In the southern half of Australia, recent droughts and predictions of a drier future under a number of climate change scenarios have led to the search for innovative strategies to identify more secure water supplies for regional communities and industries. This study was commissioned to investigate groundwater options for increasing the drought security for the city of Broken Hill. Investigations involved the assessment of a number of aquifers across a broad region, followed by the rapid mapping and assessment of potential MAR and/or groundwater extraction sites over a large data-poor area (>7,500 km2), of the Darling floodplain. Data acquisition included an airborne electromagnetics (AEM) survey (31,834 line km), a 7.5 km drilling program (100 sonic and rotary mud holes), and complementary field and laboratory measurements. Integrated studies found that surface infiltration approaches were not viable MAR options in this area due to the ubiquitous presence of thick near-surface aquitards. However, 3D mapping validated by drilling and complementary hydrogeological investigations identified >30 potential Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) targets where Pliocene aquifers contain significant volumes of fresh groundwater and are sandwiched between confining aquitards. A pre-commissioning semi-quantitative residual risk assessment was carried out for a priority site (Jimargil), located within 20 km of existing power and surface water infrastructure at Menindee. Using national MAR guidelines, assessment of 12 hazard types included hydrogeological modelling, laboratory column clogging studies and geochemical assessment to identify source water treatment requirements. The study found that the residual scientific/technical risks for ASR at Jimargil are low. Key to project success was the development of new rapid mapping and assessment methodologies and workflows. It is our understanding that this is the first use of AEM as part of multi-disciplinary mapping and assessment of MAR targets. The investigations in this study also completely revised our understanding of the age, stratigraphy, structure and mode of deposition of the Darling floodplain sediments, with practical implications for the hydrogeological conceptual model underpinning the assessment of groundwater resources and MAR options.

The Broken Hill Managed Aquifer Recharge (BHMAR) project is part of a larger strategic effort aimed at securing Broken Hill's water supply and identifying significant water-saving measures for the Darling River system. In this study, airborne electromagnetics (AEM) mapping validated by drilling, field and laboratory measurements has identified significant volumes of fresh to acceptable quality groundwater stored beneath the Darling Floodplain. These potential resources were identified in 14 discrete targets within Pliocene aquifers (Calivil Formation and Loxton-Parilla Sands) at depths of 25-120m. The Calivil Formation occurs predominantly within structurally-controlled palaeovalleys. Aquifer quality is best where thick (30-50m), high-yielding zones (test flows > 25 L/s) occur in palaeochannels at the confluence of palaeo-river systems. Here, the hydraulic properties make the Calivil Formation aquifer best suited for groundwater extraction (and/or MAR injection), with excellent recovery efficiencies predicted where ambient salinities are low. The aquifer is sandwiched between variably thick clay aquitards, and is confined to semi-confined. Indicative groundwater volumes have been calculated using groundwater salinity and texture mapping derived for the AEM depth slices, combined with porosity statistics derived from laboratory measurements and borehole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging. In most of the targets, further investigation is required to quantify natural recharge and discharge processes, identify the negative impacts associated with groundwater pumping (particularly the potential for saline groundwater ingress), delineate the more transmissive parts of the formation, and assess the economics and logistics of borefield and water supply design. Calibrated, transient numerical groundwater flow and solute transport models are also needed to determine appropriate groundwater extraction rates. The multi-disciplinary systems-based methodology used in this project has enabled rapid identification and assessment of largely unknown potential groundwater resources and aquifer storage. These have the potential to provide drought security for regional communities and industries, and to assist with regional development.

