This map is part of a series which comprises 50 maps which covers the whole of Australia at a scale of 1:1 000 000 (1cm on a map represents 10km on the ground). Each standard map covers an area of 6 degrees longitude by 4 degrees latitude or about 590 kilometres east to west and about 440 kilometres from north to south. These maps depict natural and constructed features including transport infrastructure (roads, railway airports), hydrography, contours, hypsometric and bathymetric layers, localities and some administrative boundaries, making this a useful general reference map.

The cartographic collection of the Doc Fisher Geoscience Library consists of the maps and air photos created or acquired by agency staff since the formation of BMR in 1946. This includes maps produced by agencies which have merged with these over the years, such as AUSLIG. Maps held include: Australian geological map series (1:250,000, 1:100,000 and the 1 mile series); topographic maps produced by NATMAP and its predecessors (1:250,000, 1:100,000 and 1:50,000) - latest editions only; various Australian geochemical, geophysical and other thematic maps; geoscience map series from other countries acquired on an exchange basis, including some with accompanying explanatory notes; Non-series maps acquired by donation or exchange; atlases. The Air photos are predominantly those used for mapping Australia and, to a lesser extent, Papua New Guinea and Antarctica, by BMR/AGSO from the 1940s to the 1980s. Geographical coverage of the sets is not complete, but many individual photos are unique in that they have pin points, overlays or other markings made by teams in the field. The Papua New Guinea photographs in the collection may, in many cases, be the only existing copies. Flight diagrams are also held for many (but not all) sets of air photos. Some other related materials, such as montages of aerial photographs (orthophotos), are also represented in the collection.

The coastal zone is arguably the most difficult geographical region to capture as data because of its dynamic nature. Yet, coastal geomorphology is fundamental data required in studies of the potential impacts of climate change. Anthropogenic and natural structural features are commonly mapped individually, with their inherent specific purposes and constraints, and subsequently overlain to provide map products. This coastal geomorphic mapping project centered on a major coastal metropolitan area between Lake Illawarra and Newcastle, NSW, has in contrast classified both anthropogenic and natural geomorphological features within the one dataset to improve inundation modelling. Desktop mapping was undertaken using the Australian National Coastal Geomorphic (Polygon) Classification being developed by Geoscience Australia and supported by the Department of Climate Change. Polygons were identified from 50cm and 1m aerial imagery. These data were utilized in parallel with previous maps including for example 1:25K Quaternary surface geology, acid sulphate soil risk maps as well as 1:100K bedrock geology polygon maps. Polygons were created to capture data from the inner shelf/subtidal zone to the 10 m contour and include fluvial environments because of the probability of marine inundation of freshwater zones. Field validation was done as each desktop mapping section was near completion. This map has innovatively incorporated anthropogenic structures as geomorphological features because we are concerned with the present and future geomorphic function rather than the past. Upon completion it will form part of the National Coastal Geomorphic Map of Australia, also being developed by Geoscience Australia and utilized in conjunction with Smartline.

Data gathered in the field during the sample collection phase of the National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) has been used to compile the Preliminary Soil pH map of Australia. The map, which was completed in late 2009, offers a first-order estimate of where acid or alkaline soil conditions are likely to be expected. It provides fundamental datasets that can be used for mineral exploration and resource potential evaluation, environmental monitoring, landuse policy development, and geomedical studies into the health of humans, animals and plants.

Geoscience Australia has created a DVD 'Landsat Metadata Map Ups of Indonesia' for the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry (MoF). The DVD contains Landsat metadata information sourced from USGS and GISTDA for selected years based on the catalogue searches that Geoscience Australia has done to-date. This is one of the action items from the Bali Remote Sensing workshop in February 2009.

