All commercially produced hydrogen worldwide is presently stored in salt caverns. In eastern Australia, the only known thick salt accumulations are found in the Boree Salt of the Adavale Basin in central Queensland. Although the number of wells penetrating the basin is limited, salt intervals up to 555 m thick have been encountered. The Boree Salt consists predominantly of halite and is considered to be suitable for hydrogen storage. Using well data and historical 2D seismic interpretations, we have developed a 3D model of the Adavale Basin, particularly focussing on the thicker sections of the Boree Salt. Most of the salt appears to be present at depths greater than 2000 m, but shallower sections are found in the main salt body adjacent to the Warrego Fault and to the south at the Dartmouth Dome. The preliminary 3D model developed for this study has identified three main salt bodies that may be suitable for salt cavern construction and hydrogen storage. These are the only known large salt bodies in eastern Australia and therefore represent potentially strategic assets for underground hydrogen storage. There are still many unknowns, with further work and data acquisition required to fully assess the suitability of these salt bodies for hydrogen storage. Recommendations for future work are provided. <b>Citation:</b> Paterson R., Feitz A. J., Wang L., Rees S. & Keetley J., 2022. From A preliminary 3D model of the Boree Salt in the Adavale Basin, Queensland. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/146935

Publicly available baseline surface water data are compiled to provide a common information base for resource development and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin region. This data guide captures existing knowledge of the catchments and watercourses overlying the Adavale Basin, including streamflow quality and quantity, inundation, and climatological data. The Adavale Basin underlies 3 main surface water catchments that contribute to Cooper Creek, including the Barcoo, Bulloo and Warrego rivers. The Adavale Basin geological boundary also intersects the upper parts of the Paroo River catchment and a small part of the Condamine-Balonne catchment. The data on the catchments overlying the Adavale Basin have been summarised at a point in time to inform decisions on resource development activities. Key data sources are the Water Monitoring Information Portal (Queensland Government), Water Data Online (Bureau of Meteorology), DEA Water Observations (Geoscience Australia) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network.

Publicly available geology data are compiled to provide a common information base for resource development, environmental and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin region. This data guide gives examples of how these data can be used and supports the data package that provides the existing knowledge of the key geological intervals of the Adavale Basin and the overlying Galilee, Eromanga and Lake Eyre basins. The key geological intervals identified by the Trusted Environmental and Geological Information (TEGI) Program for resource assessment and groundwater system characterisation are termed play intervals and hydrostratigraphic intervals respectively. The Adavale Basin includes 8 plays, which are consolidated into 1 hydrostratigraphic interval. Overlying the Adavale Basin are 5 play intervals of the Galilee Basin, which are consolidated into 3 hydrostratigraphic intervals; 9 play intervals of the Eromanga Basin, which are consolidated into 7 hydrostratigraphic intervals; and 1 Cenozoic play interval and 1 hydrostratigraphic interval for the Lake Eyre and other Cenozoic basins. The geological groups and formations included in the plays and hydrostratigraphic intervals are summarised in the stratigraphic charts of Wainman et al. (2023a). Gross depositional, depth structure and thickness maps are provided with 3D model and cross-sections summarising the geology of the Adavale Basin and the overlying basins. The mapped depths and thicknesses of the key intervals are used to inform resource assessments and provide the framework for assigning groundwater data to hydrostratigraphic intervals.

Statements of existing knowledge are compiled for known mineral, coal, hydrocarbon and carbon capture and storage (CCS) resources and reserves in the Adavale Basin. This data guide illustrates the current understanding of the distribution of these key resource types within the Adavale Basin region based on trusted information sources. It provides important contextual information on the Adavale Basin and where additional details on discovered resources can be found. So far, mineral deposits have not been found in the Adavale Basin. There are no coal deposits found in the basin itself, but 6 large coal deposits exist in the overlying basins in the Adavale Basin region. Historically, some small conventional gas resources have been found in the basin. Currently, there are no commercial reserves or available resources identified in the Adavale Basin itself. There are no active or planned carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the Adavale basin.

