The Surface Hydrology Points (Regional) dataset provides a set of related features classes to be used as the basis of the production of consistent hydrological information. This dataset contains a geometric representation of major hydrographic point elements - both natural and artificial. This dataset is the best available data supplied by Jurisdictions and aggregated by Geoscience Australia it is intended for defining hydrological features.

Same content as 2017 APPEA Promotional USB, with an updated Acreage Release Map with the inclusion of Geoscience's presentation

Water is increasingly a significant political issue, at the nexus of food and energy security. Effective management is critical to economic development and security. Satellite imagery gives us unique insight into the behaviour of water in the landscape, enabling us to track changes over very large areas over long periods. Decades of imagery from the United States Landsat series have recently been utilised to analyse surface water dynamics over the entire Australian continent over a 27 year period. This world-first water product has demonstrated application to disaster management, wetland behaviour, river system mapping, groundwater/surface water interaction, and water body perenniality. The ability to do such a broad range of studies across a continent helps position societies to have the required discussions about water management.

The Southern Thomson Orogen airborne electromagnetic (AEM) Survey was flown in 2014 using the Geotech VTEMplus® AEM system. The AEM survey was designed by Geoscience Australia, and its partners the geological surveys of New South Wales and Queensland, to help solve geological problems in the Southern Thomson Orogen as part of the UNCOVER Initiative of the National Mineral Exploration Strategy. Survey results indicate variable depth of penetration governed by conductive cover, primarily the Cretaceous Rolling Downs Group, and saline groundwater in broad ephemeral drainage systems including salt lakes and channel country around the Paroo River. The unconformity between the Paleozoic rocks of the Eulo Ridge (a partially-exposed palaeotopographic high) and the overlying Mesozoic and Cenozoic cover is well mapped in the central part of the survey area. The survey data reduce risk to explorers in the area by decreasing uncertainty regarding depth of cover for drilling activities and advising where ground and airborne electromagnetic methods can be expected to produce reliable results. Key words: airborne electromagnetics, depth to basement, cover thickness, UNCOVER.

This Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) dataset is computed for Donnybrook LGA, WA. The computation algorithm is adapted spatially to Method 1 in the Australian Standard AS 3959 (2009) -- Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas.The input data of this computation are 100 m NVIS vegetation data from Department of the Environment and 1 second DEM datafrom Geoscience Australia.

Geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data are capable of measuring the light deflection caused by the gravitational field of the Sun and large planets with high accuracy. The parameter $\gamma$ of the parametrized Post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism estimated using observations of reference radio sources near the Sun should be equal to unity in the general relativity. We show that astrometric instability of the reference radio sources causes a positional displacement which mimic the gravitational light deflection. As a result, astrometrically stable radio sources are to be selected when the PPN parameter $\gamma$ is estimated. We made several global solutions using different strategies to fix the celestial reference frame with a 30-year set of VLBI data. Results of the calculations are discussed.

Marine geophysical or seismic surveys produce high intensity, low frequency impulsive sounds at regular intervals, with most sound produced between 10-300 Hz. Offshore seismic surveys have long been considered to be disruptive to fisheries, but few studies target commercially important species, particularly invertebrates. This review aims to summarise scientific studies which investigate the impacts of low-frequency sound on marine fish and invertebrates, as well as to critically evaluate how such studies may apply to field populations exposed to seismic operations. Sensory hair cells of fish and invertebrates can be damaged by low-frequency acute sound, but there is currently no conclusive evidence of mortality in the field due to air gun operations. Behavioural effects are very poorly known for invertebrates, while avoidance behaviour of fish is well-documented for many species despite thresholds and effect duration remaining uncertain. Physiological parameters (e.g. stress hormones, metabolic rate) may provide an indication of sub-lethal effects. For invertebrates, catch rate/abundance is the most common variable studied in assessments of low-frequency sound on invertebrates, and no effects of low-frequency sound have been identified. In contrast, the impacts of seismic operations on fish catch rates vary among studies, likely due to fishing gear, target species, or seismic array characteristics. Although early life stages may be more susceptible to sound, there are very few studies examining the impacts of seismic operations on larvae. The main challenges of seismic impact research are the translation of laboratory results to field populations in a range of sound exposure scenarios and the lack sound exposure standardisation which hinders the identification of response thresholds. A combined approach of manipulative and in situ studies is the most effective way to establish impact thresholds in the context of realistic exposure levels, but if that is not practical the limitations of each approach must be considered.

