This report was compiled and written to summarise the four-year Palaeovalley Groundwater Project which was led by Geoscience Australia from 2008 to 2012. This project was funded by the National Water Commission's Raising National Water Standards Program, and was supported through collaboration with jurisdictional governments in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. The summary report was published under the National Water Commission's 'Waterlines' series. This document is supported by related publications such as the palaeovalley groundwater literature review, the WASANT Palaeovalley Map and associated datasets, and four stand-alone GA Records that outline the detailed work undertaken at several palaeovalley demonstration sites in WA, SA and the NT. Palaeovalley aquifers are relied upon in outback Australia by many groundwater users and help underpin the economic, social and environmental fabric of this vast region. ‘Water for Australia’s arid zone – Identifying and assessing Australia’s palaeovalley groundwater resources’ (the Palaeovalley Groundwater Project) investigated palaeovalleys across arid and semi-arid parts of Western Australia (WA), South Australia (SA) and the Northern Territory (NT). The project aimed to (a) generate new information about palaeovalley aquifers, (b) improve our understanding of palaeovalley groundwater resources, and (c) evaluate methods available to identify and assess these systems.

This McArthur Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The McArthur Basin, located in the north-east of the Northern Territory, is a Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic geological formation containing relatively undisturbed siliclastic and carbonate rocks, as well as minor volcanic and intrusive rocks. These sediments were primarily deposited in shallow marine environments, with some lacustrine and fluvial influences. The basin's thickness is estimated to be around 10,000 m to 12,000 m, potentially reaching 15,000 m in certain areas. It is known for hosting elements of at least two Proterozoic petroleum systems, making it a target for petroleum exploration, especially in the Beetaloo Sub-basin. Researchers have divided the McArthur Basin into five depositional packages based on similarities in age, lithofacies composition, stratigraphic position, and basin-fill geometry. These packages, listed from oldest to youngest, are the Wilton, Favenc, Glyde, Goyder, and Redback packages. The McArthur Basin is part of the broader Proterozoic basin system on the North Australian Craton, bounded by various inliers and extending under sedimentary cover in areas like the Arafura, Georgina, and Carpentaria basins. It is divided into northern and southern sections by the Urapunga Fault Zone, with significant structural features being the Walker Fault Zone in the north and the Batten Fault Zone in the south. The basin's southeastern extension connects with the Isa Superbasin in Queensland, forming the world's largest lead-zinc province. Overall, the McArthur Basin is an essential geological formation with potential petroleum resources, and its division into distinct packages helps in understanding its complex stratigraphy and geological history. Additionally, its connection with other basins contributes to a broader understanding of the region's geological evolution and resource potential.

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program provides precompetitive information 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 leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, strong resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government. The deep stratigraphic drill hole, NDI Carrara 1 (~1751 m), was completed in December 2020 as part of the MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative (NDI) in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. It is the first test of the Carrara Sub-basin, a depocentre newly discovered in the South Nicholson region based on interpretation from seismic surveys (L210 in 2017 and L212 in 2019) recently acquired as part of the Exploring for the Future program. The drill hole intersected approximately 1100 m of Proterozoic sedimentary rocks uncomformably overlain by 630 m of Cambrian Georgina Basin carbonates. This contractor report (FIT - Schlumberger) presents hydrocarbon and aqueous fluid inclusion petrology and data (micro-thermometry, salinities etc.) on four hydrocarbon-bearing calcite veins sampled from NDI Carrara 1 between 762.56-763.60 m depth, (under contract to, and fully funded by, Geoscience Australia as part of the Exploring for the Future program).

The main aim of this study is to use petroleum systems analysis to improve the understanding of the petroleum systems present on the Lawn Hill Platform of the Isa Superbasin. Part A of this report series reported the results of burial and thermal modelling of two wells (Desert Creek 1 and Egilabria 1). Results from the 1-D modelling help other aspects of interest such as the hydrocarbon generation potential and distribution of hydrocarbons by source rock which this publication presents. Modelling uncertainties are reported and described, highlighting knowledge gaps and areas for further work.

<p>Exploring for the Future (EFTF, <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf">http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf</a>) is a four-year (2016–2020) $100.5 million program investigating the mineral, energy and groundwater resource potential in northern Australia and parts of South Australia. The program is delivering new geoscience data, knowledge and decision support tools that support increased industry investment and sustainable economic development. <p>Geoscience Australia commissioned ACIL Allen Consulting to independently quantify the return on investment from selected EFTF projects that are representative of the nature of the work done under the program. The objective was to develop a plausible and economically robust estimate of the returns to government through increased government revenue as a result of the case study projects. Geoscience Australia would like to acknowledge the organisations that have contributed to or supported these EFTF case study projects. <p>The results of this independent analysis can be used to estimate the impact and value of the EFTF program as a whole relative to the funds invested in these activities. The evaluation framework used by ACIL Allen Consulting to assess the impact and value of Geoscience Australia’s pre-competitive geoscience under EFTF is one that has been used for similar assessments of similar organisations in the past. <p>The analysis shows that the benefits that could potentially flow to the Commonwealth as a result of the EFTF projects examined at least match what has been spent on the program, and the returns can be as much as an order of magnitude higher than the cost of the entire program.

