<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) 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. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.</div><div><br></div><div>This record contains geological notes on layered geology interpretation of twenty-nine 1:250 000 Sheet areas in eastern Queensland. The geology maps generated as part of this work were not released as a separate product but incorporated into the national layered geology product of Sanchez et al. (2024). There are five layers interpreted; pre-Neoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Preparation of these layers involved figuratively peeling off successively older rocks and identifying and outlining the rocks thereby revealed. The notes provide comments on the rocks comprising each layer, and explain how the identity of the revealed rocks was arrived at where this is not obvious. The Cenozoic time slice was extracted from the 1:1 000 000 scale outcrop geology (Raymond et al., 2012) after removing the surficial deposits and without further interpretation.&nbsp;</div>

The Layered Geology of Australia web map service is a seamless national coverage of Australia’s surface and subsurface geology. Geology concealed under younger cover units are mapped by effectively removing the overlying stratigraphy (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset is a layered product and comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic. As an example, the Mesozoic time slice (or layer) shows Mesozoic age geology that would be present if all Cenozoic units were removed. The Pre-Neoproterozoic time slice shows what would be visible if all Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic units were removed. The Cenozoic time slice layer for the national dataset was extracted from Raymond et al., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition. Geoscience Australia, Canberra.

The Layered Geology of Australia web map service is a seamless national coverage of Australia’s surface and subsurface geology. Geology concealed under younger cover units are mapped by effectively removing the overlying stratigraphy (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset is a layered product and comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic. As an example, the Mesozoic time slice (or layer) shows Mesozoic age geology that would be present if all Cenozoic units were removed. The Pre-Neoproterozoic time slice shows what would be visible if all Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic units were removed. The Cenozoic time slice layer for the national dataset was extracted from Raymond et al., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition. Geoscience Australia, Canberra.

Geological maps are one of the most important datasets used in resource exploration and management. Despite increasing demand for subsurface resources such as minerals, groundwater and energy, maps of the inferred subsurface geology of Australia and other continents have been limited to small regions or jurisdictions. Here, we present the first seamless semi-continental chronostratigraphic solid geology dataset of the North Australian Craton. This dataset comprises five time slices of stratigraphic units: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic and pre-Neoproterozoic. Interpretation of covered units is based on available data: surface geology and solid geology maps, magnetic intensity and gravity images, drilling logs, reflection seismic profiles and airborne electromagnetic soundings. In total, 2008 units have been mapped, all linked to the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database. So far, these maps have led to a refinement of sedimentary basin and tectonic province outlines, lessened the risks of mineral exploration through Australia’s extensive superficial cover, disclosed geological units known to host resources elsewhere, and highlighted undercover regions with poor geological constraints. <b>Citation:</b> Stewart, A.J., Liu, S.F., Bonnardot, M.-A., Highet, L.M., Woods, M., Brown, C., Czarnota, K. and Connors, K., 2020. Seamless chronostratigraphic solid geology of the North Australian Craton. 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.

The Layered Geology of Australia web map service is a seamless national coverage of Australia’s surface and subsurface geology. Geology concealed under younger cover units are mapped by effectively removing the overlying stratigraphy (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset is a layered product and comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic. As an example, the Mesozoic time slice (or layer) shows Mesozoic age geology that would be present if all Cenozoic units were removed. The Pre-Neoproterozoic time slice shows what would be visible if all Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic units were removed. The Cenozoic time slice layer for the national dataset was extracted from Raymond et al., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition. Geoscience Australia, Canberra.

<div>A multi-disciplinary program of geological and geophysical data collection and integration, focussed on the Delamerian Orogen, was undertaken as part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program and the Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centres (MinEx CRC) National Drilling Initiative (NDI).&nbsp;In this study, we integrate learnings from these data with existing geological and geophysical data to refine the basement geology of the Loch Lilly-Kars Belt, Lake Wintlow Belt and Wilcannia High. Our interpretation provides a revised geological framework for a frontier exploration region in the Delamerian Orogen.&nbsp;This product includes ESRI shape files and layer files, accompanying notes, and several appendices containing new detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology data from the map area as well as the broader Delamerian Orogen.</div>

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) 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. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Layered Geology of Australia 1:1 000 000 scale dataset (2024 edition) is a seamless national coverage of Australia’s surface and subsurface geology.&nbsp;Geology concealed under younger cover units are mapped by effectively removing the overlying stratigraphy (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset is a layered product and comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic. As an example, the Mesozoic time slice (or layer) shows Mesozoic age geology that would be present if all Cenozoic units were removed. The Pre-Neoproterozoic time slice shows what would be visible if all Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic units were removed. In general, a top down approach has been taken so that only the uppermost units for each era are shown. However, in areas of relative geological complexity and where that detail was available in the source data, some units may show overlap. In these instances, the units are ordered from oldest (base) to youngest (top). The Cenozoic time slice layer for the national dataset was extracted from Raymond et al., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition. Geoscience Australia, Canberra, and retains the data schema of that dataset. For that layer’s metadata, refer to https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/74855.</div><div><br></div><div>Geological units are represented as polygon and line geometries and are attributed with information regarding stratigraphic nomenclature and hierarchy, age, and lithology. All stratigraphic information populated in the dataset is derived from the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database. The dataset also contains a layer for structural features such as faults and shears.</div>