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  • Publicly available data was compiled to provide a common information base for resource development, and environmental and regulatory decisions in the Eromanga Basin. This web service summarises the geological storage of carbon dioxide prospectivity of the Eromanga Basin.

  • Publicly available groundwater data have been compiled to provide a common information base to inform environmental, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Cooper Basin region. This web service summarises salinity, water levels, resource size, potential aquifer yield and surface water–groundwater interactions for the Eromanga Basin located within the Cooper Basin region.

  • The Cooper Basin is an upper Carboniferous-Middle Triassic intracratonic basin in northeastern South Australia and southwestern Queensland (Gravestock et al., 1998; Draper, 2002; McKellar, 2013; Carr et al., 2016; Hall et al., 2015a). The basin is Australia's premier onshore hydrocarbon producing province and is nationally significant in providing gas to the eastern Australian gas market. The basin also hosts a range of unconventional gas play types within the Permian Gidgealpa Group, including basin-centred gas and tight gas accumulations, deep dry coal gas associated with the Patchawarra and Toolachee formations, the Murteree and Roseneath shale gas plays and deep coal seam gas in the Weena Trough (e.g. Goldstein et al., 2012; Menpes et al., 2013; Greenstreet, 2015). The principal source rocks for these plays are the Permian coals and coaly shales of the Gidgealpa Group (Boreham & Hill, 1998; Deighton et al., 2003; Hall et al., 2016a). Mapping the petroleum generation potential of these source rocks is critical for understanding the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the basin. Geoscience Australia, in conjunction with the Department of State Development, South Australia and the Geological Survey of Queensland, have recently released a series of studies reviewing the distribution, type, quality, maturity and generation potential of the Cooper Basin source rocks (Hall et al., 2015a; 2016a; 2016b, 2016c; 2016d). Petroleum systems models, incorporating new Cooper Basin kinetics (Mahlstedt et al., 2015), highlight the variability in burial, thermal and hydrocarbon generation histories for each source rock across the basin (Hall et al., 2016a). A Geoscience Australia record 'Cooper Basin Petroleum Systems Analysis: Regional Hydrocarbon Prospectivity of the Cooper Basin, Part 3' providing full documentation of the model input data, workflow and results is currently in press. This work provides important insights into the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the basin (Hall et al., 2015b; Kuske et al., 2015). This product contains the working Cooper Basin Trinity-Genesis-KinEx petroleum systems model used to generate the results presented in these studies. This includes maps describing thickness, TOC and original HI for the following Permian source intervals: Toolachee Fm coals and coaly shales Daralingie Fm coals and coaly shales Roseneath Shale Epsilon Fm coals and coaly shales Murteree Shale Patchawarra Fm coals and coaly shales This model is designed for use as a regional scale hydrocarbon prospectivity screening tool. Model resolution is not high enough for this product to be used for sub-basin to prospect scale analysis, without further modification. However, the model provides a regional framework, into which more detailed prospect scale data may be embedded. The systematic workflow applied demonstrates the importance of integrated geochemical and petroleum systems modelling studies as a predictive tool for understanding the petroleum resource potential of Australia's sedimentary basins.

