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  • The BMR Yearbooks followed on from and retained the format of the final BMR Annual Report. The 1977 yearbook did not use that word in its title, which was simply BMR77. Later volumes followed this pattern, but added the subtitle: Yearbook of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, and in common usage they became known as the BMR (later AGSO) Yearbooks.

  • This collection includes Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations from long-term continuous or semi continuous reference stations at multiple locations across Australia and its external territories, including the Australian Antarctic Territory. <b>Value:</b> The datasets within this collection are provided on an openly accessible basis to support a myriad of scientific and societal positioning applications in Australia. These include the development and maintenance of the Australian Geospatial Reference System (AGRS); the densification of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF); crustal deformation studies; atmospheric studies; and the delivery of precise positioning services to Australian businesses. <b>Scope: </b> Data from reference stations across Australia and its external territories, including the Australian Antarctica Territory. <b>Access: </b> To access the datasets and query station information visit the <a href="https://gnss.ga.gov.au./">Global Navigation Satellite System Data Centre</a>

  • This data collection are comprised of magnetic surveys acquired across Australia by Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory governments and the private sector with project management and quality control undertaken by Geoscience Australia. Magnetic surveying is a geophysical method for measuring the intensity (or strength) of the Earth's magnetic field, which includes the fields associated with the Earth's core and the magnetism of rocks in the Earth's crust. Measuring the magnetism of rocks, in particular, provides a means for the direct detection of several different types of mineral deposits and for geological mapping. The magnetism of rocks depends on the volume, orientation and distribution of their constituent magnetic minerals (namely magnetite, monoclinic pyrrhotite, maghaemite and ilmenite). The instrument used in magnetic surveys is a magnetometer, which can measure the intensity of the magnetic field in nanoteslas (nT). Magnetic surveys in this collection have been acquired using aircraft or ship-mounted magnetometers and are a non-invasive method for investigating subsurface geology.

  • Collection of field notebooks recording mainly geological observations made by staff of Geoscience Australia (GA) and its predecessors, Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) and Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), while conducting fieldwork between 1930 and 2010. The notebooks are currently being digitised. <b>Value: </b>Historic and scientific significance. Many sites visited are remote and have rarely been revisited. Some notebooks also record observations on fauna and flora. <b>Scope: </b>Geographical scope is largely Australia, pre- and post-Independence Papua New Guinea (PNG), and the Australian Antarctic Territory, but other countries and territories are represented.

  • This is the collection level record for the N.H. (Doc) Fisher Geoscience Library's Australian geological field notebooks. Digitisation and transcription of these notebooks by a dedicated team of volunteers via the Australian Museum's DigiVol Citizen Science platform is ongoing (subject to annual funding). The Australian field notebooks contain the geological observations recorded by geologists of Geoscience Australia (GA) and its predecessors during fieldwork across the country from the 1930s until paper notebooks were replaced by electronic devices. The intention of this work is to make the content of these unique historical artefacts more widely accessible to researchers and the public. At present, access to the majority of the field notebooks is only available by visiting the N.H. (Doc) Fisher Geoscience Library at Geoscience Australia in Canberra. However, individual records for the Australian notebooks can be found in the Library's online catalogue, at: <a href="https://geoscienceaustralia.intersearch.com.au">https://geoscienceaustralia.intersearch.com.au</a>.