In November 2012, the Australian Government finalised a national network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves (CMR) covering 3.1 million km2 and representing the full range of large scale benthic habitats known to exist around mainland Australia. This network was designed using the best available regional-scale information, including maps of seabed geomorphic features and associated Key Ecological Features. To support the management objectives of the marine reserves, new site-specific information is required to improve our understanding of biodiversity patterns and ecosystem processes across a range of spatial scales. In this context, the Marine Biodiversity Hub (funded through the National Environmental Research Program) recently completed a collaborative 'voyage of discovery' to the Oceanic Shoals CMR in the Timor Sea. This area was chosen because it hosts globally significant levels of biodiversity (including endemic sponge and coral taxa), faces rapidly increasing pressures from human activities (offshore energy industry, fishing) yet is recognised as one of the most poorly known regions of Northern Australia. Undertaken in September 2012 on board RV Solander, the survey acquired biophysical data on the shallow seabed environments for targeted areas within the Oceanic Shoals CMR, with a focus on the carbonate banks that characterise this tropical shelf and are recognised as a Key Ecological Feature. Data collected included 500 km2 of high resolution (300 kHz) multibeam sonar bathymetry and acoustic backscatter across four grids, plus seabed sediment samples, underwater tow-video transects (~1 km length), pelagic and demersal baited underwater video, epifaunal and infaunal samples and water column profiles at pre-determined stations. Station locations were designed to provide a random but spatially balanced distribution of sample sites, with weighting toward the banks. This design also facilitated observations of patterns of benthic biodiversity at local to feature-scale and transitions associated with depth-gradients and exposure to tidal currents. Results reveal the banks are broadly circular to elliptical with steep sides, mantled by muddy sand and gravel with areas of hard ground. Rising to water depths of 50-70 m, the banks support benthic assemblages of sponges and corals (including hard corals at shallower sites) which in turn support other marine invertebrates. In strong contrast, the surrounding seabed is characterised by barren, mud-dominated sediments in 70-100 m water depth, although infaunal samples reveal diverse biological communities beneath the seafloor. While the bank assemblages are locally isolated, the potential exists for connectivity between shoals via tide-driven larval dispersal. Ongoing work is aimed at identifying species to determine overlap between bank communities, as well as modelling the sources, pathways and sinks for larvae as a proxy for understanding the physical processes controlling the patterns of biodiversity across the Oceanic Shoals CMR at multiple scales.

In this study, airborne electromagnetics (AEM), high resolution LiDAR, and drilling (100 bores) were acquired to map and assess groundwater resources and managed aquifer recharge options in the River Darling Floodplain. Neotectonic faulting and uplift has previously been described along the north-western margin of the Murray Basin along the adjacent Darling Lineament, however no evidence of neotectonics had previously been identified in the study area. Initial inversions of the AEM data revealed a multi-layered conductivity structure broadly consistent with the hydrostratigraphy identified in drilling. However, initial laterally and spatially constrained inversions showed only moderate correlations with ground data in the near-surface (~20m). As additional information from drilling and ground and borehole geophysical surveys became available, various horizontal and vertical constraints were trialled using a new Wave Number Domain Approximate Inversion procedure with a 1D multi-layer model and constraints in 3D. The resultant 3D conductivity model revealed that an important Pleistocene aquitard (Blanchetown Clay) confining the main aquifer of interest (Calivil Formation), has an undulating surface, which is locally sharply offset. An interpreted top surface suggests that it has been affected by significant warping and faulting, as well as regional tilting due to basin subsidence or margin uplift. Overall, the top surface of the Blanchetown Clay varies in elevation by 60m. Many of the sharp offsets in the conductivity layers are coincident with lineaments observed in the LiDAR data, and with underlying basement faults mapped from airborne magnetic data. The identification of neotectonics in this area was made possible through the acquisition of high resolution AEM data, and the selection of appropriate horizontal and vertical constraints in inversion procedures. Recognition of faulting in the unconsolidated sedimentary sequence helps explain the rapid recharge of underlying Pliocene aquifers, with neotectonics recognised as a key component of the hydrogeological conceptual model.

Abstract for indonesian Geophysics Conference (HAGI)

