The Rayner Complex of East Antarctica is exposed between 45??80?E in the Enderby Land through Princes Elizabeth Land sector of East Antarctica. It is known to correlate with parts of present day India and to have been deformed and metamorphosed at high grades in the earliest Neoproterozoic (990-900 Ma). The age and origin of the protolith rocks of the Rayner Complex however remains largely unknown, as does the tectonic setting in which these rocks formed. New age data collected from the northern Prince Charles Mountains (eastern Rayner Complex), demonstrate that the pre-orogenic rocks from this region consist of: (1) volcanogenic and terrigenous sediments deposited between 1400 Ma and 1020 Ma in a magmatically active basin characterised by limited input from cratonic sources and, (2) probable syn-sedimentary granitoids dated to 1150 Ma. Our data confirm the continuity of the Rayner Complex into Prydz Bay, a region that preserves a remarkably similar geologic history but which is often differentiated from the Rayner Complex on the basis of a higher grade early Cambrian (~520 Ma) overprint. On the basis of our data we further conclude that the Rayner Complex protoliths likely in formed in a back-arc system that existed along the margin of the pre-Gondwana Indian craton. Anticlockwise P-T paths and high-T, low-P metamorphism associated with the inversion of the Rayner back-arc (990-900 Ma) suggest this event resulted from the accretion of a number of independent microplates, rather than continent-continent collision.

This preliminary report will provide a geochemical and ionic characterisation of groundwater, to determine baseline conditions and, if possible, to distinguish between different aquifers in the Laura basin. The groundwater quality data will be compared against the water quality guidelines for aquatic ecosystem protection, drinking water use, primary industries, use by industry, recreation and aesthetics, and cultural and spiritual values to assess the environmental values of groundwater and the treatment that may be required prior to reuse or discharge.

Pending

This dataset was produced by a NESP project, and contains 5 m resolution bathymetry tiles with national Australian coverage of both coastal and outer marine regions. The data product contains 'bathymetry' and 'shelf bathymetry', with the shelf bathymetry constrained to the 0-200m depth region. Files are in RGB geotiff and ASC grid format, zipped as *.gz. Tiles are 0.5x0.5 degrees.

Williams et al. (2009) report on new multibeam sonar bathymetry and underwater video data collected from submarine canyons and seamounts on Australia's southeast continental margin to 'investigate the degree to which geomorphic features act as surrogates for benthic megafaunal biodiversity' (p. 214). The authors describe what they view as deficiencies in the design of the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the southeast region of Australia, in which geomorphology information was employed as a surrogate to infer regional-scale patterns of benthic biodiversity. This comment is designed to support and underscore the importance of evaluating MPA designs and the validity of using abiotic surrogates such as geomorphology to infer biodiversity patterns, and seeks to clarify some of the discrepancies in geomorphic terminologies and approaches used between the original study and the Williams et al. (2009) evaluation. It is our opinion that the MPA design criteria used by the Australian Government are incorrectly reported by Williams et al. (2009). In particular, we emphasise the necessity for consistent terminology and approaches when undertaking comparative analyses of geomorphic features. We show that the MPA selection criteria used by the Australian Government addressed the issues of false homogeneity described by Williams et al. (2009), but that final placement of MPAs was based on additional stakeholder considerations. Finally, we argue that although the Williams et al. (2009) study provides valuable information on biological distributions within seamounts and canyons, the hypothesis that geomorphic features (particularly seamounts and submarine canyons) are surrogates for benthic biodiversity is not tested explicitly by their study.

This service represents a combination of two data products, the DEM_SRTM_1Second dataset and the Australian_Bathymetry_Topography dataset. This service was created to support the CO2SAP (Co2 Storage application) Project to create a transect elevation graph within the application. This data is not available as a dataset for download as a Geoscience Australia product. The DEM_SRTM_1Second service represents the National Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 1 Second product derived from the National DEM SRTM 1 Second. The DEM represents ground surface topography, with vegetation features removed using an automatic process supported by several vegetation maps. eCat record 72759. The Australian_Bathymetry_Topography service describes the bathymetry dataset of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone and beyond. Bathymetry data was compiled by Geoscience Australia from multibeam and single beam data (derived from multiple sources), Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS) Laser Airborne Depth Sounding (LADS) data, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) fairsheets, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) bathymetric model, the 2 arc minute ETOPO (Smith and Sandwell, 1997) and 1 arc minute ETOPO satellite derived bathymetry (Amante and Eakins, 2008). Topographic data (onshore data) is based on the revised Australian 0.0025dd topography grid (Geoscience Australia, 2008), the 0.0025dd New Zealand topography grid (Geographx, 2008) and the 90m SRTM DEM (Jarvis et al, 2008). eCat record 67703. IMPORTANT INFORMATION For data within this service that lays out of the Australian boundary the following needs to be considered. This grid is not suitable for use as an aid to navigation, or to replace any products produced by the Australian Hydrographic Service. Geoscience Australia produces the 0.0025dd bathymetric grid of Australia specifically to provide regional and local broad scale context for scientific and industry projects, and public education. The 0.0025dd grid size is, in many regions of this grid, far in excess of the optimal grid size for some of the input data used. On parts of the continental shelf it may be possible to produce grids at higher resolution, especially where LADS or multibeam surveys exist. However these surveys typically only cover small areas and hence do not warrant the production of a regional scale grid at less than 0.0025dd. There are a number of bathymetric datasets that have not been included in this grid for various reasons.

<div>The A1 poster incorporates 4 images of Australia taken from space by Earth observing satellites. The accompanying text briefly introduces sensors and the bands within the electromagnetic spectrum. The images include examples of both true and false colour and the diverse range of applications of satellite images such as tracking visible changes to the Earth’s surface like crop growth, bushfires, coastal changes and floods. Scientists, land and emergency managers use satellite images to analyse vegetation, surface water or human activities as well as evaluate natural&nbsp;hazards.</div>

The Historical Bushfire Boundaries service represents the aggregation of jurisdictional supplied burnt areas polygons stemming from the early 1900's through to 2022 (excluding the Northern Territory). The burnt area data represents curated jurisdictional owned polygons of both bushfires and prescribed (planned) burns. To ensure the dataset adhered to the nationally approved and agreed data dictionary for fire history Geoscience Australia had to modify some of the attributes presented. The information provided within this service is reflective only of data supplied by participating authoritative agencies and may or may not represent all fire history within a state.

<div>The Abbot Point to Hydrographers Passage bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) onboard the RV Escape during the period 6 Oct 2020 – 16 Mar 2021. This was a contracted survey conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office by iXblue Pty Ltd as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program. The survey area encompases a section of Two-Way Route from Abbot Point through Hydrographers Passage QLD. Bathymetry data was acquired using a Kongsberg EM 2040, and processed using QPS QINSy. The dataset was then exported as a 30m resolution, 32 bit floating point GeoTIFF grid of the survey area.</div><div>This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.</div>