  • <b>Organic Geochemistry (ORGCHEM) Schema. Australian Source Rock and Fluid Atlas</b> The databases tables held within Geoscience Australia's Oracle Organic Geochemistry (ORGCHEM) Schema, together with other supporting Oracle databases (e.g., Borehole database (BOREHOLE), Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD), and the Reservoir, Facies and Shows (RESFACS) database), underpin the Australian Source Rock and Fluid Atlas web services and publications. These products provide information in an Australia-wide geological context on organic geochemistry, organic petrology and stable isotope data related primarily to sedimentary rocks and energy (petroleum and hydrogen) sample-based datasets used for the discovery and evaluation of sediment-hosted resources. The sample data provide the spatial distribution of source rocks and their derived petroleum fluids (natural gas and crude oil) taken from boreholes and field sites in onshore and offshore Australian provinces. Sample depth, stratigraphy, analytical methods, and other relevant metadata are also supplied with the analytical results. Sedimentary rocks that contain organic matter are referred to as source rocks (e.g., organic-rich shale, oil shale and coal) and the organic matter within the rock matrix that is insoluble in organic solvents is named kerogen. The data in the ORGCHEM schema are produced by a wide range of destructive analytical techniques conducted on samples submitted by industry under legislative requirements, as well as on samples collected by research projects undertaken by Geoscience Australia, state and territory geological organisations and scientific institutions including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and universities. Data entered into the database tables are commonly sourced from both the basic and interpretive volumes of well completion reports (WCR) provided by the petroleum well operator to either the state and territory governments or, for offshore wells, to the Commonwealth Government under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act (OPGGSA) 2006 and previous Petroleum (submerged Lands) Act (PSLA) 1967. Data are also sourced from analyses conducted by Geoscience Australia’s laboratory and its predecessor organisations, the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) and the Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR). Other open file data from company announcements and reports, scientific publications and university theses are captured. The ORGCHEM database was created in 1990 by the BMR in response to industry requests for organic geochemistry data, featuring pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance and carbon isotopic data (Boreham, 1990). Funding from the Australian Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre (1991–2003) enabled the organic geochemical data to be made publicly available at no cost via the petroleum wells web page from 2002 and included BOREHOLE, ORGCHEM and the Reservoir, Facies and Shows (RESFACS) databases. Investment by the Australian Government in Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program facilitated technological upgrades and established the current web services (Edwards et al., 2020). The extensive scope of the ORGCHEM schema has led to the development of numerous database tables and web services tailored to visualise the various datasets related to sedimentary rocks, in particular source rocks, crude oils and natural gases within the petroleum systems framework. These web services offer pathways to access the wealth of information contained within the ORGCHEM schema. Web services that facilitate the characterisation of source rocks (and kerogen) comprise data generated from programmed pyrolysis (e.g., Hawk, Rock-Eval, Source Rock Analyser), pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC) and kinetics analyses, and organic petrological studies (e.g., quantitation of maceral groups and organoclasts, vitrinite reflectance measurements) using reflected light microscopy. Collectively, these data are used to establish the occurrence of source rocks and the post-burial thermal history of sedimentary basins to evaluate the potential for hydrocarbon generation. Other web services provide data to characterise source rock extracts (i.e., solvent extracted organic matter), fluid inclusions and petroleum (e.g., natural gas, crude oil, bitumen) through the reporting of their bulk properties (e.g., API gravity, elemental composition) and molecular composition using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Also reported are the stable isotope ratios of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur using gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) and noble gas isotope abundances using ultimate high-resolution variable multicollection mass spectrometry. The stable isotopes of carbon, oxygen and strontium are also reported for sedimentary rocks containing carbonate either within the mineral matrix or in cements. Interpretation of these data enables the characterisation of petroleum source rocks and identification of their derived petroleum fluids, which comprise two key elements of petroleum systems analysis. Understanding a fluid’s physical properties and molecular composition are prerequisites for field development. The composition of petroleum determines its economic value and hence why the concentration of hydrocarbons (methane, wet gases, light and heavy oil) and hydrogen, helium and argon are important relative to those of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide for gases, and heterocyclic compounds (nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur) found in the asphaltene, resin and polar fractions of crude oils. The web services and tools in the Geoscience Australia Data Discovery Portal (https://portal.ga.gov.au/), and specifically in the Source Rock and Fluid Atlas Persona (https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/sra), allow the users to search, filter and select data based on various criteria, such as basin, formation, sample type, analysis type, and specific geochemical parameters. The web map services (WMS) and web feature services (WFS) enable the user to download data in a variety of formats (csv, Json, kml and shape file). The Source Rock and Fluid Atlas supports national resource assessments. The focus of the atlas is on the exploration and development of energy resources (i.e., petroleum and hydrogen) and the evaluation of resource commodities (i.e., helium and graphite). Some data held in the ORGCHEM tables are used for enhanced oil recovery and carbon capture, storage and utilisation projects. The objective of the atlas is to empower people to deliver Earth science excellence through data and digital capability. It benefits users who are interested in the exploration and development of Australia's energy resources by: • Providing a comprehensive and reliable source of information on the organic geochemistry of Australian source rocks • Enhancing the understanding of the spatial distribution, quality, and maturity of petroleum source rocks. • Facilitating the mapping of total petroleum and hydrogen systems and the assessment of the petroleum and hydrogen resource potential and prospectivity of Australian basins. • Facilitating the mapping of gases (e.g., methane, helium, carbon dioxide) within the geosphere as part of the transition to clean energy. • Enabling the integration and comparison of data from diverse sources and various acquisition methods, such as geological, geochemical, geophysical and geospatial data. • Providing data for integration into enhanced oil recovery and carbon capture, storage and utilisation projects. • Improving the accessibility and usability of data through user-friendly and interactive web-based interfaces. • Promoting the dissemination and sharing of data among Government, industry and community stakeholders. <b>References</b> Australian Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre (APCRC) 1991-2003. Australian Petroleum CRC (1991 - 2003), viewed 6 May 2024, https://www.eoas.info/bib/ASBS00862.htm and https://www.eoas.info/biogs/A001918b.htm#pub-resources Boreham, C. 1990. ORGCHEM Organic geochemical database. BMR Research Newsletter 13. Record 13:10-10. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/90326 Edwards, D.S., MacFarlane, S., Grosjean, E., Buckler, T., Boreham, C.J., Henson, P., Cherukoori, R., Tracey-Patte, T., van der Wielen, S.E., Ray, J., Raymond, O. 2020. Australian source rocks, fluids and petroleum systems – a new integrated geoscience data discovery portal for maximising data potential. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/133751. <b>Citation</b> Edwards, D., Buckler, T. 2024. Organic Geochemistry (ORGCHEM) Schema. Australian Source Rock and Fluid Atlas. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/149422