  • <b>This data package is superseded by a second iteration presenting updates on 3D geological and hydrogeological surfaces across eastern Australia that can be accessed through </b><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/148552">https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/148552</a> The Australian Government, through the National Water Infrastructure Fund – Expansion, commissioned Geoscience Australia to undertake the project ‘Assessing the Status of Groundwater in the Great Artesian Basin’ (GAB). The project commenced in July 2019 and will finish in June 2022, with an aim to develop and evaluate new tools and techniques to assess the status of GAB groundwater systems in support of responsible management of basin water resources. While our hydrogeological conceptual understanding of the GAB continues to grow, in many places we are still reliant on legacy data and knowledge from the 1970s. Additional information provided by recent studies in various parts of the GAB highlights the level of complexity and spatial variability in hydrostratigraphic units across the basin. We now recognise the need to link these regional studies to map such geological complexity in a consistent, basin-wide hydrostratigraphic framework that can support effective long-term management of GAB water resources. Geological unit markers have been compiled and geological surfaces associated with lithostratigraphic units have been correlated across the GAB to update and refine the associated hydrogeological surfaces. Recent studies in the Surat Basin in Queensland and the Eromanga Basin in South Australia are integrated with investigations from other regions within the GAB. These bodies of work present an opportunity to link regional studies and develop a revised, internally consistent geological framework to map geological complexity across the GAB. Legacy borehole data from various sources, seismic and airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data were compiled, then combined and analysed in a common 3D domain. Correlation of interpreted geological units and stratigraphic markers from these various data sets are classified using a consistent nomenclature. This nomenclature uses geological unit subdivisions applied in the Surat Cumulative Management Area (OGIA (Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment), 2019) to correlate time equivalent regional hydrogeological units. Herein we provide an update of the surface extents and thicknesses for key hydrogeological units, reconciling geology across borders and providing the basis for a consistent hydrogeological framework at a basin-wide scale. The new surfaces can be used for facilitating an integrated basin systems assessment to improve our understanding of potential impacts from exploitation of sub-surface resources (e.g., extractive industries, agriculture and injection of large volumes of CO2 into the sub-surface) in the GAB and providing a basis for more robust water balance estimates. This report is associated with a data package including (Appendix A – Supplementary material): • Nineteen geological and hydrogeological surfaces from the Base Permo-Carboniferous, Top Permian, Base Jurassic, Base Cenozoic to the surface (Table 2.1), • Twenty-one geological and hydrogeological unit thickness maps from the top crystalline basement to the surface (Figure 3.7 to Figure 3.27), • The formation picks and constraining data points (i.e., from boreholes, seismic, AEM and outcrops) compiled and used for gridding each surface (Table 3.8).

  • The document summarises new seismic interpretation metadata for two key horizons from Base Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous strata across the western and central Eromanga Basin, and the underlying Top pre-Permian unconformity. New seismic interpretations were completed during a collaborative study between the National Groundwater Systems (NGS) and Australian Future Energy Resources (AFER) projects. The NGS and AFER projects are part of Exploring for the Future (EFTF)—an eight year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This will help support a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. The EFTF program is supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, industry and agriculture sectors, as well as economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. Further details are available at http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf. The seismic interpretations build on previous work undertaken as part of the ‘Assessing the Status of Groundwater in the Great Artesian Basin’ (GAB) Project, commissioned by the Australian Government through the National Water Infrastructure Fund – Expansion (Norton & Rollet, 2022; Vizy & Rollet, 2022; Rollet et al., 2022; Rollet et al., in press.), the NGS Project (Norton & Rollet, 2023; Rollet et al., 2023; Vizy & Rollet, 2023) and the AFER Project (Bradshaw et al., 2022 and in press, Bernecker et al., 2022, Iwanec et al., 2023; Iwanec et al., in press). The recent iteration of revisions to the GAB geological and hydrogeological surfaces (Vizy & Rollet, 2022) provides a framework to interpret various data sets consistently (e.g., boreholes, airborne electromagnetic, seismic data) and in a 3D domain, to improve our understanding of the aquifer geometry, and the lateral variation and connectivity in hydrostratigraphic units across the GAB (Rollet et al., 2022). Vizy and Rollet (2022) highlighted some areas with low confidence in the interpretation of the GAB where further data acquisition or interpretation may reduce uncertainty in the mapping. One of these areas was in the western and central Eromanga Basin. New seismic interpretations are being used in the western Eromanga, Pedirka and Simpson basins to produce time structure and isochore maps in support of play-based energy resource assessment under the AFER Project, as well as to update the geometry of key aquifers and aquitards and the GAB 3D model for future groundwater management under the NGS Project. These new seismic interpretations fill in some data and knowledge gaps necessary to update the geometry and depth of key geological and hydrogeological surfaces defined in a chronostratigraphic framework (Hannaford et al., 2022; Bradshaw et al., 2022 and in press; Hannaford & Rollet, 2023). The seismic interpretations are based on a compilation of newly reprocessed seismic data (Geoscience Australia, 2022), as part of the EFTF program, and legacy seismic surveys from various vintages brought together in a common project with matching parameters (tying, balancing, datum correcting, etc.). This dataset has contributed to a consolidated national data coverage to further delineate groundwater and energy systems, in common data standards and to be used further in integrated workflows of mineral, energy and groundwater assessment. The datasets associated with the product provides value added seismic interpretation in the form of seismic horizon point data for two horizons that will be used to improve correlation to existing studies in the region. The product also provides users with an efficient means to rapidly access a list of core data used from numerous sources in a consistent and cleaned format, all in a single package. The following datasets are provided with this product: 1) Seismic interpretation in a digital format (Appendix A), in two-way-time, on key horizons with publically accessible information, including seismic interpretation on newly reprocessed data: Top Cadna-owie; Base Jurassic; Top pre-Permian; 2) List of surveys compiled and standardised for a consistent interpretation across the study area (Appendix B). 3) Isochore points between Top Cadna-owie and Base Jurassic (CC10-LU00) surfaces (Appendix C). 4) Geographical layer for the seismic lines compiled across Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory (Appendix D). These new interpretations will be used to refine the GAB geological and hydrogeological surfaces in this region and to support play-based energy resource assessments in the western Eromanga, Pedirka and Simpson basins.

