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.

The Exploring for the Future program is an initiative by the Australian Government dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. The initial phase of this program led by Geoscience Australia focussed on northern Australia to gather new data and information about the potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources concealed beneath the surface. The northern Lawn Hill Platform is an intracratonic poly-phased history region of Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozic age consisting of mixed carbonates, siliciclastics and volcanics. It is considered a frontier basin with very little petroleum exploration to date, but with renewed interest in shale and tight gas, that may present new exploration opportunities. An understanding of the geochemistry of the sedimentary units, including the organic richness, hydrocarbon-generating potential and thermal maturity, is therefore an important characteristic needed to understand the resource potential of the region. As part of this program, Rock-Eval pyrolysis analyses were undertaken by Geoscience Australia on selected rock samples from 2 wells of the northern Lawn Hill Platform.

This fact sheet sets out the goals, vision and benefits of the Exploring for the Future program, as well as the ways we conduct fieldwork and what the information gathered is used for.

Presentation from the Exploring for the Future Roadshow on the Energy prospectivity of the South Nicholson region, regional geochemical data acquisition and shale gas prospectivity analysis.

Presentation for the Exploring for the Future Roadshow presentation about the Kidson Sub-basin seismic survey, Waukarlycarly-1 stratigraphic well, in addition to the Centralian Super Basin well correlation study.

This report presents the results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury porosimetry analyses on 1 whole core sample from the GSWA Waukarlycarly 1 stratigraphic well drilled in the Canning Basin. The well was drilled as part of a co-funded collaboration between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) aimed at gathering new subsurface data on the potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources in the southern Canning Basin. The collaboration resulted in the acquisition of the Kidson Deep Crustal Seismic Reflection Survey in 2018; and the drilling of deep stratigraphic well GSWA Waukarlycarly 1, located along the Kidson Sub-basin seismic line within the Waukarlycarly Embayment in 2019 (Figure 1). GSWA Waukarlycarly 1 reached a total depth of 2680.53 m at the end of November 2019 and was continuously cored through the entire Canning Basin stratigraphy. Coring was complemented by the acquisition of a standard suite of wireline logs and a vertical seismic profile. The work presented in this report constitutes part of the post well data acquisition. The purpose of the SEM analysis was to determine mineralogy and textural relationships between grains, verify the presence of organic material at the micro-scale, document i) the presence of diagenetic alterations to the detrital mineral assemblage and ii) eventual distribution of visible pores. Additionally, mercury injection capillary pressure porosimetry (MICP) was used to assess interconnected porosityand pore size distribution.

This report presents the results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses on 2 core samples from the GSWA Waukarlycarly 1 stratigraphic well drilled in the Canning Basin. The well was drilled as part of a co-funded collaboration between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) aimed at gathering new subsurface data on the potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources in the southern Canning Basin. The collaboration resulted in the acquisition of the Kidson Deep Crustal Seismic Reflection Survey in 2018; and the drilling of deep stratigraphic well GSWA Waukarlycarly 1, located along the Kidson Sub-basin seismic line within the Waukarlycarly Embayment in 2019 (Figure 1). GSWA Waukarlycarly 1 reached a total depth of 2680.53 m at the end of November 2019 and was continuously cored through the entire Canning Basin stratigraphy. Coring was complemented by the acquisition of a standard suite of wireline logs and a vertical seismic profile. The work presented in this report constitutes part of the post well data acquisition. The purpose of the SEM analysis was to determine mineralogy and textural relationships between grains, verify the presence of organic material at the micro-scale, document i) the presence of diagenetic alterations to the detrital mineral assemblage and ii) eventual distribution of visible pores.

The Exploring for the Future program is an initiative by the Australian Government dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. As part of the Exploring for the Future program, this study aims to improve our understanding of the petroleum resource potential of northern Australia. The physical properties of organic matter in sedimentary rocks changes composition in an irreversible and often sequential manner after burial, diagenesis, catagenesis and metagenesis with increasing thermal maturity. Characterising these changes and identifying the thermal maturity of sedimentary rocks is essential for calculating thermal models needed in a petroleum systems analysis. This study presents organic petrology on 15 Proterozoic aged shales from the Velkerri and Barney Creek formations in the McArthur Basin and the Mullera Formation, Riversleigh Siltstone, Lawn Hill and Termite Range formations in the South Nicholson region. Qualitative maceral analysis of the 15 samples are described in addition to bitumen reflectance measurements. These samples were analysed at the Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria in June 2020. The results of this study can be used to improve our understanding of the thermal maturity and hydrocarbon prospectivity of Proterozoic aged sedimentary basins in northern Australia.

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program has established new techniques to collect onshore pre-competitive datasets on an unprecedented scale. The Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) is a Western Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage exploration for the long-term sustainability of the state’s resources sector. Integration of EFTF and EIS datasets has improved understanding of the geology across northern Australia, and the associated energy, mineral and groundwater resources potential. The onshore Canning Basin covers approximately 530 000 km2, and has proven prospectivity for conventional oil and gas, mainly in the northern part of the basin. Potential exists for unconventional resources that remain largely unexplored and untested. Gas resource assessments suggest that the basin has significant potential for recoverable shale gas and tight gas. Even with exploration continuing along the flanks of the Fitzroy Trough, the Canning Basin remains one of the least explored Paleozoic basins in the world (DMIRS, 2020). Australia’s longest onshore seismic line, 18GA-KB1, acquired in the southern Canning Basin addresses a long standing data gap across the Kidson Sub-basin and Waukarlycarly Embayment that assists with the resource evaluation of this frontier region. The Kidson Sub-basin covers 91 000 km2 and has a sag basin architecture. Preliminary interpretation of the seismic data indicates that the sedimentary basin is approximately 6 km deep, and includes a conformable package of Ordovician–Devonian siliciclastic, carbonate and evaporite facies of exploration interest. The Carboniferous succession is interpreted as not being present. Located on the western end of the seismic line, the newly drilled deep stratigraphic well Waukarlycarly 1 penetrated 2680.53 m of Cenozoic and Paleozoic strata and provides stratigraphic control for the geology imaged in the Waukarlycarly Embayment. A comprehensive elemental and δ13C isotope chemostratigraphy study assists with stratigraphic correlations within Ordovician sedimentary strata across the region (Forbes et al., 2020a, b). Oil and gas discoveries throughout the Canning Basin were generated from Paleozoic marine source rocks, deposited under stratified oxic and euxinic water columns. Three distinct petroleum systems, the Ordovician (Larapintine 2), Late Devonian (Larapintine 3) and latest Devonian–early Carboniferous (Larapintine 4), are recognized based on the geochemical character of their associated fluids and each display strong stratigraphic control (Carr et al., 2020). Widespread generation of gas from Paleozoic sources is evident from molecular analyses of gases recovered from petroleum wells and fluid inclusions (Boreham et al., 2020). Currently the Larapintine 2 Petroleum System is deemed most prospective system in the Kidson Sub-basin.

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.