<div>The Petroleum Systems Summary database stores the compilation of the current understanding of petroleum systems information by basin across Australia. The Petroleum Systems Summary database and delivery tool provide high-level information of the current understanding of key petroleum systems for areas of interest. For example, geological studies in the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program have included the Canning, McArthur and South Nicholson basins (Carr et al., 2016; Hashimoto et al., 2018). The database and tool aim to assist geological studies by summarising and interpreting key datasets related to conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon exploration. Each petroleum systems summary includes a synopsis of the basin and key figures detailing the basin outline, major structural components, data availability, petroleum systems events chart and stratigraphy, and a précis of the key elements of source, reservoir and seal. Standardisation of petroleum systems nomenclature establishes a framework for each basin after Bradshaw (1993) and Bradshaw et al. (1994), with the source-reservoir naming conventions adopted from Magoon and Dow (1994).&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The resource is accessible via the Geoscience Australia Portal&nbsp;(https://portal.ga.gov.au/) via the Petroleum Systems Summary Tool (Edwards et al., 2020).</div>

<div>The Delamerian Orogen is a spatially (~1500&nbsp;km long by ~300 km wide) and temporally (ca. 830 to 495 Ma) extensive orogenic system spanning five states in central and eastern Australia. The spatial extent of the orogen was defined by Glen (2005) as the distribution of rocks that underwent their first deformation in the mid-to-late Cambrian Delamerian Orogeny, with the orogen impacted by younger geodynamic events in the Phanerozoic. The orogen is poorly exposed overall and is mostly covered by a series of younger sedimentary basins, volcanic rocks and regolith.</div><div>In the last few years, a multi-disciplinary program of geological and geophysical data collection and integration, focused on the Delamerian Orogen, was undertaken as part of Geoscience Australia’s (GA) Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program and the Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centres (MinEx CRC) National Drilling Initiative (NDI). This work program, outlined by Gilmore et al. (2023), compliments the Geological Survey of South Australia’s recent MinEx CRC NDI drilling campaign in the Loch Lilly-Kars Belt in South Australia (Wise, 2023). These efforts have resulted in a greatly increased volume of lithological, geochronological, geochemical, and geophysical datasets, especially in the vicinity of the Loch Lilly-Kars Belt (e.g. Brotodewo et al., 2021; Cheng et al., 2024a; Cheng et al., 2024b; Clark et al., 2024; Curtis, 2022; Doublier et al., 2024; Mole et al., 2024; Pitt et al., 2023; Taylor et al., in prep.; Wise, 2023). Two time-space plots and an accompanying map (appendices A, B and C)&nbsp;have been prepared to convey the geological history of the Delamerian Orogen within the DCD project area on mainland Australia:</div><div><br></div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;An overview time-space plot designed to provide a simplified geological history through the orogen from the Archaean to the present.</div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A detailed time-space plot with three (northern, central and southern) traverses to reflect changes in geological history and stratigraphy along the strike and width of the Delamerian Orogen, focussed on the start of the Ediacaran to the end of the Devonian.</div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Location map showing the traverses used in the detailed time-space plot.</div><div>The time-space plots are the first holistic time-space plots for the Delamerian Orogen on mainland Australia. They allow a comparison of the similarities and differences in the age and location of magmatism, sedimentation, deformation and mineralisation across the Delamerian Orogen in New South Wales (NSW), South Australia (SA) and Victoria, at both a high level (overview) and stratigraphic unit level (detailed).</div><div>This record outlines the methodology and data used (Appendix D)&nbsp;to compile the time-space plots.</div><div><br></div>

<div>The groundwater and surface water systems associated with the Upper Darling River Floodplain (UDF) in arid northwest New South Wales form part of the Murray-Darling Basin drainage system, which hosts 40% of Australia’s agricultural production. Increasing water use demands and a changing regional climate are affecting hydrological systems, and consequently impacting the quality and quantity of water availability to communities, industries and the environment.</div><div>As part of the Australian Government’s Exploring for the Future program, the UDF project is working in collaboration with State partners to collect and integrate new data and information with existing hydrogeological knowledge. The goal is to provide analyses and products that assist water managers to increase water security in the region, with a focus on groundwater resources. </div><div>As part of this project we are assessing the occurrence of, and geological controls on, potable water resources within the Darling Alluvium (DA), which comprises unconsolidated sediments (<140 m thick) associated with the modern and paleo-Darling River. The DA’s relationship to the underlying Eromanga, Surat (Great Artesian Basin) and Murray basins is also important, particularly in the context of potential groundwater sources or sinks, and connection between low and high quality groundwater resources. At least one major fault system is known to influence groundwater flow paths and control groundwater-surface water interaction.</div><div>Data collection across the project area has commenced, with an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey already complete, and new geophysical, hydrochemical and hydrodynamic data being acquired. Preliminary interpretation of the new AEM data in conjunction with existing geological and hydrogeological information has already revealed the major paths and geometries of the paleo-Darling River, given important insights into fault controls on groundwater flow paths, and shown variation in the thickness, distribution and character of the DA, which has direct implications for groundwater–surface water connectivity.</div><div><br></div>

