At the request of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology & Geophysics conducted a seismic refraction survey on the site chosen for construction of a nuclear power station. The purpose of the survey was to determine the foundation conditions at the site and the properties of the rocks in relation to excavation methods and support of the proposed structures. The bedrock of the area consists of Permian sandstone (Jervis Bay Sandstone) overlain in places by unconsolidated Quaternary beach and dune sands. During the seismic work it was found that the sandstone beds have a relatively wide range of seismic velocities; often a higher-velocity bed overlies a lower-velocity bed, and this makes seismic refraction work difficult and less accurate. This is confirmed by laboratory measurements of seismic velocities on drill cores. Thin beds of higher- and lower-velocity sandstones occur, some too thin to be resolved by the seismic method. The seismic profiles presented must be considered bearing in mind these difficulties, Haterial sufficiently consolidated for foundations is shallow, and the seismic velocities indicate that some blasting will be necessary to excavate to the desired depth of 10 feet above mean high water level.

The Bureau of Mineral Resources has again'extended its geophysical programme in the search for oil to the continental shelf area of Australia by carrying out a combined gravity, and seismic survey in the Timor Sea/Joseph Bonaparte Gulf area of northwest Australia. The survey investigated the capabilities of the surface marine gravity meter for reconnaissance gravitywork at sea, and the penetration and quality of seismic reflections obtainable using a spark discharge source consisting of an array of electrodes. The possibility of operating the two methods simultaneously was also investigated. The seismic reflection sections recorded were much better than expected, with good-quality reflections being recorded to 1.6.sec. the gravity meter and seismic'equiPment were operated simultaneously at boat speeds of 8 to 9 miles per hour. The-seismic results have shown that a large Permian and Mesozoic sedimentary basin exists in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and extends to the north and north-west into the Timor Sea. It is an offshore extension of the Bonaparte Gulf Basin, and contains at least 10,000 feet of post-Permian sediments. .Although the trends of the gravity anomalies agree with the general shape of the basin as defined by the seismic results, a large positive anomaly occupies the central deep part of the basinand does not seem to be related to basement relief.

A seismic velocity survey was carried out in Associated Freney Oilfields Nerrima No. 1 Bore by the Bureau of Mineral Resources on the 10th August 1955. The well is situated on the Nerrima Dome in the Fitzroy Basin, W.A. Some trouble was experienced with cable breaks for the shallow part of the hole, but in general it was possible to recognise the true formation break. Average measured velocities ranged from 8000 ft/sec near the top to 12,200 ft/sec for the total depth of the bore.

The Undilla Basin, in north-western Queensland, is a small sedimentary basin containing Cambrian limestones which adjoin the widespread but undated CamoowJal Dolomite to the West. In the latter part of 1961 the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics did a brief reconnaissance seismic survey lasting about seven weeks in the Undilla Basin. This Record describes briefly the work done and results obtained. The occurrence of limestone near the surface throughout the basin presented difficult problems in the application of the reflection and refraction seismic methods but some progress was made towards the solution of these problems.

The Oaklands-Coorabin Coalfield in the Riverina Division of New South Wales has been known for many years. Seismic refraction tests were carried out on a number of sections to assist in the interpretation of the gravity results during July and Sepetember, 1949.

The northern Perth Basin is an elongate sedimentary basin, located off the southwestern margin of Australia. The basin is prospective for petroleum resources, but is relatively under-explored, and the nature of the sediment-basement contact is relatively unknown due to a high degree of structuring and deep basement depth inhibiting seismic imagining. Accurate depth conversion of seismic interpretation is vital for use as constraints in gravity modelling and in other basin modelling tasks, but depth conversion requires good quality seismic velocity information. The number and distribution of wells with velocity information in the northern Perth Basin is poor, but there exists a large amount of seismic stacking velocities. Seismic stacking velocities are an outcome of seismic processing and are thus not a direct measurement of the speed of sound in rocks. To improve the quality of stacking velocities we propose a methodology to calibrate stacking velocities against well velocities, which is as follows: 1. Check each velocity dataset for errors 2. Modify the datum of each dataset to the sea floor 3. Convert all datasets to TWT and depth domain 4. Resample all velocity datasets to the same depth intervals 5. Cross plot stacking velocity depths near a well site with corresponding well depths 6. Fit a linear polynomial to this cross-plot (higher order polynomials were tried also), and determine calibration coefficient from the gradient of the polynomial. 7. Grid calibration coefficients 8. Multiply depths derived from stacking velocities by calibration coefficient grid An assessment of depth conversion errors relative to wells shows that this methodology improves depth conversion results to within ±50m; this depth uncertainty translates into a gravity anomaly error of about ±20 gu, which is acceptable for regional scale gravity modelling.

