This service delivers the base of Cenozoic surface and Cenozoic thickness grids for the west Musgrave province. The gridded data are a product of 3D palaeovalley modelling based on airborne electromagnetic conductivity, borehole and geological outcrop data, carried out as part of Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future programme. The West Musgrave 3D palaeovalley model report and data files are available at https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/149152.

This web service provides access to groundwater raster products for the Upper Burdekin region, including: inferred relative groundwater recharge potential derived from weightings assigned to qualitative estimates of relative permeability based on mapped soil type and surface geology; Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) used to map vegetation with potential access to groundwater in the basalt provinces, and; base surfaces of basalt inferred from sparse available data.

This data release presents regional scale groundwater contours developed for the Upper Burdekin Groundwater Project in North Queensland, conducted as part of Exploring for the Future (EFTF), an Australian Government funded geoscience data and information acquisition program. The four-year (2016-20) program focused on better understanding the potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources in northern Australia. The Upper Burdekin Groundwater Project is a collaborative study between Geoscience Australia and the Queensland Government. It focuses on basalt groundwater resources in two geographically separate areas: the Nulla Basalt Province (NBP) in the south and the McBride Basalt Province (MBP) in the north. This data release includes separate, regional-scale groundwater contour datasets for the Nulla and McBride basalt provinces developed by Geoscience Australia in: Cook, S. B. & Ransley, T. R., 2020. Exploring for the Future—Groundwater level interpretations for the McBride and Nulla basalt provinces: Upper Burdekin region, North Queensland. Geoscience Australia, Canberra, https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/135439. As detailed in that document, the groundwater contours were drawn by hand based on: - Groundwater levels from monitoring bores measured mostly on 17 February 2019 following extensive rainfall. - Surface topography. - Surface water features (rivers and springs). - Remote sensing data. The inferred groundwater contours were used in various Upper Burdekin Groundwater Project components to frame hydrogeological discussions. It is important to note that they were drawn following a wet period; groundwater contours are temporally variable and those presented in this data release therefore only represent part of the regional groundwater flow system.

This web service provides access to datasets generated by the North Australian Craton (NAC) Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) Mineral Potential Assessment. Two outputs were created: a comprehensive assessment, using all available spatial data, limiting data where possible to capture mineral systems older than 1500 ma, and; a coverage assessment, which is constrained to data that have no reliance on outcrop or age of mineralisation.

This web service provides access to datasets produced by the mineral potential assement of iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) mineral systems in the Tennant Creek – Mt Isa region. The mineral potential assessment uses a 2D, GIS-based workflow to qualitatively map four key mineral system components: (1) Sources of metals, fluids and ligands, (2) Energy to drive fluid flow, (3) Fluid flow pathways and architecture, and (4) Deposition mechanisms, such as redox or chemical gradients. For each of these key mineral system components theoretical criteria, representing important ore-forming processes, were identified and translated into mappable proxies using a wide range of input datasets. Each of these criteria are weighted and combined using an established workflow to produce the final map of IOCG potential.

Exploring for the future presentation- The structure and stratigraphy of the South Nicholson region – implications for resource prospectivity; Insight from the EFTF geochronology and deep reflection seismic programs

This web service provides access to datasets generated by the North Australian Craton (NAC) Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) Mineral Potential Assessment. Two outputs were created: a comprehensive assessment, using all available spatial data, limiting data where possible to capture mineral systems older than 1500 ma, and; a coverage assessment, which is constrained to data that have no reliance on outcrop or age of mineralisation.

