Australian Presentation for the International Seabed Authority Workshop on the 'classification of polymetallic nodule resources' from the deep seabed.The UNFC provides a universal framework for deep sea polymetallic manganese nodules and other seabed mineral resources; that can be collated and utilised in a consistent way by the ISA. The UNFC allows for alignment of various national and commercial mineral reporting systems, reconciling mineral resource assessments derived though these various frameworks.

Climate simulations used in the FireDST project. They include Case Study I, II and III, all these simulations were generated by BoM for this project.

Australia has a low to moderate seismicity by world standards. However, the seismic risk is quite high in some areas due to the legacy of older unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings and timber frame buildings constructed prior to the implementation of earthquake building standard in Australia. The 1989 Newcastle and the 2010 Kalgoorlie earthquakes are the most recent Australian earthquakes to cause significant damage and have provided the best opportunities to examine the earthquake vulnerability of Australian URM and light frame timber buildings. This paper describes the two above mentioned building types with a differentiation of older legacy buildings constructed prior to 1945 to the relatively newer ones i.e. constructed after 1945. Furthermore, the paper presents methods to utilise the large damage related data (14,000 insurance claims in Newcastle and 400 surveyed buildings in Kalgoorlie) collected from these events to develop empirical vulnerability curves through a novel statistical approach. The URM buildings built before 1945 appear to be the most vulnerable to earthquake withpost-1945 URM buildings being the next most vulnerable. Timber buildings appear to be the least vulnerable, with little difference observed in the vulnerability of timber buildings built before or after 1945.

In 2009, Geoscience Australia (GA) entered into a partnership with the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction (AIFDR) and the Centre for Volcanogy and Geohazard Mitigation (CVGHM), the Government of Indonesia centre responsible for assessing, analysing and monitoring volcanic hazards in Indonesia. A series of collaborative activities were undertaken between 2009 and 2013 focussed on the development and implementation of a volcanic ash modelling capability in Indonesia. Activity 1 (2009-2010) focused on evaluating a range of existing volcanic ash dispersal models, developing a set of criteria needed for volcanic ash hazard modelling in Indonesia, identifying a model which satisfied the majority of these criteria (FALL3D) and obtaining recommendations from CVGHM staff on how FALL3D could be adapted and simplified for use by their agency. Activity 2 (2010-2012) involved validating FALL3D against historical eruptions in Indonesia in order to assess the accuracy and degree of uncertainty in the simulations. FALL3D was then modified for users with little or no background in computational modelling and limited computing resources. A scripted user interface was developed (PF3D) which modifies the modelling procedure of FALL3D to simplify its use without compromising the core functionality of the model. PF3D was implemented as part of a case study on four volcanoes located in West Java during the development of a methodology for probabilistic hazard assessment. Activity 3 (2012-2013) focused on expanding the capability of CVGHM to include near-real time volcanic ash forecasting during an event. A methodology for implementing near-real time forecasts of volcanic ash dispersal using PF3D prior to and during an eruption was developed and implemented at two volcanoes in North Sulawesi. The collaborative nature of this partnership continues today through ongoing maintenance and improvements made to the PF3D tool, sharing of modelled data/information and the provision of technical assistance both during and between volcanic crises.

Abstract for the 2014 Australian Population Association Conference, 3-5 December, Hobart

Over the last several decades since late 70th - earlier 80th, Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the State and Territory geological surveys, cooperative research centres, universities and industry has acquired more than 17,000 line kilometres of the deep seismic reflection data across Australia to better understand the crustal architecture and geodynamic evolution of key geological provinces and basins. An atlas of images deep crustal seismic reflection profiles (1978-2011) penetrating the whole crust, with accompanying geological maps has been released to provide access to overview of crustal architecture across the Australian continent.

The Frome airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey was designed to provide reliable pre-competitive AEM data to aid the search for energy and mineral resources around the Lake Frome region of South Australia. Flown in 2010, a total of 32,317 line kilometres of high quality airborne geophysical data were collected over an area of 95,450 km2 at a flight line spacing mostly of 2.5 km, opening to 5 km spaced lines in the Marree-Strzelecki Desert area to the north. The Lake Frome region hosts a large number of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits with known resources of ~60,000 tonnes of U3O8 including the working In Situ Recovery (ISR) operations at Beverley, Pepegoona, Pannikin and Honeymoon, and deposits at Four Mile East, Four Mile West, Yagdlin, Goulds Dam, Oban and Junction Dam. The aims of the Frome AEM Survey were to map critical elements of sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems including basin architecture, palaeovalley morphology, sedimentary facies changes, hydrological connections between uranium sources and uranium sinks and structures that may control uranium mineralisation. Interpretations of the data show the utility of regional AEM surveying for mapping sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems as well as for mapping geological surfaces and depth of cover over a wide area. Data from the Frome AEM Survey allow mineral explorers to put their own high-resolution AEM surveys into a regional context. Survey data were used to map a range of geological features that are associated with, or control the location of, sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems and have been used to map and assess the prospectivity of new areas to the north of the Flinders Ranges.

Australia's Identified Mineral Resources is an annual national assessment that takes a long-term view of Australian mineral resources likely to be available for mining. The assessment also includes evaluations of long-term trends in mineral resources, world rankings, summaries of significant exploration results and brief reviews of mining industry developments.

The petroleum exploration wells Kutjara 1 and Mulyawara 1, drilled by Rodinia Oil (Australia) Pty. Ltd in the Officer Basin in northwestern South Australia, each intersected granitic basement at depths exceeding 2400 m. Zircons from both granites were isolated for U-Pb dating via Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP), with the aim of determining magmatic crystallisation ages, and constraining the ages of any subsequent high-grade metamorphic events. The sample from the Kutjara 1 well yielded a magmatic crystallisation age of 1591 ± 11 Ma (all uncertainties quoted at 95% confidence), and the zircons feature low-Th/U rims recording subsequent high-grade metamorphism at 1167 ± 7 Ma. The adamellite from Mulyawara 1 records a magmatic crystallisation age of 1168 ± 6 Ma, and contains a small number 1615-1530 Ma inherited grains.

Oil and gas discoveries in Australia's offshore basins are concentrated on the North West Shelf (Northern Carnarvon, Browse and Bonaparte basins) and Bass Strait (Gippsland, Otway and Bass basins). While discoveries have been made in a few regions outside these areas (e.g. Perth Basin), a large proportion of Australia's offshore basins remain exploration frontiers. However, the decline in oil production from the North West Shelf and Bass Strait basins since 2000 has led to an increasing exploration interest in the frontier basins. In order to improve our knowledge of the offshore frontiers and encourage exploration to these areas, from 2003-2011, Geoscience Australia was funded by the Australian Government to undertake a series of pre-competitive data acquisition and analyses programs in frontier basins around the Australian margin. This Record presents a comprehensive inventory of the geology, petroleum systems, exploration status and data coverage for 35 frontier basins, sub-basins and provinces, that draws on the results of those pre-competitive data programs, as well as exploration results and the geoscience literature. The Record also provides an assessment of the critical science and exploration questions and issues for each area. The results of each basin assessment are summarised in a prospectivity ranking. The availability of data and level of knowledge in each area is reflected in a confidence rating for that ranking. While the prospectivity of some areas is widely acknowledged to be high (e.g. Ceduna Sub-basin), the perception of prospectivity in many basins is negatively affected by the amount or quality of data available; in these basins, the acquisition of new data or targeted research could make a significant difference to the understanding of petroleum potential and likelihood of success. Therefore, recommendations for future work that could assist in addressing key knowledge or data gaps are included in each basin assessment.