Marine seismic surveys are a fundamental tool for geological mapping, including the exploration for offshore oil and gas resources, but the sound generated during these surveys is an acute source of noise in the marine environment. Growing concern and increasing scientific evidence about the potential impacts of underwater noise associated with marine seismic surveys presents an interdisciplinary challenge to multiple sectors including government, industries, scientists and environmental managers. To inform this issue, Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with Curtin University and CSIRO, published a literature review (Carroll et al. 2017) that summarised 70 peer-reviewed scientific studies that investigated the impacts of impulsive low-frequency sound on marine fish and invertebrates. Here we provide an updated, critical synthesis of recently published data to ensure that the Australian governments’ understanding of the potential impacts of seismic surveys on fisheries and the broader marine environment remains current. A significant body of scientific research into the effects of marine seismic sounds on the marine environment has been undertaken over the past four years and scientific knowledge in this area is continuing to improve. This is partly due to increased sophistication of experimental designs that integrate the controlled aspects of laboratory studies, with field-based (before-after-control-impact) studies. However, there remain several research issues and challenges associated with progressing our understanding of the full impact of marine seismic surveys on fisheries and the marine environment. These include the need to broaden the research to cover a wider range of marine species, and to expand our understanding to impacts at the population and ecosystem scale, rather than the individual organism. There is also a continued need for improved standardisation in terminology and measurement of sound exposure. To address the research gaps and issues, Geoscience Australia recommends measures including: 1) undertaking additional multidisciplinary co-designed scientific research to examine short and long term impacts on important life stages of key species (including protected and commercially important species); 2) gathering robust environmental baselines and time-series data to account for spatiotemporal variability in the marine environment and to help inform management and monitoring; 3) continuing to develop and refine standards for quantifying sound exposure; 4) modelling population and ecosystem consequences, and; 5) further studying the interaction of seismic signals with other stressors to better assess cumulative impacts. If applied these recommendations may advance the scientific evidence-base to better inform stakeholder engagement, environmental impact assessment and management of the potential impacts of seismic surveys on fisheries and the marine environment.

<p>The accompanying data package, was released on 30 April 2020 by the Geological Survey of New South Wales (GSNSW) and Geoscience Australia (GA). <p>The package contains processed data from the “MinEx CRC Cobar Airborne Electromagnetic Survey” that was flown over the Cobar–Lake Cargelligo area of Central West New South Wales . The regional survey was flown at 2.5 and 5 km nominal line spacings and entails approximately 5,900 line kilometres of new geophysical data. The survey was flown in 2019 by New Resolution Geophysics Pty. Ltd. (NRG) using the XCITE® airborne electromagnetic system. NRG also processed the data. <p>The survey also included a further 800 line kilometres of infill flying that was funded by private exploration companies, in certain blocks within the survey area. The data from these infill blocks are not part of this data release due to confidentiality agreements but will be released to the public after a 12 month moratorium. <p>GSNSW commissioned the survey as part of the MinEx Cooperative Research Centre’s (MinEx CRC), the world’s largest mineral exploration collaboration. It brings together industry, government, research organisations and universities to further our understanding of geology, mineral deposits and groundwater resources in areas where rocks aren’t exposed at Earth’s surface. GSNSW is a major participant in the NDI program, committing $16 million to the program over 10 years. In NSW, the program focuses on five areas in the state’s central and far west, where metallic minerals potentially exist under a layer of younger barren geology. These areas are North Cobar, South Cobar, Broken Hill (Mundi), Forbes and Dubbo. <p>GA managed the survey data acquisition and processing contract and the quality control of the survey on behalf of GSNSW. GA also contributed by generating one of the two inversion products included in the data package. <p>The data release package comntains <p>1. A data release package summary PDF document. <p>2. The survey logistics and processing report and XCITE® system specification files <p>3. ESRI shape files for the flight lines and boundary <p>4. KML (Google Earth) files of the flight lines <p>5. Final processed point located line data in ASEG-GDF2 format -final processed dB/dt electromagnetic, magnetic and elevation data -final processed BField electromagnetic, magnetic and elevation data <p>6. Conductivity estimates generated by NRG’s inversion -point located line data output from the inversion in ASEG-GDF2 format -graphical (PDF) multiplot conductivity sections and profiles for each flight line -graphical (JPEG) conductivity sections for each line -georeferenced (PNG) conductivity sections (suitable for pseudo-3D display in a 2D GIS) -GoCAD™ S-Grid 3D objects (suitable for various 3D packages) -Curtain image conductivity sections (suitable 3D display in GA’s EarthSci) -Grids generated from the NRG inversion in ER Mapper® format (layer conductivities, depth slices, elevation slices) -Images generated from the grids above (layer conductivities, depth slices, elevation slices) <p>7. Conductivity estimates generated by Geoscience Australia's inversion -point located line data output from the inversion in ASEG-GDF2 format -graphical (JPEG) conductivity sections for each line -georeferenced (PNG) conductivity sections (suitable for pseudo-3D display in a 2D GIS) -GoCAD™ S-Grid 3D objects (suitable for various 3D packages) -Curtain image conductivity sections (suitable 3D display in GA’s EarthSci) -Grids generated from Geoscience Australia's inversion in ER Mapper® format (layer conductivities, depth slices, elevation slices) -Images generated from the grids above (layer conductivities, depth slices, elevation slices) <p>Directory structure <p>├── report <p>│   ├── line_data <p>│   ├── shapefiles <p>│   ├── kml <p>│   ├── contractor_inversion <p>│   │   ├── line_data <p>│   │   ├── multiplots <p>│   │   ├── sections <p>│   │   ├── georeferenced_sections <p>│   │   ├── gocad_sgrids <p>│   │   ├── earthsci <p>│   │   │   └── MinExCRC_Cobar_AEM_Contractor_Regional <p>│   │   ├── images <p>│   │   │   ├── layers <p>│   │   │   ├── depth_slice <p>│   │   │   └── elevation_slice <p>│   │   └── grids <p>│   │   ├── layers <p>│   │   ├── depth_slice <p>│   │   └── elevation_slice <p>│   └── ga_inversion <p>│   ├── line_data <p>│   ├── sections <p>│   ├── georeferenced_sections <p>│   ├── gocad_sgrids <p>│   ├── earthsci <p>│   │   └── MinExCRC_Cobar_AEM_GA-Inversion_Regional <p>│   ├── images <p>│   │   ├── layers <p>│   │   ├── depth_slice <p>│   │   └── elevation_slice <p>│   └── grids <p>│   ├── layers <p>│   ├── depth_slice <p>│   └── elevation_slice

