestos in Australia, 1944.

The first part of this report deals with the second phase of the geophysical test work carried out in connection with the investigations into the water seepage problems at Leeton on the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. The original test work was carried out by Mr. J.M. Rayner, then of the New South Wales Mines Department, following a request by the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. The work described herein may be considered as an extension of that done by Mr. Rayner and it will be assumed that the reader has access to his reports. The second part of this report deals with geophysical test work on a sandhill area at Narrandera where it is proposed to establish citrus farms using spray irrigation.

In 1935 Mr. F. Blake of the Geological Survey of Tasmania visited Cape Barren Island in connection with the underground water supply at Franklin Village which is situated on Sanford Bay in the northwest part of the island. He collected a small sample of fossiliferous limestone which he forwarded to the late Mr. F. Chapman who was then Commonwealth Palaeontologist. No examination of the material was made at the time. Recently it came under the notice of the writer who has made a detailed microscopic examination of it. The results of the examination are recorded in this report.

This report deals with the problem of detecting electrically resistive bodies of small size buried at shallow depths in wet soils. Detection was attempted by means of measurements made on the surface of the soil using the electrical resistivity method. The present report can be regarded as an extension of an earlier one (No. 1943/64B). The purpose of the new tests was twofold. Firstly it was proposed to make tests of 'normal' resistivity effects using a constant electrode arrangement and measuring the resistivity at closely spaced points on water saturated soils. The second part of the testing programme was contingent on the first part proving that under saturated conditions soil resistivities were sufficiently constant to warrent an attempt being made at detection. If this condition of constancy existed, it was proposed to extend the work of the tests, reviewed in the previous report, to actual field conditions. This has been done and the present report deals with the results obtained.

The presence of foraminifera in the Permian sediments of Australia was recorded as early as 1882. Some systematic work was done up to 1905, but there was no further investigation into these micro-fossils until 1937. A considerable amount of research is still necessary before it can be stated whether or not a definite system of zoning, based on micro-faunas, can be applied to the Permian rocks of Australia. It seems possible, however, that certain species may be characteristic of the Upper and Middle Permian deposits. In the extensive collections of Permian rocks examined from the Hunter River District in New South Wales, assemblages of foraminifera rather than restricted species have proved useful for zonal purposes and this method of zoning should prove valuable when more material is examined from the Permian deposits of other States.

In a memorandum dated 28th February, the Superintending Civil Engineer of the Department of the Interior stated that cracks were showing in the Cotter dam, and that these were serious enough to warrant an investigation as to whether there were minerals in the aggregate likely to cause expansion on decomposition. Visits were made to the Cotter dam and the adjacent rock quarries, and this report embodies the results of those visits and subsequent investigations. All possible geological factors likely to affect the stability and strength of the dam were investigated and, even though it was subsequently found that some of them could have little or no effect on the dam, they are discussed in this report.

A report on the Lake Cargellico magnesite deposit following a visit on 30th May, 1944.