Authors / CoAuthors
de Caritat, P. | Bastrakov, E. | Walker, A.T. | McInnes, B.I.A
Abstract
The National Geochemical Survey of Australia (<a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/ngsa" title="NGSA website" target="_blank">NGSA</a>) is Australia’s only internally consistent, continental-scale <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2011.020" title="NGSA geochemical atlas and dataset" target="_blank">geochemical atlas and dataset</a>. The present dataset contains additional mineralogical data obtained on NGSA samples selected from the Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian (<a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/eftf/projects/darling-curnamona-delamerian" title="DCD website" target="_blank">DCD</a>) region of southeastern Australia for the first partial data release of the Heavy Mineral Map of Australia (HMMA) project. The HMMA, a collaborative project between Geoscience Australia and Curtin University underpinned by a pilot project establishing its feasibility, is part of the Australian Government-funded Exploring for the Future (<a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/eftf" title="EFTF website" target="_blank">EFTF</a>) program. The selected 223 NGSA sediment samples fall within the DCD polygon plus an approximately one-degree buffer. The samples were taken on average from 60 to 80 cm depth in floodplain landforms, dried and sieved to a 75-430 µm grainsize fraction, and the contained heavy minerals (HMs; i.e., those with a specific gravity >2.9 g/cm<sup>3</sup>) were separated by dense fluids and mounted on cylindrical epoxy mounts. After polishing and carbon-coating, the mounts were subjected to automated mineralogical analysis on a TESCAN® Integrated Mineral Analyzer (TIMA). Using scanning electron microscopy and backscatter electron imaging integrated with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, the TIMA identified over 140 different HMs in the DCD area. The dataset, consisting of over 29 million individual mineral grains identified, was quality controlled and validated by an expert team. The data released here can be visualised, explored and downloaded using an online, bespoke mineral network analysis tool (<a href="https://geoscienceaustralia.shinyapps.io/mna4hm/" title="MNA website" target="_blank">MNA</a>) built on a cloud-based platform. Accompanying this report are a data file of TIMA results and a mineralogy vocabulary file. When completed in 2023, it is hoped the HMMA project will positively impact mineral exploration and prospectivity modelling around Australia, as well as have other applications in earth and environmental sciences.
Product Type
document
eCat Id
146921
Contact for the resource
Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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- Environmental ManagementIsotope GeochemistryExploration GeochemistryEARTH SCIENCES
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- Data Package
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- Heavy Minerals
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- Catchment Outlet Sediments
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- National Geochemical Survey of Australia
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- NGSA
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- Exploring for the Future
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- EFTF
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- Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian
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- Regolith Mineralogy
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- Mineralogical Mapping
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2022-07-07T03:37:23
Creation Date
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
underDevelopment
Purpose
Provide a preliminary data release for the continental-scale regolith Heavy Mineral Map of Australia
Maintenance Information
asNeeded
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
RECORD: 2022/031
Lineage
Caritat & Cooper, 2011. The National Geochemical Survey of Australia (http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2011.020) Caritat et al., 2020. Towards a heavy mineral map of the Australian continent - A feasibility study (http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2020.031)
Parent Information
National Geochemical Survey of Australia: The Geochemical Atlas of Australia: Dataset
UUID - 0dc4a02b-21e9-9b28-e053-12a3070af396,
eCat ID - 82869
Extents
[-44.00, -28.00, 137.00, 149.00]
Reference System
GDA94 (EPSG:4283)
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Association Type - operatedOnBy
eCat Identifier - 147399,
UUID - 6cb231b7-61ea-4992-88a7-0b29d94585cf
Association Type - operatedOnBy
eCat Identifier - 147400,
UUID - 5db95ed9-9c31-452c-8483-024efca4ce74
Association Type - operatedOnBy
eCat Identifier - 147403,
UUID - 782d63ca-95fb-4f20-9c64-ff937d50d716
Downloads and Links
Download the Record (pdf) [4.0 MB]
Download Appendix A – Observations Data File (xlsx) [196 KB]
Download Appendix B – Yield, Observations, Volume Percent, Weight Percent, and Median Grainsize Data File (xlsx) [834 KB]
Download Appendix C – Minerals Vocabulary File (xlsx) [44 KB]
Source Information