During 2021–2024 Geoscience Australia conducted regional seismic mapping across the offshore Otway Basin that extended into the frontier deep-water region. This work was part of a broader pre-competitive study undertaken in support of petroleum exploration. Seismic horizons and faults were interpreted on three regional data sets, including: over 18 000 line-km of new and reprocessed data compiled for the 2020 offshore Otway Basin seismic program; over 40 000 line-km of legacy 2D seismic data; and the Otway 3D Megamerge dataset. This digital dataset (publication date 9 September 2024) updates and replaces a previously released dataset (publication date 16 May 2022). This updated dataset includes 8 surface grids and 11 isochron grids generated from the following seismic horizons (in ascending stratigraphic order); MOHO (Mohorovičić discontinuity), TLLCC (top laminated lower continental crust), Base (base Crayfish Supersequence), EC2 (base Eumeralla Supersequence), LC1 (base Shipwreck Supersequence), LC1.2 (base LC1.2 Sequence), LC2 (base Sherbrook Supersequence), and T1 (base Wangerrip Supersequence). Fault polygons created for all surfaces (except for MOHO, TLLCC, and LC1.2) are also included in the dataset. Maps generated from the dataset depict deep-water Cretaceous depocentres, and trends in crustal thinning and rifting during the Cretaceous. This revised dataset has underpinned updates to regional structural elements, including a revision of the boundary between the Otway and Sorell basins.

<div>The groundwater and surface water systems associated with the Upper Darling River Floodplain (UDF) in arid northwest New South Wales form part of the Murray-Darling Basin drainage system, which hosts 40% of Australia’s agricultural production. Increasing water use demands and a changing regional climate are affecting hydrological systems, and consequently impacting the quality and quantity of water availability to communities, industries and the environment.</div><div>As part of the Australian Government’s Exploring for the Future program, the UDF project is working in collaboration with State partners to collect and integrate new data and information with existing hydrogeological knowledge. The goal is to provide analyses and products that assist water managers to increase water security in the region, with a focus on groundwater resources. </div><div>As part of this project we are assessing the occurrence of, and geological controls on, potable water resources within the Darling Alluvium (DA), which comprises unconsolidated sediments (<140 m thick) associated with the modern and paleo-Darling River. The DA’s relationship to the underlying Eromanga, Surat (Great Artesian Basin) and Murray basins is also important, particularly in the context of potential groundwater sources or sinks, and connection between low and high quality groundwater resources. At least one major fault system is known to influence groundwater flow paths and control groundwater-surface water interaction.</div><div>Data collection across the project area has commenced, with an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey already complete, and new geophysical, hydrochemical and hydrodynamic data being acquired. Preliminary interpretation of the new AEM data in conjunction with existing geological and hydrogeological information has already revealed the major paths and geometries of the paleo-Darling River, given important insights into potential fault controls on groundwater flow paths, and shown variation in the thickness, distribution and character of the DA, which has direct implications for groundwater–surface water connectivity.</div><div><br></div>