Towa.:ccis the end of 1960 , the Bureau. of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics made a brief seismic survey in the Winton area of Queensland to resolve an apparent contradiction between the interpretations of gravity and aeromagnetic results previously obtained in the area. Gravity and aeromagnetic results both suggested the occurrence of a large fault or fault zone about 20 miles north-west of Winton, but the gravity and aeromagnetic interpretations differed regarding the direction of throw of the fault. A nine-mile seismic reflection traverse was surveyed across the supposed fault. The seismic results indicate the presence of a large fault or monoclinal fold with dowthrown side nouth-wast as suggested by the gravity values and also a smaller fault or monocline about two miles south-east with downthrown side south-east. The variations in thckness of Mesozoic rocks caused by these features were insufficient to explain the observed Bouguer gravity anomaly values, but the seismic results left open the possibilitues that there may be a considerable thickness of pre-Mesozoic sedimemts north-west of the main monocline or fault. It is postulated that the steep gravity gradient observed may be due to a large fault whose main movement took place in pre-Mesozoic times. Indications are that there is 5000 to 6000 ft of Mesozoic sediments in tha area.

A seismic velocity survey of the APM Development Pty Limited No. 1 bore at Rosedale, Victoria, was made by the Geophysical Branch of the Bureau on the 3rd May 1960 using a TIC three-component well geophone. Measurements were taken with the geophone suspended in the well at selected intervals down to 5500 ft. It was apparent that signals reached the geophone by transmission along the cable by which it was suspended, and these interfered with the signals reaching the geophone along a path directly through the ground. This made interpretation difficult; however, by careful inspection of both the vertical and horizontal components of the signals received by the geophone at each depth, an interpretation has been made that yields a series of velocity/depth determinations. The average vertical velocity increases from 5000 ft/sec at the surface to 8930 ft/sec at a depth of 5500 ft. The average velocity in the Tertiary (0-2159 ft below datum) was computed to be 6420 ft/sec; the -werage velocity in the Mesozoic rocks penetrated (2159-5314 ft below datum) was 12,180 ft/sec. Two reflection spreads laid out and recorded in the vicinity of the bore showed the presence of reflectors at depths estimated to be in excess of 7700ft.

Several seismic surveys were made by the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Delhi Australian Petroleum Ltd, -Phillips Petroleum Company, and L. H. Smart Oil Exploration Company Ltd during the period from 1959 to 1963 between Eula and the Queensland/South Australia border area of the Eromanga Basin. This report covers the seismic work done by the Bureau of Mineral Resources in 1962 and 1963 and also incorporates the results of the work done by the private oil exploration companies. It aims at providing information on the nature and structure of the rocks underlying the Mesozoic sediments of the Eromanga Basin. The seismic results have been interpreted with reference to the geology as known from the Delhi-Santos Orientos No. 1 and Dullingari No.1 wells near the Queensland/South Australia border and the Smart Oil Orient No. 2 well on the Grey Range.

On 30th March 1960, a seismic velocity survey was made in the A.A.O. Timbury Hills No. 2 bore, jointly by the Bureau of Mineral Resources and Associated Australian Oilfields N.L. The bore had been drilled to a depth of 4400 ft and was surveyed to a depth of 4304 ft below the rotary table. There remains a doubt whether the breaks recorded on the well geephone were, in fact, cable breaks, particularly between 2300 and 3305 ft below the rotary table. The interpretation has boon made with the belief that true breaks wore recorded. Average and interval velocities were computed and are acceptable geologically. Sandstones, particularly cemented ones, have Renerally higher velocities than shale. The average velocity of the Mesozoic sequence is about 9800 ft/sec. A velocity of 17,980 ft/sec was measured at the bottom of the bore and corresponds to the Timbury Hills Formation of unknown age. The Moolayember Shale has a low velocity calculated as 8360 ft/sec.