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Northern Australia Geochemical Survey: a review of regional soil geochemical patterns

Soil geochemistry has been used to discover many mineral deposits in Australia. Further, it places first-order controls on soil fertility in agriculture and can be used to monitor the environment. With this utility in mind, an extensive soil sampling survey was undertaken as part of the Exploring for the Future program across the vast prospective exploration frontier between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa, dubbed the Northern Australia Geochemical Survey (NAGS). In all, 776 stream sediment outlet samples were collected at a depth of 0–10 cm, improving the density of the National Geochemical Survey of Australia by an order of magnitude, to one sample per ~500 km2. Two size fractions from each sample were analysed for a comprehensive suite of chemical elements after total digestion, Mobile Metal Ion™ (MMI) and aqua regia extractions, and fire assay. Here, we highlight the applicability of these results to base metal exploration, evaluation of soil fertility for agriculture and establishment of geochemical baselines. Our results reveal an association between elevated concentrations of commodity or pathfinder elements in the same or downstream catchments as known mineral deposits. Similar features elsewhere suggest new areas with potential for base metal discovery.


<b>Citation:</b> Bastrakov, E.N. and Main, P.T., 2020. Northern Australia Geochemical Survey: a review of regional soil geochemical patterns. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2020-06-22
Date (Publication)
2020-06-22T06:52:21
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/134367

Citation identifier
Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/134367

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Bastrakov, E.N.

Author

Main, P.T.

Purpose

EFTF Extended Abstract

Status
Completed
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Bastrakov, E.N.

Resource provider

Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division

Spatial representation type
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
  • GEOCHEMISTRY

  • EARTH SCIENCES

Project
  • Exploring for the Future

Project
  • EFTF

Discipline
  • Geochemistry

Keywords
  • Geochemical Survey

Keywords
  • Surface Geochemistry

Keywords
  • NAGS

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
OnLine resource

Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [4.9MB]

Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [4.9MB]

Distribution format
  • pdf

Resource lineage

Statement

This study was completed under the Exploring for the Future initiative, as part of the Northern Australia Geochemical Survey Data component. Samples collected during fieldwork in May to June 2017. This study highlights the applicability of the survey results to base metal exploration, evaluation of soil fertility for agriculture and establishment of geochemical baselines.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/31775145-0b7c-4840-9e46-fadc01c0155d

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Bastrakov, E.N.

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

GA publication: Extended Abstract

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/134367

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/5167d912-6784-4371-9938-3931e84ca6f1

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/31775145-0b7c-4840-9e46-fadc01c0155d

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au:80/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/31775145-0b7c-4840-9e46-fadc01c0155d

Date info (Creation)
2019-04-08T01:55:29
Date info (Revision)
2019-04-08T01:55:29

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

EFTF Exploring for the Future Geochemical Survey Geochemistry NAGS Surface Geochemistry
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
EARTH SCIENCES GEOCHEMISTRY

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