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government. This work contributes to building a better understanding of the Australian continent, whilst giving the Australian public the tools they need to help them make informed decisions in their areas of interest.&nbsp;</div><div>To enable a sustainable and responsible use of the Earth's subsurface environment,<strong> </strong>a quantified knowledge of the geological composition and structure of the subsurface is an economic imperative to inform decision-making. Geoscience Australia developed a start-to-end<strong> </strong>open-source methodology ranging from data acquisition, interpretation and storage<strong> </strong>to data modelling, to create a national seamless chronostratigraphic framework and predict depth and spatial extent of potential resources (Bonnardot et al., 2020; 2024).&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>This data package contains a layered depth to sedimentary cover model and associated constraints, that was generated in the Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian (DCD) region (between 27.6‒39⁰ S of latitude and 137.7‒144⁰ E of longitude) to characterise depth and thickness of key stratigraphic sequences, e.g. Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic.&nbsp;</div><div>The layered cover model integrates the interpretation of depth estimates from stratigraphic logs (Vizy and Rollet, 2024), surface and layered geology, depth to magnetic source estimates (Foss et al., 2024; Hope et al., 2024), and airborne electromagnetic data (Wong et al., 2023) that were consistently stored in a data repository (Estimates of Geophysical and Geological Surfaces, EGGS database). Geoscience Australia’s (GA) Estimates of Geological and Geophysical Surfaces (EGGS) database (Matthews et al., 2020) is the national repository for standardised depth estimate points, where all points are attributed with stratigraphic information populated from the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD).&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Two sets of depth surfaces were generated using different approaches: 1) interpolation of 4 depth surfaces, e.g. base of Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic were generated using the implicit interpolator LoopStructural (Grose et al., 2021) from the open-source Loop 3D modelling platform (loop3d.org) (see Bonnardot et al., 2024 for the methodology) and 2) machine learning algorithm, UncoverML (Wilford et al., 2020) was used to model the depth of the Cenozoic surface. Machine learning allows to learn relationship between datasets and therefore, can provide higher resolution in areas of sparse data points distribution.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The data package includes:&nbsp;</div><div>- Depth estimates data point compiled and used for gridding each surface, for the Base Cenozoic, Base Mesozoic, Base Paleozoic and Base Neoproterozoic (Figure 1),&nbsp;</div><div>- Four regional depth surface grids generated with LoopStructural for the Base Cenozoic, Base Mesozoic, Base Paleozoic and Base Neoproterozoic (Figure 2).&nbsp;</div><div>- One regional depth surface grid generated with UncoverML for the Base Cenozoic.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>- Four regional isochore grids generated for the thickness of the Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div>

<div>This guide and template details data requirements for submission of mineral deposit geochemical data to the Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database, hosted by Geoscience Australia, in partnership with the United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada. The CMiO database is designed to capture multielement geochemical data from a wide variety of critical mineral-bearing deposits around the world. Samples included within this database must be well-characterized and come from localities that have been sufficiently studied to have a reasonable constraint on their deposit type and environment of formation. As such, only samples analysed by modern geochemical methods, and with certain minimum metadata attribution, can be accepted. Data that is submitted to the CMiO database will also be published via the Geoscience Australia Portal (portal.ga.gov.au) and Critical Minerals Mapping Initiative Portal (https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/cmmi).&nbsp;</div><div><br></div>

<div>This study was commissioned by Geoscience Australia (GA) as part of the Exploring for the Future program to produce a report on the organic petrology for rock samples from drill holes of the Birrindudu Basin, Northern Territory, Australia. A suite of 130 drill core samples from 6 drill holes was analysed using standard organic petrological methods to identify the types of organic matter present, assess their relative abundances and determine the levels of thermal maturity attained by the sedimentary organic matter using the reflectance of organoclasts present. </div>

This study was commissioned by Geoscience Australia (GA) to produce a report on seal capacity of select samples from wells in the Officer Basin of Western Australia and South Australia. Plugs were taken from the Giles-1, Yowalga-3, Vines-1 and Birksgate-1 wells and analysed via mercury injection capillary pressure testing. Results demonstrate that the analysed samples are capable of sealing very large columns of both methane and carbon dioxide.

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Layered Geology of Australia 1:1 000 000 scale dataset (2024 edition) is a seamless national coverage of Australia’s surface and subsurface geology.&nbsp;Geology concealed under younger cover units are mapped by effectively removing the overlying stratigraphy (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset is a layered product and comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic. As an example, the Mesozoic time slice (or layer) shows Mesozoic age geology that would be present if all Cenozoic units were removed. The Pre-Neoproterozoic time slice shows what would be visible if all Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic units were removed. In general, a top down approach has been taken so that only the uppermost units for each era are shown. However, in areas of relative geological complexity and where that detail was available in the source data, some units may show overlap. In these instances, the units are ordered from oldest (base) to youngest (top). The Cenozoic time slice layer for the national dataset was extracted from Raymond et al., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition. Geoscience Australia, Canberra, and retains the data schema of that dataset. For that layer’s metadata, refer to https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/74855.</div><div><br></div><div>Geological units are represented as polygon and line geometries and are attributed with information regarding stratigraphic nomenclature and hierarchy, age, and lithology. All stratigraphic information populated in the dataset is derived from the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database. The dataset also contains a layer for structural features such as faults and shears.</div>