<p>Seawater intrusion (SWI) has become a serious threat to many groundwater resources in the last decades, especially in the areas of overexploitation due to population increase, or agriculture use. Significant attention was therefore brought to this complex groundwater problem in order to improve management of these affected aquifers. <p>Due to the high conductivity of seawater, SWI is a good target for many geophysical electromagnetic methods, such as airborne electromagnetic (AEM) or direct current resistivity methods. Airborne collected data are able to map extensive areas, and thus map the extent of SWI on a large scale along the coastlines. <p>However, zooming into a smaller scale, a discrepancy is often found between geophysical estimates and groundwater borehole data, due to different resolution, data sensitivity and also quality of geophysical and groundwater data. Numerous synthetic studies have shown the benefit of approaching the problem by evaluating both types of data in somewhat jointly manner. Research in combining the field geophysical and groundwater data for SWI cases is however very limited. <p>In this contribution we look at the AEM survey in Keep river, NT. It is a dense line survey with spacing of 100m, collected by SKyTEM 312 system for Geoscience Australia. Due to the character of AEM methods, the estimation of 3D (or 2D) subsurface conductivity is mathematically an ill-posed problem, giving multiple “equally good” models (here soil bulk conductivity) with the same data misfit. <p>The borehole data from this area together with geological mapping provide limited (1D) but valuable information about the seawater intrusion location and extent. We applied this “a priori” information coming from direct groundwater data to invert the selected lines of AEM data to obtain estimates that fit well the geophysical data but are also plausible with regard to geology and groundwater chemistry data.

AusAEM 02 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey, NT /WA, 2019-2020: TEMPEST® AEM data and conductivity estimates The accompanying data package, titled “AusAEM 02 WA/NT, 2019-20 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey: TEMPEST® airborne electromagnetic data and conductivity estimates”, was released on 10 August 2020 by Geoscience Australia (GA), the Geological Survey of Western Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. The package contains processed data from the“AusAEM 02 WA/NT, 2019-20 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey" that was flown over the North-West part of the Northern Territory across the border and all the way to the coast into Western Australia. The regional survey was flown at a 20-kilometre nominal line spacing and entailed approximately 55,675 line kilometres of geophysical data. The survey was flown in two tranches during 2019, by CGG Aviation (Australia) Pty. Ltd. under contract to Geoscience Australia, using the TEMPEST® airborne electromagnetic system. CGG also processed the data. The survey also includes a further 6,450 line kilometres of infill flying that was funded by private exploration companies, acquired in certain blocks within the survey area. The data from these infill blocks have been processed in the same manner as the regional lines and are part of this release. Geoscience Australia commissioned the AusAEM 02 survey as part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, flown over parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Geoscience Australia (GA) leads the EFTF program, in collaboration with the State and Territory Geological Surveys of Australia. The program is designed to investigate the potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources of Australia driving the next generation of resource discoveries. GA managed the survey data acquisition, processing, contract, the quality control of the survey and generating two of the three inversion products included in the data package. The data release package comntains 1. A data release package summary PDF document. 2. The survey logistics and processing report and TEMPEST® system specification files 3. ESRI shape files for the regional and infill flight lines 4. Final processed point located line data in ASEG-GDF2 format 5. Conductivity estimates generated by CGG’s EMFlow conductivty-depth transform -point located line data output from the inversion in ASEG-GDF2 format -graphical (PDF) multiplot conductivity sections and profiles for each flight line -Grids generated from CGG's inversion conductivty-depth transform in ER Mapper® format (layer conductivities) 6. Conductivity estimates generated by Geoscience Australia's inversion -point located line data output from the inversion in ASEG-GDF2 format -graphical (PDF) multiplot conductivity sections and profiles for each flight line -georeferenced (PNG) conductivity sections (suitable for pseudo-3D display in a 2D GIS) -GoCAD™ S-Grid 3D objects (suitable for various 3D packages)