  • This is a collection of continuous seismic records gathered by temporal and semi-permanent seismic deployments where real-time data transmission was not available. Time spans vary from half an hour to more than a year depending on the purpose of the survey. Description of the employed instrumentation and array constellations can be found in the accompanied material. <b>Value: </b>Passive seismic data contains records of soil vibration due to the natural earth movements, ocean, weather, and anthropogenic activities. This data is used in ongoing research to infer national lithospheric structure from depth of a few meters to a hundred kilometres. Derived models are an important source of information for assessment of resource potential and natural hazard. <b>Scope: </b>Over time, surveys have been focused on areas of economic interest, current work of the Australian Passive Seismic Array Project (AusArray) is seeking to create a grid pattern, spaced ~55 km apart, and complemented by semi-permanent higher sensitivity broadband seismic stations. For more information about AusArray click on the following URL: <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/eftf/minerals/nawa/ausarray">https://www.ga.gov.au/eftf/minerals/nawa/ausarray</a> <b>Data from phase 1 are available on request from clientservices@ga.gov.au - Quote eCat# 135284</b>

  • The collection includes 17,247 measurements of temperature and temperature gradients collected down 5513 individual wells. This information formed the basis for the 'OZTemp Interpreted Temperature at 5km Depth' image of Australia <b>Value: </b>These observations are used to assess heat flow which can be used to infer deep geologic structure, which is valuable for exploration and reconstructions of Australia's evolution <b>Scope: </b>Nationwide collection corresponding to accessible boreholes and published measurements

  • Benfield and Geoscience Australia intend to collaborate to improve their respective understanding of risks from natural hazards in Australia. The aim of this project is to exchange ideas, data and models in order to support the respective groups risk modeling expertise.

  • This collection includes calibrated time-series data and other products from Geoscience Australia's geomagnetic observatory network in Australia and Antarctica. Data dates back to 1924. <b>Value: </b>These data are used in mathematical models of the geomagnetic field, in resource exploration and exploitation, to monitor space weather, and for scientific research. The resulting information can be used for compass-based navigation, magnetic direction finding, and to help protect communities by mitigating the potential hazards generated by magnetic storms. <b>Scope: </b>Continuous geomagnetic time series data, indices of magnetic activity and associated metadata, Data dates back to 1924.