Environmental
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The Historical Bushfire Boundaries service represents the aggregation of jurisdictional supplied burnt areas polygons stemming from the early 1900's through to 2022 (excluding the Northern Territory). The burnt area data represents curated jurisdictional owned polygons of both bushfires and prescribed (planned) burns. To ensure the dataset adhered to the nationally approved and agreed data dictionary for fire history Geoscience Australia had to modify some of the attributes presented. The information provided within this service is reflective only of data supplied by participating authoritative agencies and may or may not represent all fire history within a state.
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This Galilee Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. This Galilee Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Galilee Basin is a large intracratonic sedimentary basin in central Queensland. The basin contains a variably thick sequence of Late Carboniferous to Middle Triassic clastic sedimentary rocks dominated by laterally extensive sandstone, mudstone and coal. These rocks were mostly deposited in non-marine environments (rivers, swamps and lakes), although there is minor evidence for marginal marine settings such as deltas and estuaries. Sedimentation did not occur continuously across the approximately 90 million year history of basin development, and intervals of episodic compression, uplift and erosion were marked by distinct depositional breaks. Over much of the surface area of the Galilee Basin the main aquifers targeted for groundwater extraction occur in the younger rocks and sediments that overlie the deeper sequence of the Galilee Basin. The primary aquifers that supply groundwater in this region are those of the Eromanga Basin, as well as more localised deposits of Cenozoic alluvium. However, in the central-east and north-east of the Galilee Basin, the Carboniferous to Triassic rocks occur at or close to surface and several aquifer units supply significant volumes of groundwater to support pastoral and town water supplies, as well as being the water source for several spring complexes. The three main groundwater systems identified in the Galilee Basin occur in the 1. Clematis Group aquifer, 2. partial aquifer of the upper Permian coal measures (including the Betts Creek beds and Colinlea Sandstone), and 3. aquifers of the basal Joe Joe Group. The main hydrogeological units that confine regional groundwater flow in the Galilee Basin are (from upper- to lower-most) the Moolayember Formation, Rewan Formation, Jochmus Formation and Jericho Formation. However, some bores may tap local groundwater resources within these regional aquitards in areas where they outcrop or occur close to surface. Such areas of localised partial aquifer potential may be due in part to enhanced groundwater storage due to weathering and fracturing.
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This Surat Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Surat Basin is a sedimentary basin with approximately 2500 m of clastic fluvial, estuarine, coastal plain, and shallow marine sedimentary rocks, including sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and coal. Deposition occurred over six cycles from the Early Jurassic to the Cretaceous, influenced by eustatic sea-level changes. Each cycle lasted 10 to 20 million years, ending around the mid-Cretaceous. Bounded by the Auburn Arch to the northeast and the New England Orogen to the southeast, it connects to the Clarence-Moreton Basin through the Kumbarilla Ridge. The Central Fold Belt forms its southern edge, while Cenozoic uplift caused erosion in the north. The basin's architecture is influenced by pre-existing faults and folds in the underlying Bowen Basin and the nature of the basement rocks from underlying orogenic complexes. Notable features include the north-trending Mimosa Syncline and Boomi Trough, overlying the deeper Taroom Trough of the Bowen Basin and extending southwards. The Surat Basin overlies older Permian to Triassic sedimentary basins like the Bowen and Gunnedah Basins, unconformably resting on various older basement rock terranes, such as the Lachlan Orogen, New England Orogen, and Thomson Orogen. Several Palaeozoic basement highs mark its boundaries, including the Eulo-Nebine Ridge in the west and the Kumbarilla Ridge in the east. Paleogene to Neogene sediments, like those from the Glendower Formation, cover parts of the Surat Basin. Remnant pediments and Cenozoic palaeovalleys incised into the basin have added complexity to its geological history and may influence aquifer connections. Overall, the Surat Basin's geological history is characterized by millions of years of sedimentation, tectonic activity, and erosion, contributing to its geological diversity and economic significance as a source of natural resources, including coal and natural gas.
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Monitoring is a regulatory requirement for all carbon dioxide capture and geological storage (CCS) projects to verify containment of injected carbon dioxide (CO2) within a licensed geological storage complex. Carbon markets require CO2 storage to be verified. The public wants assurances CCS projects will not cause any harm to themselves, the environment or other natural resources. In the unlikely event that CO2 leaks from a storage complex, and into groundwater, to the surface, atmosphere or ocean, then monitoring methods will be required to locate, assess and quantify the leak, and to inform the community about the risks and impacts on health, safety and the environment. This paper considers strategies to improve the efficiency of monitoring the large surface area overlying onshore storage complexes. We provide a synthesis of findings from monitoring for CO2 leakage at geological storage sites both natural and engineered, and from monitoring controlled releases of CO2 at four shallow release facilities - ZERT (USA), Ginninderra (Australia), Ressacada (Brazil) and CO2 field lab (Norway).