Geoscience Australia (GA) is a leading promoter of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveying for regional mapping of cover thickness, under-cover basement geology and sedimentary basin architecture. Geoscience Australia flew three regional AEM surveys during the 2006-2011 Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP): Paterson (Western Australia, 2007-08); Pine Creek-Kombolgie (Northern Territory, 2009); and Frome (South Australia, 2010). Results from these surveys have produced a new understanding of the architecture of critical mineral system elements and mineral prospectivity (for a wide range of commodities) of these regions in the regolith, sedimentary basins and buried basement terrains. The OESP AEM survey data were processed using the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) at the Australian National University to produce GIS-ready interpretation products and GOCADTM objects. The AEM data link scattered stratigraphic boreholes and seismic lines and allow the extrapolation of these 1D and 2D objects into 3D, often to explorable depths (~ 500 m). These data sets can then be combined with solid geology interpretations to allow researchers in government, industry and academia to build more reliable 3D models of basement geology, unconformities, the depth of weathering, structures, sedimentary facies changes and basin architecture across a wide area. The AEM data can also be used to describe the depth of weathering on unconformity surfaces that affects the geophysical signatures of underlying rocks. A number of 3D models developed at GA interpret the under-cover geology of cratons and mobile zones, the unconformity surfaces between these and the overlying sedimentary basins, and the architecture of those basins. These models are constructed primarily from AEM data using stratigraphic borehole control and show how AEM data can be used to map the cross-over area between surface geological mapping, stratigraphic drilling and seismic reflection mapping. These models can be used by minerals explorers to more confidently explore in areas of shallow to moderate sedimentary basin cover by providing more accurate cover thickness and depth to target information. The impacts of the three OESP AEM surveys are now beginning to be recognised. The success of the Paterson AEM Survey has led to the Geological Survey of Western Australia announcing a series of OESP-style regional AEM surveys for the future, the first of which (the Capricorn Orogen AEM Survey) completed acquisition in January 2014. Several new discoveries have been attributed to the OESP AEM data sets including deposits at Yeneena (copper) and Beadell (copper-lead-zinc) in the Paterson region, Thunderball (uranium) in the Pine Creek region and Farina (copper) in the Frome region. New tenements for uranium, copper and gold have also been announced on the results of these surveys. Regional AEM is now being applied in a joint State and Commonwealth Government initiative between GA, the Geological Survey of Queensland and the Geological Survey of New South Wales to assess the geology and prospectivity of the Southern Thomson Orogen around Hungerford and Eulo. These data will be used to map the depth of the unconformity between the Thomson Orogen rocks and overlying sedimentary basins, interpret the nature of covered basement rocks and provide more reliable cover thickness and depth to target information for explorers in this frontier area.

Explaining spatial variation and habitat complexity of benthic habitats from underwater video through the use of maps. Different methodologies currently used to process and analyse percent cover of benthic organisms from underwater video will be addressed and reviewed.

The Leeuwin Current has significant ecological impact on the coastal and marine ecosystem of south-western Australia. This study investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of the Leeuwin Current using monthly MODIS SST dataset between July 2002 and December 2012. Topographic Position Index layers were derived from the SST data for the mapping of the spatial structure of the Leeuwin Current. The semi-automatic classification process involves segmentation, 'seeds' growing and manual editing. The mapping results enabled us to quantitatively examine the current's spatial and temporal dynamics in structure, strength, cross-shelf movement and chlorophyll a characteristic. It was found that the Leeuwin Current exhibits complex spatial structure, with a number of meanders, offshoots and eddies developed from the current core along its flowing path. The Leeuwin Current has a clear seasonal cycle. During austral winter, the current locates closer to the coast (near shelf break), becomes stronger in strength and has higher chlorophyll a concentrations. While, during austral summer, the current moves offshore, reduces its strength and chlorophyll a concentrations. The Leeuwin Current also has notable inter-annual variation due to ENSO events. In El Niño years the current is likely to reduce strength, move further inshore and increase its chlorophyll a concentrations. The opposite occurs during the La Niña years. In addition, this study also demonstrated that the Leeuwin Current has a significantly positive influence over the regional nutrient characteristics during the winter and autumn seasons.

This study explored the full potential of high-resolution multibeam data for an automatic and accurate mapping of complex seabed under a predictive modelling framework. Despite of the extremely complex distributions of various hard substrata at the inner-shelf of the study area, we achieved a nearly perfect prediction of 'hard vs soft' classification with an AUC close to 1.0. The predictions were also satisfactory for four out of five sediment properties, with R2 values range from 0.55 to 0.73. In general, this study demonstrated that both bathymetry and backscatter information (from the multibeam data) should be fully utilised to maximise the accuracy of seabed mapping. From the modelled relationships between sediment properties and multibeam data, we found that coarser sediment generally generates stronger backscatter return and that deeper water with its low energy favours the deposition of mud content. Sorting was also found to be a better sediment composite property than mean grain size. In addition, the results proved one again the advantages of applying proper feature extraction approaches over original backscatter angular response curves.

No abstract available