1 map showing the Acreage Release Title AC15-3 in the area of Overlapping Jurisdiction in the Perth Treaty. Requested by RET August 2014. LOSAMBA register 707

1 map showing the Acreage Release Title W15-2 in the area of Overlapping Jurisdiction in the Perth Treaty. Requested by RET August 2014. LOSAMBA register 707

Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the mainly carbonate section in Challenger No. 1 well, above the 780m level, have some similarities with the recently described succession of carbonates in the Perth Canyon, south Perth Basin. The continuity of the marine Palaeogene in these two sections contrasts with the single marine unit (the hemipelagic Kings Park Formation) known in the onshore Perth Basin. In both offshore sections, it is impracticable to subdivide the Palaeogene carbonates into mappable lithostratigraphic units, and identification of known Paleocene and Eocene hemipelagic rock units is evidently not possible although their age equivalents (or partial equivalents) can be detected biostratigraphically. Marine Oligocene sediments, recently identified (for the first time in the Perth Basin) in the Perth Canyon, are shown to occur in Challenger No. 1. The age of the type section of the Challenger Formation is revised (from Late Eocene) to Middle Eocene-Oligocene. Sediments immediately underlying the type Challenger Formation in Challenger No. 1 are Middle Eocene in age, and consequently are not the Kings Park Formation as previously reported. They probably equate with the basal type section of the hemipelagic Porpoise Bay Formation, suggesting a possibly significant age overlap between the type sections of the Challenger and Porpoise Bay Formations; the latter is probably a more terrigenous facies of part of the former. Lower Eocene beds similar to those discovered recently in the Perth Canyon also occur in Challenger No. 1. The Late Cretaceous assemblages identified in Challenger No. 1 are probably representatives of both the upper Campanian Lancelin beds (lower part) and the upper Santonian-lower Campanian Gingin Chalk. Three major disconformities (or condensed sections) are detected in Challenger No. 1: at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (lowermost Oligocene is missing) within the upper part of the Challenger Formation; at the Cretaceousrrertiary boundary (Maastrichtian and Lower Paleocene are missing), and within the Campanian section. The Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene section in Challenger No. 1 is more complete than coeval sections at nearby Deep Sea Drilling Project sites in the Perth Abyssal Plain and on the Naturaliste Plateau.

The Canning Basin is a large sedimentary basin with an onshore area of 430 000 km2. It has a thick, discontinuous succession of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic marine and continental sedimentary rocks covered by Cainozoic surficial sediments. It contains several Zn-Pb sulphide deposits of Mississippi Valley type, mainly in the Lennard Shelf and along the Admiral Bay Fault. To provide a framework for understanding the mechanism of this mineralisation, we made a reconnaissance study of the Palaeozoic aquifers, based on an analysis of data from 30 oil exploration wells. The major Palaeozoic aquifers in the basin are the Early Permian Poole Sandstone, the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian Grant Group, and the Devonian Tandalgoo Sandstone. These aquifers have a complex structure owing to tectonic and erosional effects, and they are interconnected with the younger and shallower aquifers. The general direction of groundwater flow in the Palaeozoic aquifers is from the southeast toward the west and northwest. Groundwater velocity is in the range of 0.2 to 0.5 m y-1, and temperature ranges from 30 to 83°C, Groundwater salinity is low at the margins of the basin, but increases with depth and along the flow lines . Our study suggests that the present hydrogeological regime is basically different from those active in the Silurian to Permian, the interval during which the Zn-Pb deposits are considered to have formed. Compaction-driven and gravity-driven fluid-flow models for the formation of the Zn-Pb deposits are considered. A geopressured zone encountered in one location is evidence that the ore-forming fluids could have been generated in deeper parts of the basin, and expelled by compaction into shale-enclosed sandstone lenses. These geopressured lenses could subsequently have been faulted, and the potential ore-forming fluids released. There is insufficient information on the tectonics, palaeotopography, and age of the mineralisation to assess the gravity-driven fluid flow-modeL

Mining towns in the Pilbara region of Western Australia have daunting problems that hamper efforts to apply water-conservation techniques: compacted heavy clay water-shedding soils, an evaporation rate ten times the mean annual rainfall (less than 300 mm), summer temperatures above 40°C, and long periods without rain. Town water supplies are drawn mainly from underground sources. Until recently, domestic consumption was heavily subsidised, and water was used copiously to create gardens reminiscent of a less harsh environment. Since the boom times, mining companies have adopted more realistic policies on private and public water use. With the introduction of home-ownership schemes, they replaced water subsidies with generous incentives to convert gardens to low-water use. Major reductions in water consumption were achieved: 50 per cent in Dampier (entire town) between 1985 and 1990; 38 per cent in Karratha (households only) between 1980-81 and 1990; and 39 per cent in Wickham (households only) between 1984 and 1990. Some important community-based initiatives were developed in the 1980s: native-plant nurseries, arid landscaping for remote Aboriginal communities, demonstration garden projects, and horticultural courses and programs to help disadvantaged people to acquire work skills. Recent government water-care initiatives have included establishing the Pilbara Water Conservation Advisory Committee, the first of its kind in Western Australia. With support from the Water Authority in Karratha, the committee is undertaking a community education program. The support of industry, through funding and personal involvement, contributes to the success of local projects. Professionals could contribute further by applying their skills and experience to public education, research, trials, demonstrations, and workshops. The funding of regional and local projects and research, the establishment of water-conservation committees, liaison with local groups, and promotion of a holistic environmental ethic are all appropriate activities for the State and Federal Governments. The approach to land care provides a good model for the development of a water-care ethic for the Pilbara region. The problems which made land care, and now water care, necessary have their roots in attitudes to the whole environment. The issue of water conservation cannot be tackled in isolation from other conservation issues .