Product catalogue
Towards a Pb isotope regolith map of the Australian continent: a Northern Territory perspective
Estimating the relative contributions of bedrock geology, mineralisation and anthropogenic contamination to the chemistry of samples collected at the Earth’s surface is critical in research and application fields as diverse as environmental impact studies and regional mineral exploration programs. The element lead (Pb) is a particularly useful tracer in this context, representing a toxin of environmental concern and associated with many other anthropogenic contaminants (e.g. mine wastes, waters, paints, aerosols), as well as with mineralisation. Although Pb concentration data are frequently collected in geochemical studies, isotopic analysis offers an important advantage, allowing discrimination between different sources of Pb. The Pb isotopic composition of regolith is likely to reflect contributions from underlying rock (including Pb-rich mineralisation), wind-blown dust and possibly anthropogenic sources (industry, transport, agriculture, residential, waste handling). Regolith samples collected at different depths may show distinct compositions; bedrock isotopic signatures are expected to dominate in deeper soils, whilst airborne dust and anthropogenic signatures are more important at the surface. Pb isotope ratios in the continental crust show large variations, which will be transferred to the regolith, providing a potentially unique bedrock signal that is easily measured. This research program examines if soil Pb isotope mapping can identify the underlying geology and metallogenic provinces, if different sampling and analytical approaches produce very different results, and how anthropogenic signals vary across the continent. Here, we present our results for the Northern Territory, where single regolith samples from many (not all) catchments define apparently consistent isotopic domains that can be interpreted in relation to the underlying geology (crystalline basement, basins) and mineral deposits.
<b>Citation:</b> Desem, C.U., Maas, R., Woodhead, J., Carr, G. and de Caritat P., 2020. Towards a Pb isotope regolith map of the Australian continent: a Northern Territory perspective. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2020-01-30T00:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2020-06-01T23:14:26
- Date (Revision)
- 2022-06-30T01:08:51
- Date (Revision)
- 2020-06-24T01:11:30
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/134130
- Citation identifier
- Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/134130
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Desem, C.U.
Author Maas, R.
Author Woodhead, J.D.
Author Carr, G.
Author de Caritat, P.
- Name
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Record
- Purpose
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Extended abstract for the Pb isotope survey results for EFTF (C. Desem PhD, Uni Melb)
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Main, P.
MEG Internal Contact Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2013-01-01 2019-12-31
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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EARTH SCIENCES
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- Project
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Exploring For The Future
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- Discipline
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Isoscape
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- Theme
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Geochemistry
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- Discipline
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Regolith geochemistry
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- Project
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National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA)
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- Discipline
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Lead isotopes
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- Keywords
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EFTF
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- Keywords
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Mineral systems
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [1.9MB]
Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [1.9MB]
- Distribution format
-
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pdf
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2011.020; https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/71973
- Hierarchy level
- Document
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/0249bbc9-a261-44cc-9f42-22d2b4e72529
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner Main, P.
MEG Internal Contact Point of contact Main, P.
MEG Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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GA publication: Extended Abstract
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/134130
- Date info (Creation)
- 2018-05-04T03:37:56
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-05-04T03:38:12
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Edition date
- 2015-07-01T00:00:00
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551