This context report is for the Upper Darling River Floodplain module, which represents the easternmost ‘arm’ of the Exploring for the Future Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian project area within New South Wales. The document provides a summarised state of knowledge regarding the geography, geology, hydrology, hydrogeology and water management of the Upper Darling region. It provides baseline information relevant to understanding the regional context of water resources, with relevance to forward planning and prioritisation of further investigations. As such, this report largely represents a collation of existing information (literature review) for the Upper Darling region, with limited new information (e.g., airborne electromagnetic survey results, preliminary review of existing bore data) being presented.

<div>Alkaline igneous and related rocks are recognised as a significant source of the critical minerals essential for Australia’s transition to net-zero. Understanding these small but economically significant group of poorly mapped rocks is essential for identifying their resource potential. The Australian Alkaline Rocks Atlas aims to capture all known occurrences of these volumetrically minor, but important, igneous rocks in a national compilation, to aid understanding of their composition, distribution and age at the continental scale. The Atlas, comprises five, stand-alone data packages covering the Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Each data package includes a GIS database and detailed accompanying report that informs alkaline rock nomenclature, classification procedures, individual units and their grouping into alkaline provinces based on common age, characteristics and inferred genesis. The Alkaline Rocks Atlas will form a foundation for more expansive research on related mineral systems and their corresponding economic potential being undertaken as part of the EFTF program. To illustrate the use of the Alkaline Rocks Atlas, a mineral potential assessment using a subset of the Atlas has been undertaken for carbonatite-related rare earth element mineral systems that aims to support mineral exploration and land-use decision making that aims to support mineral exploration and land-use decision making.</div>

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information 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. The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood. Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) stratigraphic reconstructions of bulk volatile chemistry from fluid inclusions from the NTGS stratigraphic drillhole 99VRNTGSDD1, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory. This ecat record releases the final report containing the results of fluid inclusion stratigraphy, thin section and microthermometry analyses, raw data files (*.LAS) and rock descriptions by FIT Schlumberger. Company reference number FI230005c.

<p>The outcrop extent of the McBride Basalt Province, selected from the Queensland Detailed Surface Geology vector polygon mapping, March 2017. <p>© State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resources and Mines) 2017 Creative Commons Attribution

This Maryborough-Nambour Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The Maryborough Basin is a half-graben intracratonic sag basin mainly filled with Early Cretaceous rocks, overlain by up to 100 m of Cenozoic sediments. It adjoins the older Nambour Basin to the south, comprising Triassic to Jurassic rocks. The boundary between the basins has shifted due to changes in sedimentary unit classifications, with the Cretaceous units now restricted to the Maryborough Basin and Jurassic and older units assigned to the Nambour Basin. Both basins are bounded to the west and unconformably overlies older Permian and Triassic rocks in the Gympie Province and Wandilla Province of the New England Orogen. In the south of the Nambour Basin, it partly overlaps with the Triassic Ipswich Basin. The Nambour Basin in the south is primarily composed of the Nambour Formation, with interbedded conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, shale, and minor coal. Overlying this is the Landsborough Sandstone, a unit with continental, fluviatile sediments and a thickness of up to 450 m. In the north, the Duckinwilla Group contains the Myrtle Creek Sandstone and the Tiaro Coal Measures, which were formerly considered part of the Maryborough Basin but are now associated with the northern Nambour Basin. In contrast, the Maryborough Basin consists of three main Cretaceous units and an upper Cenozoic unit. The Grahams Creek Formation is the deepest, featuring terrestrial volcanic rocks, volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, and minor pyroclastic rocks. The overlying Maryborough Formation was deposited in a continental environment with subsequent marine incursion and includes mudstone, siltstone, minor sandstone, limestone, conglomerate, and tuff. The upper Cretaceous unit is the Burrum Coal Measures, comprising interbedded sedimentary rocks deposited in fluvial to deltaic environments. The uppermost unit, the Eocene to Miocene Elliott Formation, includes sandstone, siltstone, conglomerate, and shale deposited in fluvial to deltaic environments. Cenozoic sediments overlying the Elliott Formation consist of Quaternary alluvium, coastal deposits, and sand islands like Fraser Island, influenced by eustatic sea level variations. Volcanic deposits and freshwater sediments also occur in some areas. Adjacent basins, such as the Clarence-Moreton Basin and Capricorn Basin, have stratigraphic correlations with the Maryborough Basin. The Oxley Basin lies to the south, overlying the Ipswich Basin. In summary, the Maryborough Basin and the older Nambour Basin exhibit distinct geological characteristics, with varying rock formations, ages, and sedimentary features, contributing to the diverse landscape of the region.