Diagram produced for the Department of Industry and Science to depict those areas of water adjacent to SA that fall under the OPGGS Act, Petroeum (Seas and Submerged Lands) Act 1982 (SA) and Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000 (SA).

Airborne LiDAR data was acquired over Adelaide in September 2008 and North Adelaide in September 2011. Differences in the level of classification reduced the ability to integrate the data into an accurate, seamless and consistent coastal DEM suitable for detailed modelling the potential impacts of coastal inundation or riverine flooding. The objective of this project was to reclassify both the 2008 and 2011 point clouds to ICSM Level 3 and derive hydro flattened 1m bare earth DEMs and; 0.25m cartographic contours, all inline with the ICSM LiDAR Acquisition Specifications.

The Coompana Province is one of the most poorly understood pieces of crystalline basement geology in the Australian continent. It lies entirely concealed beneath a variable thickness of Neoproterozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks, and is situated between the Gawler Craton to the east, the Musgrave Province to the north, and the Madura and Albany-Fraser Provinces to the west. A recently-acquired reflection seismic transect (13GA-EG1) provides an east-west cross-section through the southern part of the Coompana Province, and yields new insights into the thickness, seismic character and gross structural geometry within the Coompana Province. To assist geological interpretation of the 13GA-EG1 seismic line, new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages have been acquired from samples from the limited drill-holes that intersect the Coompana Province. New results from several granitic and gneissic rocks from the Coompana Province yield magmatic and/or high-grade metamorphic ages in the interval 1100 1200 Ma. Magmatic or high-grade metamorphic ages in this interval have not been identified in the Gawler Craton, in which the last major magmatic and metamorphic event took place at ~1590 1570 Ma. The Gawler Craton was largely unaffected by ~1100 1200 Ma events, as evidenced by the preservation of pre-1400 Ma 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages. In contrast, magmatic and metamorphic ages of 1100 1200 Ma are characteristic of the Musgrave Province (Pitjantjatjara Supersuite) and Madura Province (Moodini Supersuite). The new results from the Coompana Province have also yielded magmatic or inherited zircon ages at ~1500 Ma and ~1640 Ma. Once again, these ages are not characteristic of the Gawler Craton and no pre-1700 Ma inherited zircon has been identified in Coompana Province magmatic rocks, as might be expected if the province was underlain by older, Gawler Craton-like crust. The emerging picture from this study and recent work from the Madura Province and the Forrest Zone of the western Coompana Province is that the Coompana Province has a geological history that is quite distinct from, and generally younger than, the Gawler Craton to its east, but that is very similar to the Musgrave and Madura Provinces to the north and west. The contact between the Coompana Province and the Gawler Craton is interpreted in the 13GA-EG1 seismic line as a prominent west-dipping crustal-scale structure, termed the Jindarnga Shear Zone. The nature and timing of this boundary remain relatively poorly constrained, but the seismic and geochronological evidence suggests that it represents the western edge of the Gawler Craton, marking the western limit of an older, more isotopically evolved and multiply re-worked craton to the east, from a younger, more isotopically primitive crust that separates the South Australian Craton from the West Australian Craton.

The Habanero Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) in central Australia has been under development since 2002, with several deep (more than 4000 m) wells drilled to date into the high-heat-producing granites of the Big Lake Suite. Multiple hydraulic stimulations have been performed to improve the existing fracture permeability in the granite. Stimulation of the newly-drilled Habanero-4 well (H-4) was completed in late 2012, and micro-seismic data indicated an increase in total stimulated reservoir area to approximately 4 km². Two well doublets have been tested, initially between Habanero-1 (H-1) and Habanero-3 (H-3), and more recently, between H-1 and H-4. Both doublets effectively operated as closed systems, and excluding short-term flow tests, all production fluids were re-injected into the reservoir at depth. Two inter-well tracer tests have been conducted: the first in 2008, and the most recent one in June 2013, which involved injecting 100 kg of 2,6 naphthalene-disulfonate (NDS) into H-1 to evaluate the hydraulic characteristics of the newly-created H-1/H-4 doublet. After correcting for flow hiatuses and non-steady-state flow conditions, tracer breakthrough in H-4 was observed after 6 days (compared to ~4 days for the previous H-1/H-3 doublet), with peak breakthrough occurring after 17 days. Extrapolation of the breakthrough curve to late time indicates that approximately 60% of the tracer mass would eventually be recovered (vs. approximately 80% for the 2008 H-1/H-3 tracer test). This suggests that a large proportion of the tracer may lie trapped in the opposite end of the reservoir from H-4 and/or may have been lost to the far field. The calculated inter-well swept pore volume is approximately 31,000 m³, which is larger than that calculated for the H-1/H-3 doublet (~20,000 m³). A simple 2D TOUGH2 tracer model, with model geometry constructed based on the current conceptual understanding of the Habanero EGS system, demonstrates good agreement with the measured tracer returns in terms of timing of breakthrough in H-4, and observed tracer dispersion in the tail of the breakthrough curve.