Multi-element soil geochemical surveys are a common feature of continental, regional, and prospect-scale exploration and environmental programs. They contain a wealth of useful lithogeochemical information, often under-utilised in favour of subjectively selected single-element investigations and contoured maps. In part this may be due to the problem of providing an illustrative, concise statistical outcome when up to 50 elements are analysed. The aim of the Degree of Geochemical Similarity (DOGS) methodology is to provide a simple, objective and comparative analysis of samples in any geochemical database. The methodology comprises six steps: (1) Transformation of the elemental concentrations (ppm) to log10 units and ordering of the elements in alphabetical order; (2) Removal of those elements with (say) >40% of censored data (below the lower limit of detection or above the upper limit of detection); (3) Selection of a key reference sample of known or sought provenance against which to compare other samples in the database; (4) Plotting bar diagrams of the fingerprint of the reference sample and of the difference between any sample and the reference; (5) Calculation of a correlation factor which quantifies the affinity of any sample with the chosen reference sample; and (6) Mapping this correlation factor as the DOGS of all samples to the reference sample, using percentile-based exploratory data analysis (EDA) symbols. Application of the DOGS methodology to the 1190 sample National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) database, using the Pearson least squares correlation coefficient at step (5) above, shows the following. The geochemical data (42 elements remaining after step (2) above) contains elemental information suggesting high affinity between some samples in the Proterozoic Albany Fraser belt and the Archaean Yilgarn Craton granitoid (Beverley granite reference). A high DOGS is also apparent on an EDA map for some Albany Fraser belt catchment outlet sediments (soils) with a Yilgarn Craton sample from a mafic rock dominated catchment (the Kalgoorlie greenstone reference). Soil samples collected over marine carbonates are distinguished from those containing abundant secondary carbonate (calcrete) by their geochemical signatures after application of DOGS methodology using a reference soil sample on the Nullarbor limestone. The choice of a catchment outlet sediment reference sample north of Mt Isa/Cloncurry provides a means of highlighting on an EDA map other areas in Australia potentially prospective for similar mineral endowment. Application of the methodology to a separate 48 sample prospect-scale MMI survey in northern Queensland illustrates its potential to identify and map mineral-hosting lithologies from background lithologies. Substitution of other correlation techniques (e.g. Spearman Rank correlation) at step (5) above produces very similar results, demonstrating the robustness of the methodology, but more importantly the inherent diagnostic capability of multi-element soil geochemistry to delineate underlying lithology.

Geoscience Australia (GA), as custodian of the geographical and geological data and knowledge of the nation, has recently implemented a new data discovery and delivery system for offshore wells and surveys the National Offshore Petroleum Information Management system (NOPIMS). In order to encourage adoption and use of the NOPIMS by industry, this five page article for PESA News describes the origins of the NOPIMS, its current state and future development plans.

The period between 480 Ma and 410 Ma in the Lachlan Orogen of southeastern Australia is the most important metallogenically in eastern Australia, having contributed over half of the mineral wealth in the Tasman Element (or Orogen). The period of intense mineralisation is interpreted to be related to the development of the Lachlan Orocline at the very end of the Ordovician and into the Silurian. Formation of this orocline was triggered by the oblique accretion of the VanDieland crustal fragment, which includes the present day Melbourne Zone in Victoria and western Tasmania. Prior to this event, eastern Australia was characterised by a west-dipping convergent margin with associated small- to moderate-sized volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS: Girilambone, Mount Windsor and Balcooma) and calc-alkaline porphyry Cu-Au deposits (Copper Hill, Marsden) with ages of 480 Ma to 450 Ma. Orocline development was initiated by the accretion of the VanDieland at ~445 Ma, which was accompanied orogenic gold mineralisation in Victoria (Bendigo, Ballarat, etc). Importantly, because of the geometry of interaction, gold mineralisation did not extend into present-day New South Wales. As accretion of this block continued, the Tasman continental margin began to wrap around VanDieland to form the Lachlan Orocline. At this time, extension associated with orocline formation to the north initiated low degree partial melting and post-collisional alkaline magmatism. Alkaline porphyry Cu-Au deposits in the Macquarie volcanic province (Cadia and Northparkes) formed during this extension at ~435 Ma. Continued extension and the re-establishment of west-dipping subduction in the Silurian saw a second phase of VHMS mineralisation at 425-415 Ma, and granite-related Sn and Mo mineralisation at 430-410 Ma. The concept of the Lachlan Orocline can be used to identify new areas of mineral potential and the extension of known areas undercover.