To investigate the standard electrical conductivity profile beneath a continent, we conducted a magnetotelluric (MT) observation with long dipole span near Alice Springs, central Australia. We utilized geomagnetic data acquired at the Alice Springs geomagnetic observatory operated by Geoscience Australia. Using the BIRRP processing code (Chave and Thomson, 2004), we estimated the MT and GDS (geomagnetic depth sounding) transfer functions for periods from 100 to 10 to 6 sec. The MT-compatible response functions converted from GDS response functions are resistive compared to the Canadian Shield (Chave et al., 1993) for periods around 10 to 5 sec. The calculated MT responses also have generally high apparent resistivity values over the entire period range. We inverted the average MT responses into a one-dimensional conductivity profile using Occam inversion (Constable et al., 1987). The resultant conductivity profile is extremely resistive (0.001 to 0.0001 S/m) down to the mantle transition zone. We compared this one-dimensional structure with electrical conductivity profiles predicted from compositional models of the earth's upper mantle by calculating phase diagrams in the CFMAS (CaO-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2) system. The on-craton and off-craton chemical composition models (Rudnick et al., 1998) were adopted for the tectosphere. The Perple_X (e.g. Connolly, 2005) programs were used to obtain mineral proportions and compositions with depth. The calculated conductivity profiles with on- and off-craton models show significantly larger magnitude than the observed. The result suggests the continental lithosphere (tectosphere) beneath Australia is extremely dry and its temperature profile is cooler than that used in the calculation.

Integrating surface water and groundwater sampling with pore fluid analysis of cored sediments, combined with fuzzy-k means (FCM) cluster analysis, provides a novel, relatively simple but powerful tool to interpret groundwater processes. This methodology has been applied to a study of shallow (<120m) alluvial aquifers in the Darling River floodplain, Pore fluids were extracted from sediments from 100 sonic-cored bores, and together with surface and groundwater samples, provided a hydrochemical dataset with over 1600 samples and 25 analytes. The FCM cluster analysis used analytes that were present in at least 60% of samples and resulted in samples being classified into eight classes (or hydrochemical facies). Pore fluids and groundwaters with the greatest affinity to the surface water samples were easily identified. In this way, sites with significant active recharge, principally by river leakage, were mapped. Downhole plots of the pore fluid FCM classes provided additional insights into groundwater processes. Comparing the FCM classification of pore fluids within the target (semi)confined aquifer with those from the overlying clay aquitard and shallow aquifer allowed the assessment of vertical inter-aquifer leakage. The FCM cluster analysis also assigns indices to each sample as indicators of how well it relates to each of the eight classes. A simple recharge index was calculated from these FCM indices. This novel approach has provided invaluable new insights into groundwater processes and has assisted greatly with assessing groundwater resources and managed aquifer recharge options.

This collaborative project between Geoscience Australia (GA) and CSIRO aims to use physicochemical measurements, collected from surface overbank sediments as part of the National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) project, to help validate the ASTER multispectral geoscience maps of Australia. Both data sets have common information including that related to the surface abundance of silica, aluminium, iron, clay, sand and volatiles (including carbonate). The ASTER geoscience maps also provide spatial information about trends of mineral composition, which are potentially related to pH and oxidation state.

Old, Flat and Red: the Origins of the Australian Landscape Colin Pain, Geoscience Australia, Lisa Worrall, Geoscience Australia, and Brad Pillans, Research School of Earth Science, Australian National University

Global climate change is putting Australia's infrastructure and in particular coastal infrastructure at risk. More than 80% of Australians live within the coastal zone. Almost 800,000 residences are within 3km of the coast and less than 6m above sea level. Much of Australia's land transport is built around road and rail infrastructure which is within the threatened coastal zone. A significant number of Australia's ports, harbours and airports are under threat. Australia's coastal zone contains several major cities, and supports agriculture, fisheries, tourism, coastal wetlands and estuaries, mangroves and other coastal vegetation, coral reefs, heritage areas and threatened species or habitats. Sea level rise is one physical effect of rising sea temperatures and is estimated at about 0.146m for 2030 (IPCC 2007) and up to 1.1m for 2100 (Antarctic and Climate Ecosystems CRC). The warming is likely to result in increases in intensity of both extra-tropical and tropical storms (spatially dependent) which are predicted to increase storm surge and severe wind hazard. Beaches, estuaries, coastal wetlands, and reefs which have adapted naturally to past changes in climate (storminess) and sea level over long time scales, now are likely to face faster rates of change. In many cases landward migration may be blocked by human land uses and infrastructure. Adaptation options include integrated coastal zone assessments and management; redesign, rebuilding, or relocation of capital assets; protection of beaches, dunes and maritime infrastructure; development zone control; and retreat plans.