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This Tasmania Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Late Carboniferous to Late Triassic Tasmania Basin covers approximately 30,000 square kilometres of onshore Tasmania. The basin contains up to 1500 m of mostly flat-lying sedimentary rocks, and these are divided into two distinct lithostratigraphic units, the Lower and the Upper Parmeener Supergroup. The Lower Parmeener Supergroup comprises Late Carboniferous to Permian rocks that mainly formed in marine environments. The most common rock types in this unit are mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, with less common limestone, conglomerate, coal, oil shale and tillite. The Upper Parmeener Supergroup consists predominantly of non-marine rocks, typically formed in fluvial and lacustrine environments. Common rock types include sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and minor basalt layers. Post-deposition the rocks of the Parmeener Supergroup experienced several major geological events, including the widespread intrusion of tholeiitic dolerite magma during the Middle Jurassic.
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A compilation of thematic summaries of 42 Australian Groundwater Provinces. These consistently compiled 42 summaries comprise the National Hydrogeological Inventory. The layer provides the polygons for each groundwater province in the inventory and thematic information for each province, including location and administration information, demographics, physical geography, surface water, geology, hydrogeology, groundwater, groundwater management and use, environment, land use and industry types and scientific stimulus.
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This South-east Australian Fractured Rock Province dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. Groundwater in Australia's fractured rock aquifers is stored in fractures, joints, bedding planes, and cavities within the rock mass, comprising about 40% of the country's groundwater. Much of this water can be utilized for irrigation, town water supplies, stock watering, and domestic use, based on state regulations. Fractured systems account for approximately 33% of all bores in Australia but contribute to only 10% of total extraction due to variable groundwater yield. Quantifying groundwater movement in fractured rock systems is challenging, as it depends on the distribution of major fractures. Groundwater flow direction is more influenced by the orientation of fractures than hydraulic head distribution. Recharge in fractured rock aquifers is typically localized and intermediate. In Eastern Australia, New South Wales' Lachlan Orogen, which extends from central and eastern New South Wales to Victoria and Tasmania, is a significant region with diverse lithological units, including deep marine turbidites, shallow marine to sub-areal sediments, extensive granite bodies, and volcano-intrusive complexes. This region contains various mineral deposits, such as orogenic gold, volcanic-hosted massive sulphide, sediment-hosted Cu-Au, porphyry Au-Cu, and granite-related Sn. Note: The study does not include additional Orogens in the east (New England) and west (Thomson and Delamerian). The Delamerian Orogen is present throughout western Tasmania.
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This Sydney Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Sydney Basin, part of the Sydney–Gunnedah–Bowen basin system, consists of rocks dating from the Late Carboniferous to Middle Triassic periods. The basin's formation began with extensional rifting during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, leading to the creation of north-oriented half-grabens along Australia's eastern coast. A period of thermal relaxation in the mid Permian caused subsidence in the Bowen–Gunnedah–Sydney basin system, followed by thrusting of the New England Orogen from the Late Permian through the Triassic, forming a foreland basin. Deposition in the basin occurred in shallow marine, alluvial, and deltaic environments, resulting in a stratigraphic succession with syn-depositional folds and faults, mostly trending north to north-east. The Lapstone Monocline and Kurrajong Fault separate the Blue Mountains in the west from the Cumberland Plain in the central part of the basin. The Sydney Basin contains widespread coal deposits classified into geographic coalfield areas, including the Southern, Central, Western, Newcastle, and Hunter coalfields. These coalfields are primarily hosted within late Permian strata consisting of interbedded sandstone, coal, siltstone, and claystone units. The coal-bearing formations are grouped based on sub-basins, namely the Illawarra, Tomago, Newcastle, and Wittingham coal measures, underlain by volcanic and marine sedimentary rocks. Deposition within the basin ceased during the Triassic, and post-depositional igneous intrusions (commonly of Jurassic age) formed sills and laccoliths in various parts of the basin. The maximum burial depths for the basin's strata occurred during the early Cretaceous, reaching around 2,000 to 3,000 metres. Subsequent tectonic activity associated with the Tasman Rift extension in the Late Cretaceous and compressional events associated with the convergence between Australia and Indonesia in the Neogene led to uplift and erosion across the basin. These processes have allowed modern depositional environments to create small overlying sedimentary basins within major river valleys and estuaries, along the coast and offshore, and in several topographic depressions such as the Penrith, Fairfield and Botany basins in the area of the Cumberland Plain.