  • Publicly available groundwater data have been compiled to provide a common information base to inform environmental, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Cooper Basin region. This data guide gives examples of how these data can be used. The data package included with this data guide captures existing knowledge of Eromanga Basin aquifers and their properties, including salinity, water levels, resource size, potential aquifer yield and surface water interactions. The methods used to derive these data for all Eromanga Basin aquifers in the Cooper Basin region are outlined in the associated metadata files. These are described in groundwater conceptualisation models (Gouramanis et al., 2023). The Eromanga Basin overlying the Cooper Basin includes 5 broadly defined aquifer intervals: from deepest to shallowest, these are the Poolowanna, Hutton, Adori, Cadna-owie-Hooray and Winton-Mackunda aquifers. Compiled data are assigned to these intervals and used to characterise groundwater systems at the basin scale. The data were compiled for a point-in-time to inform decisions on potential resource developments in the Basin. The available historical groundwater data can be used to assess the potential effects on groundwater. The data can also be used for other purposes, such as exploring unallocated groundwater resource potential. Data to January 2022 are used for this compilation.

  • Publicly available groundwater data have been compiled to provide a common information base to inform environmental, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Galilee Basin region. This data guide gives examples of how these data can be used. The data package included with this data guide captures existing knowledge of Galilee Basin aquifers and their properties, including salinity, water levels, resource size, potential aquifer yield and surface water - groundwater interactions. The methods used to derive these data for all Galilee Basin aquifers in the Galilee Basin region are outlined in the associated metadata files. These are described in groundwater conceptual models (Hostetler et al., 2023). The Galilee Basin includes 3 broadly defined aquifer intervals: from deepest to shallowest, these are the Joe Joe Group, Betts Creek beds and Clematis aquifers. Compiled data have been assigned to these intervals and used to characterise groundwater systems at the basin scale. The data were compiled for a point-in-time to inform decisions on potential resource developments in the Basin. The available historical groundwater data can be used to assess the potential effects on groundwater. The data can also be used for other purposes, such as exploring unallocated groundwater resource potential. Data to January 2022 were used for this compilation.