Magnetotellurics is one of few techniques those can provide multiple-scale datasets to understand the larger mineral system. We have used long-period data from the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) as first-order reconnaissance survey to resolve large-scale lithospheric architectures for mapping areas of mineral potential in northern Australia. The 3D resistivity model reveals a broad conductivity anomaly extending from the Tennant Region to the Murphy Province, representing a potential fertile source region for mineral systems. We then undertook a higher-resolution infill magnetotellurics survey to refine the geometry of major structures, and to investigate if the deep structure is connected to the near surface by crustal-scale fluid pathways. The resistivity models reveal two prominent conductors in the resistive host whose combined responses result in the lithospheric-scale conductivity anomaly mapped in the AusLAMP model. The resistivity contrasts coincide with major structures preliminarily interpreted from seismic reflection and potential field data. Most importantly, the conductive structures extend from the lower crust to the near surface at where the major faults are located. This observation strongly suggests that these major faults are deep-penetrating structures that potentially acted as pathways for transporting metalliferous fluids to the upper crust where they could form mineral deposits. This result indicates high mineral prospectivity for iron oxide copper–gold deposits in the vicinity of these major faults. We then used high-frequency data to estimate cover thickness to assist with drill targeting for the stratigraphic drilling program which, in turn, will test the models and improve our understanding of basement geology, cover sequences and mineral potential. This study demonstrates that integration of geophysical data from multiscale surveys is an effective approach to scale reduction during mineral exploration in covered terranes. This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2021 Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference 13 - 17 September https://2021.aegc.com.au/.

Exploring for the Future (EFTF) is an ongoing multiyear initiative by the Australian Government, conducted by Geoscience Australia, in partnership with state and Northern Territory government agencies and other partner research institutes. The first phase of the EFTF program (2016-2020) aimed to improve Australia’s desirability for industry investment in resource exploration in frontier or ‘greenfield’ regions across northern Australia. As part of the program, Geoscience Australia employed a range of both established and innovative techniques to gather new precompetitive data and information to develop new insight into the energy, mineral and groundwater resource potential across northern Australia. To maximise impact and to stimulate industry exploration activity, Geoscience Australia focussed activities in greenfield areas where understanding of resource potential was limited. In order to address this overarching objective under the EFTF program, Geoscience Australia led acquisition of two deep crustal reflection seismic surveys in the South Nicholson region, an understudied area of little previous seismic data, straddling north-eastern Northern Territory and north-western Queensland. The first survey, L210 South Nicholson 2D Deep Crustal Seismic Survey acquired in 2017, consisted of five overlapping seismic lines (17GA-SN1 to SN5), totalling ~1100 line-km. Survey L210 linked directly into legacy Geoscience Australia seismic lines (06GA-M1 and 06GA-M2) in the vicinity of the world-class Pb-Zn Century Mine in Queensland. The results from survey L210 profoundly revised our geological understanding of the South Nicholson region, and led to the key discovery of an extensive sag basin, the Carrara Sub-basin, containing highly prospective late Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic rocks with strong affinities with the adjacent Mount Isa Province and Lawn Hill Platform. To complement and expand on the outstanding success of the South Nicholson survey and to continue to explore the resource potential across the underexplored and mostly undercover South Nicholson and Barkly regions, a second seismic survey was acquired in late 2019, the Barkly 2D reflection survey (L212). The Barkly seismic survey comprises five intersecting lines (19GA-B1 to B5), totalling ~813 line-km, extending from the NT-QLD border in the south-east, near Camooweal, to the highly prospective Beetaloo Sub-basin in the north-west. The survey ties into the South Nicholson survey (L210), the recently acquired Camooweal 2D reflection seismic survey by the Geological Survey of Queensland and industry 2D seismic in the Beetaloo Sub-basin, leveraging on and maximising the scientific value and impact on all surveys. The Barkly reflection seismic data images the south-western margin of the Carrara Sub-basin and identified additional previously unrecognised, structurally-disrupted basins of Proterozoic strata, bounded by broadly northeast trending basement highs. Critically, the survey demonstrates the stratigraphic continuity of highly prospective Proterozoic strata from the Beetaloo Sub-basin into these newly discovered, but as yet unevaluated, concealed basins and into the Carrara Sub-basin, further attesting to the regions outstanding potential for mineral and hydrocarbon resources. This survey, in concert with the South Nicholson seismic survey and other complementary EFTF funded regional geochemical, geochronology and geophysical data acquisition surveys, significantly improves our understanding of the geological evolution, basin architecture and the resource potential of this previously sparsely studied region.

This OGC conformant web service delivers data from Geoscience Australia's Reservoir, Facies and Hydrocarbon Shows (RESFACS) Database. RESFACS is an interpretative reservoir/facies database containing depth-based information regarding permeability, porosity, shows, depositional environment and biostratigraphy of petroleum wells.