Lake Frome, a large playa in southeast South Australia, lies at the centre of an internal drainage basin. Sediments and brines in the lake were studied to determine if the movement of fluids and sediments into an internal drainage basin in an arid environment could concentrate metal ions through evaporation or the action of sulphate reducing bacteria. Secondary objectives were the study of continental brines, playa sedimentation, and mound springs. Stratigraphic analysis based on samples from a series of shallow auger holes shows that over the last 17000 years medium to fine sand accumulated on the margins of the lake and mud in the centre. The sediment has issued from streams entering the lake on all but the eastern sides, mainly in delta fans. Three informal stratigraphic units were recognised - upper and lower sandy units, and a muddy unit which is regarded as a lateral equivalent. A salt crust up to 20 cm thick overlies the clastic sediment in the centre of the lake. At the time of the survey about 10 per cent of the lake was covered with water. Both surface and sub-surface waters are hypersaline (26 to 34 percent) and characterized by high concentrations of sodium and chloride ions. The major ions have probably been derived from marine sediments. No enrichment of minor elements was detected in the brines, but lead appears to be leached from the sediments as soluble chloride complexes. Clastic sediments from the lake have been analysed for major and minor elements. Statistical analysis of the results indicates that the upper and lower sands are geochemically similar and that they differ from the muds, which have higher concentrations of organic carbon and certain minor elements. There is no evidence of concentration of metal ions although manganese appears to have been concentrated on the surface of the lake by algae. Mound springs in the northeastern part of the lake differ from those of the southeast in composition of the mound and the water. The composition of the water reflects mixing of artesian water with lake brines.

Some modifications to methods of relief peel preparation and latex replication have been made for use in the study of the evaporite and carbonate sediments and algal-mats of the peritidal regions of Spencer Gulf, South Australia. The use of hessian backing material enables araldite relief peels to be made of large faces of unconsolidated materials. A technique of cutting sediment cores to provide an undisturbed surface for preparing a peel has been developed to overcome problems of core disturbance or contamination caused by conventional methods of core sawing or core extrusion. Plaster-of-Paris moulds were taken of algal-mat surfaces, including some subject to daily tidal inundation, without extensively damaging the mats. Rubberlin latex casts of these moulds provide detailed replicas of the mat topography.

The GABHYD model was developed to provide a tool for predicting the effects of groundwater development alternatives for the Great Artesian Basin. Data from flowing artesian wells are averaged and discretised to provide the data base for a finite difference numerical model defined on a regular square grid. A quasi-three-dimensional simplification is employed to represent the different aquifers in the vertical direction. The model was calibrated using a newly developed direct method. The resulting model was found suitable for predicting regional effects of groundwater management for the major artesian aquifers for which adequate data are available. As an example the model shows that controlled pumping of 900 l/ s in one area of South Australia creates drawdowns of 23 m locally, 3 m 100 km away and 1.5 m at a distance of 110 to 170 km. The model also predicts that drawdown for the year 2000 will be little more than these figures.

A morphological study of zircons from the granitic rocks of southeastern South Australia has been made using reduced major axes, length/breadth ratios, colour, zoning and other features. In general, zircons in the biotite adamellites (Encounter Bay and Kingston areas) are more elongate, less euhedral and freer of inclusions and zoning than those occurring in the other granitic rocks of the region. Results suggest that the biotite adamellites are genetically related (they share the same zircon characteristics) and that they are unrelated to the more widespread eastern zone of hornblende-biotite granite, quartz porphyry and hornblende and biotite microgranite. The rocks in the eastern zone share very similar zircons and appear to be related.

Concentrations of heavy minerals in the prograded coastal sequence of southeastern South Australia are generally low, partly as a result of the high content of locally derived biogenic carbonate in many of the sediments. Terrigenous input to the nearshore region appears to have been relatively slight, and the operation of concentrating mechanisms minimal. The highest heavy-mineral concentrations recorded in the area (up to 1.2% total heavies) occur in a sand of probable Pliocene age underlying Quaternary beach and dune deposits. In general, the heavy-mineral suite present in the sediments consists of between 25 and 45 percent magnetite-plus-ilmenite, 5 and 20 percent leucoxene, 5 and 25 percent zircon, 5 and 30 percent tourmaline, and between 0 and 10 percent amphibole, epidote, rutile and garnet. Andalusite, sillimanite, kyanite and staurolite occur as minor components in many assemblages. Sialic igneous, reworked sedimentary, metamorphic and to a slight extent mafic igneous components are present. Probable sources include the igneous rocks of the Padthaway Ridge, metamoraphic and sedimentary rocks of the Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, and older Tertiary sediments. Variations in the suite are defined by cluster and Q-mode factor analysis. Higher concentrations of heavy minerals occur within the older (probably Pliocene) ridges of the western Victorian Murray Basin. These ridges which approximately parallel the southeast South Australian ridge sequence, are siliceous, and commonly contain thin bands of concentrated heavy mineral (up to 20% total heavies in the bands) in the lower part of the Parilla Sand. The suite is mineralogically mature (generally 50-70% opaque, 15-30% tourmaline, 3-5% rutile, 5-15% zircon and 1-3% others) and differs considerably from that present in the southeast South Australian sequence. The difference reflects differences in provenance of the two areas and the probable modification by intrastratal solution of the assemblages originally present in the older deposits.

Fault-plane solutions determined for earthquakes in northwestern Australia (6 May 1978), central Australia (25 November 1978) and southeastern Australia (4 July 1977) each indicate nearly horizontal axes of maximum compressive stress. However, the azimuths of these axes are different from the azimuths of maximum stress axes determined previously for earthquakes in each area. This may be the result of a combination of warped stress fields at the junction of geologically different crustal blocks, and faulting in weakened zones of these blocks where the strike is oblique to the regional direction of maximum stress. Results in northwestern Australia can be explained by such effects.