  • <div>This Geoscience Australia Record reports on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) processing over the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) to support an improved understanding of the groundwater system and water balance across the region. InSAR is a geodetic technique that can identify ground surface movement from satellite data at a regional scale and is therefore a valuable and widely used technique for measuring patterns in surface movement over time; including the movement of fluids (i.e. water or gas) beneath the surface.</div><div><br></div><div>This Record is the one of two Geoscience Australia Records that describe ground surface movement monitoring Geoscience Australia have undertaken in the GAB in recent years. Namely;</div><div>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ground surface movement in the northern Surat Basin derived from campaign GPS measurements. (Garthwaite et al., 2022).</div><div>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;InSAR processing over the Great Artesian Basin and analysis over the western Eromanga Basin and northern Surat Basin (this Record).</div><div><br></div><div>We have produced ground surface motion data products, which cover about 90% of the GAB for the period of time between January 2016 and August 2020. The data products were created using Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and an InSAR processing workflow designed for large spatial scale processing. The large spatial scale InSAR processing workflow includes using GAMMA software to (i) pre-process SAR images to align the pixels, (ii) generate interferograms and short temporal baseline surface displacement maps and PyRate software to (iii) combine these outputs in an inversion to form pixel-wise time series ground surface displacement data and fit ground surface velocities to the displacement data. The raw SAR data and these subsequent data products of the workflow are partitioned into overlapping frames; the final stage of the large scale processing workflow is to combine the partitioned data into a single map using a mosaicking algorithm. The results of this processing chain demonstrate the feasibility of developing a regional scale ground surface movement reconnaissance tool (i.e. subsidence and uplift). </div><div><br></div><div>We provide a summary of the processing chain and data products and a focused assessment for two case study areas in the western Eromanga Basin (South Australia) and northern Surat Basin (Queensland). Over these case study areas we examine the relationship between the InSAR derived ground surface movement and available groundwater level data. We also assess how land use types may influence the InSAR derived ground surface motion data by comparing the InSAR data to the “land types” over the region which we classify using a machine learning algorithm with Sentinel-2 optical imagery data. </div><div><br></div><div>From our analysis we observe little ground surface motion over the western Eromanga Basin. The surface movement rate over the entire area is estimated to be mostly within ±10 mm/yr. Groundwater level time series data from well monitoring sites in the area did not appear to have any significant trends either. However, large and broad scale ground surface motion (both uplift and subsidence) was observed in the InSAR processing results over the northern Surat Basin. A 75 km x 150 km scale uplift signal, with rates of up to 20 mm/yr, was located over an area we classified as cultivated land, where InSAR signals are likely to be influenced by near-surface cultivation activities (such as irrigation) rather than subsurface groundwater level changes. Furthermore, two approximately 75km x 75 km areas were identified which had subsidence signals of up to -20 mm/yr. Over the same area, groundwater level time series data show long-term negative trends in the water head level. For a more direct comparison between the InSAR results and the well data, we fitted a first order poroelastic model to transform the InSAR derived ground surface motion rates into modelled pore-pressure decline/groundwater drawdown rates. We compared the model to the groundwater time series data in the Walloon Coal Measures, Surat Basin, and found good agreement, which indicates that the observed subsidence signals could be attributable to pore-pressure decline due to the falling water head level.</div><div><br></div><div>We finally provide some preliminary analysis comparing our InSAR results to the results from an Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) InSAR study and a Geoscience Australia GPS land movement study to assist in validating the Geoscience Australia InSAR results. Overall, the comparisons are encouraging, showing a high correlation against the OGIA InSAR results and GPS results. Further work, is required to further validate our results and reduce uncertainty in our analysis process.</div>

  • Publicly available data was compiled to provide a common information base for resource development, environmental and regulatory decisions in the Eromanga Basin region. This data guide gives an example of how these data can be used to create the components of a workflow to identify unconventional hydrocarbon resource opportunities. The data guide is designed to support the data package that provide insights on unconventional hydrocarbon resources in the Eromanga Basin. The unconventional hydrocarbon assessment for the Eromanga Basin includes shale resources (shale oil and gas) and coal seam gas for 6 of the 9 geological intervals, termed plays – these intervals have been defined by Wainman et al. (2023a, 2023b). Tight gas was not assessed due to play intervals lying above the zone of significant overpressure zone (2,800 m below ground level) in the Cooper-Eromanga region. The assessment captures data from well completion reports and government data sources to inform the components required for unconventional hydrocarbons to be present in the Eromanga Basin. The assessment captures data from the Great Artesian Basin geological and hydrogeological surfaces update (Vizy and Rollet, 2022), the Queensland Petroleum Exploration Database (QPED) from the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) Open Data Portal (2020a), the Petroleum Exploration and Production System of South Australia (PEPS, 2021) and Draper 2002. These datasets were used to map out gross depositional environments and their geological properties relevant for unconventional hydrocarbon assessments. The data are compiled at a point in time to inform decisions on resource development activities. The data guide will outline the play-based workflow for assessing unconventional hydrocarbon prospectivity. Each of the elements required for a prospective unconventional hydrocarbon system is explained and mapped. These data are integrated and merged to show the relative assessment of unconventional prospectivity across the basin, at both play interval and basin scale. As an example of assessments contained within the dataset, this data guide showcases the prospectivity of shale resources in the Birkhead Play interval.

  • Publicly available groundwater data have been compiled to inform environmental, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin region. This web service summarises salinity, water levels, resource size, potential aquifer yield and surface water–groundwater interactions for the Eromanga Basin located within the Adavale Basin region.