This package contains Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) data from the regional survey flown over the Great Artesian Basin intake beds in Queensland, Australia in May-June 2021. A total of 4,612.3 line km of transient EM and magnetic data were acquired. The projected grid coordinates have been supplied in GD2020 / MGA Zone 55. The aim of the survey is to provide geophysical information to support investigations of the regional groundwater system and to better understand the architecture of the aquifers within the upper few hundred metres of the GAB intake beds. It will provide data to allow for the study of the following at a reconnaissance scale: a) trends in regolith thickness and variability b) variations in bedrock conductivity c) conductivity of key bedrock (lithology related) conductive units under cover d) the groundwater resource potential of the region Geoscience Australia (GA) flew the survey as part of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) Project. The Australian Government, through the National Water Infrastructure Fund – Expansion, commissioned GA to undertake the GAB project. The project is led by GA, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment; Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications; the Bureau of Meteorology; and state and territory government water agencies across Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

<p>Various gridded images were produced from the NTGS Tanami Region Airborne Magnetic and Radiometric Survey dataset and simultaneously merged into a single grid file. The final grid retains all of the information from the input data and is levelled to the national map compilations produced by Geoscience Australia. <p>The following merged grids are available in this download: <p>• Laser-derived digital elevation model grids (m). Height relative to the Australian Height Datum. <p>• Radar-derived digital elevation model grids (m). Height relative to the Australian Height Datum. <p>• Total magnetic intensity grid (nT). <p>• Total magnetic intensity grid with variable reduction to the pole applied (nT). <p>• Total magnetic intensity grid with variable reduction to the pole and first vertical derivative applied (nT/m). <p>• NASVD-filtered potassium concentration grid (%). <p>• NASVD-filtered thorium concentration grid (ppm). <p>• NASVD-filtered uranium concentration grid (ppm).

The GEOPHYS_SURV database describes geophysical surveys (air, land, and marine), the datasets derived from those surveys, and the methods used for delivery of those datasets. The database includes metadata for all surveys conducted or managed by Geoscience Australia and its predecessor agencies, as well as data and surveys from State and Territory geological survey agencies.

<p>Eight hundred and seventy two km of gravity and deep crustal reflection data were collected for the Kidson Sub-Basin 2D seismic survey along a single transect: 18GA-KB1 during June to August 2018. <p>The purpose of the survey was to image basin and basement structures of the Kidson Sub-Basin of the onshore Canning Basin, and extending across the Paterson Orogen and on to the eastern margin of the Pilbara Craton. <p>The new data will help geological interpretations to determine the stratigraphy, lateral extent and stratigraphic relationships of the basin and adjoining terranes, and an assessment of the region for its oil and gas and mineral potential. <p>The project is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) and was funded by the Australian Government's Exploring for the Future program and the Western Australian Government's Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS). <p>Raw data for this survey are available on request from clientservices@ga.gov.au - Quote eCat# 128284

<p>The Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) designed the Mount Peake-Crawford survey to provide high resolution magnetic, radiometric and elevation data in the area. It is anticipated that the data from the survey would help attract explorers into ‘greenfield’ terranes and contribute to the discovery of the next generation of major mineral and energy deposits in the Northern Territory. A total of 120,000 line km of regional data (200m line spacing) and additional infill data (100m line spacing), flown at 60m flight height were acquired during the survey between July and October 2019. The survey was managed by Geoscience Australia. <p>Various grids were produced from the Mount Peake-Crawford Airborne Magnetic and Radiometric Survey dataset and simultaneously merged into a single grid file. The final grid retains all of the information from the input data and is levelled to the national map compilations produced by Geoscience Australia. The merged grids have a cell size of 20m. <p>The following merged grids are available in this download: <p>• Laser-derived digital elevation model grids (m). Height relative to the Australian Height Datum. <p>• Radar-derived digital elevation model grids (m). Height relative to the Australian Height Datum. <p>• Total magnetic intensity grid (nT). <p>• Total magnetic intensity grid with variable reduction to the pole applied (nT). <p>• Total magnetic intensity grid with variable reduction to the pole and first vertical derivative applied (nT/m). <p>• NASVD-filtered potassium concentration grid (%). <p>• NASVD-filtered thorium concentration grid (ppm). <p>• NASVD-filtered uranium concentration grid (ppm).

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 (in collaboration with the Northern Territory Geological Survey) acquired around 700 line-kms of deep crustal reflection seismic data across northwest Northern Territory encompassing not only the frontier Birrindudu Basin but adjacent highly prospective regions, such as the Tanami. This ecat record releases the final survey route shapefiles, noting that some segments were not acquired due to site access restrictions. Seismic field data will be published in the near future release following completion of in-house QA/QC protocols