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This Money Shoal Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Money Shoal Basin is a large passive margin basin in northern Australia, mainly located in the offshore Arafura Sea. Its sedimentary succession spans from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic era, reaching a maximum thickness of 4,500 m in the northwest but thinner, less than 500 m, in central and eastern areas. The basin overlays the Neoproterozoic to Permian Arafura Basin and older Proterozoic rocks of the Pine Creek Orogen and McArthur Basin. It is bounded by the Bonaparte Basin to the west and the Carpentaria Basin to the east. The southern margin of the basin occurs onshore and is an erosional feature, although scattered remnant outliers of Money Shoal Basin rocks occur in isolated areas to the south and south-east of Darwin. The northern parts remain less explored, situated beyond Australia's maritime border with Indonesia. The basin's Mesozoic sediments were deposited during passive margin subsidence, and consequently remain relatively undeformed. Compressional tectonics were later initiated during the Cenozoic collision between the Indo-Australian plate and Southeast Asia, causing minor structural disruptions along the northwest margin of the Australian plate. Most of the sediments in the basin were deposited in shallow to marginal marine environments, with minor evidence for short-lived episodes of deltaic and fluvial deposition in some areas. The sedimentary packages in the offshore basin are divided into four groups: Troughton Group equivalent, Flamingo Group equivalent, Bathurst Island Group, and Woodbine Group equivalent. Onshore, the stratigraphic succession is limited to the Plover Formation equivalent, Bathurst Island Group, and the Eocene Van Diemen Sandstone. The Troughton Group extends from the Bonaparte Basin into western parts of the Money Shoal Basin, and chiefly consists of sandstone. The Flamingo Group, identified offshore, is considered equivalent to its Bonaparte Basin counterpart, characterized by sandstone and mudstone deposits, suggesting fluvial and deltaic settings. The Bathurst Island Group dominates onshore, composed mainly of fine-grained claystone, marl, and siltstone. The Woodbine Group is the uppermost unit, and is equivalent to the Woodbine Group of the Bonaparte Basin, consisting of Cenozoic deposits, primarily sandstone and claystone, indicating shallow marine and deltaic environments.
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This Darling Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The geological Darling Basin, covering approximately 130,000 square kilometres in western New South Wales (with parts in South Australia and Victoria), is filled with over 8,000 m of mainly Devonian sedimentary rocks formed in various environments, from alluvial to marine. It sits atop regional basement structures, coinciding with boundaries between Late Paleozoic Kanmantoo, Lachlan, and Southern Thomson Fold Belts. The basin's outcrops are scarce, obscured by younger rocks and sediments. Sedimentary rocks from Late Silurian to Early Carboniferous periods make up the basin, with marine shales and fluvial quartz-rich sandstones being the most common. The Menindee and Bancannia Troughs rest unconformably over Proterozoic and Lower Paleozoic basement rocks, while eastern sub-basins onlap deformed and metamorphosed Lower Paleozoic rocks. A major tectonic shift at the end of the Ordovician transformed south-eastern Australia's palaeogeography from a marginal marine sea to deep troughs and basins. The Darling Basin's discrete sedimentary troughs formed in areas of maximum tectonic extension, including the Ivanhoe, Blantyre, Pondie Range, Nelyambo, Neckarboo, Bancannia, Menindee troughs, and Poopelloe Lake complex. Spatial variation in sedimentary facies indicates potential interconnections between the troughs. The western basin overlies Proterozoic and Lower Paleozoic rocks of the Paroo and Wonominta basement blocks, while the eastern basin onlaps folded, faulted, and metamorphosed older Paleozoic rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt. The Darling Basin has seen limited hydrocarbon exploration, with wells mostly situated on poorly-defined structures. Indications of petroleum presence include gas seeping from water bores, potential source rocks in sparsely sampled Early Devonian units, and occasional hydrocarbon shows in wells. Reservoir units boast good porosity and permeability, while Cambrian to Ordovician carbonates and shales beneath the basin are considered potential source rocks.