Publicly available geological data in the Adavale Basin region are compiled to produce statements of existing knowledge for natural hydrogen, hydrogen storage, coal and mineral occurrences. This data guide also contains an assessment of the potential for carbon dioxide (CO2) geological storage and minerals in the basin region. Geochemical analysis of gas samples from petroleum boreholes in the basin shows various concentrations of natural hydrogen. However, the generation mechanism of the observed natural hydrogen concentration is still unknown. The Adavale Basin also has the potential for underground hydrogen storage in the Boree Salt. Given the depth of the Boree Salt (wells have intersected the salt at depths below 1800 m) and the high fluid pressure gradient in the basin, the construction of underground salt caverns should include consideration of stability and volume shrinkage. Mineral occurrences are all found in the basins overlying the Adavale region. However, they are small (thousands of tonnes range) and not currently of economic interest. The Adavale Basin has potential for base and precious metal deposits due to suitable formation conditions, but the depth of the basin makes exploration and mining difficult and expensive. There are no identified occurrences or resources of coal in the Adavale Basin. Given the depth of the basin, extraction of any identified coal would probably be uneconomic, with the potential exception of coal seam gas extraction. An assessment of CO2 geological storage also shows prospective storage areas in the Eromanga Basin within the Adavale Basin region in the Namur-Murta and Adori-Westbourne play intervals.

Publicly available groundwater data have been compiled to provide a common information base to inform environmental, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin region. This data guide gives examples of how these data can be used. The data package included with this data guide captures existing knowledge of Eromanga Basin aquifers in the Adavale Basin region and their properties, including salinity, water levels, resource size, potential aquifer yield and surface water interactions. The methods used to derive these data for all Eromanga Basin aquifers in the Adavale Basin region are outlined in the associated metadata files. These are described in groundwater conceptual models (Gouramanis et al., 2023). The Eromanga Basin overlying the Adavale Basin includes 5 broadly defined aquifer intervals: from deepest to shallowest, these are the Poolowanna, Hutton, Adori, Cadna-owie–Hooray and Winton-Mackunda aquifers. Compiled data are assigned to these intervals and used to characterise groundwater systems at the basin scale. The data are compiled for a point-in-time to inform decisions on potential resource developments in the Basin. The available historical groundwater data can be used to assess the potential effects on groundwater. The data can also be used for other purposes, such as exploring unallocated groundwater resource potential. Data to January 2022 are used for this compilation.

The potential for hydrogen production in the Adavale Basin region is assessed to provide a joint information base for hydrogen generation potential from renewable energy, groundwater, and natural gas coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS). Hydrogen generation requires water, whether using electrolysis with renewable energy or steam methane reforming (SMR) with CCS. The data package includes the regional renewable energy capacity factor, aquifers and their properties (potential yield, salinity, and reserves or storativity), natural gas resources, and geological storage potential for carbon dioxide (CO2). This data guide gives examples of how the compiled data can be used. The renewable hydrogen potential is assessed based on renewable energy capacity factor and groundwater information (potential yield, salinity, and reserves or storativity). Eight aquifers from overlying basins (Galilee, Eromanga and Lake Eyre basins) are included in the assessment. The Adavale Basin region has low renewable hydrogen potential, except for some locations in the south-east and south-west. Although the renewable energy capacity factor in the basin is high, aquifers tend to have poor groundwater reserves or storativity, which results in lower overall renewable hydrogen potential. The Adavale Basin itself has no newly identified gas accumulation. However, gas reserves and contingent resources were identified in the overlying Galilee and Eromanga basins (Geoscience Australia, 2022). An assessment of CO2 geological storage also shows prospective storage areas in the Eromanga Basin within the Adavale Basin region (Bradshaw et al., 2023). Further work on identifying detailed gas potential is needed to assess hydrogen generation potential from gas.

Publicly available geology data are compiled to provide a common information base for resource development and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin region. This data guide gives examples of how the compiled data can be used. It supports a data package that presents core photographs, existing knowledge of the stratigraphy, and structural elements for the Adavale Basin and the overlying Galilee, Eromanga, Lake Eyre and other Cenozoic basins. Stratigraphic frameworks capture the geological groups and formations that make up the sedimentary sequence in the Adavale Basin region. The Adavale Basin includes 9 stratigraphic formations (Wainman et al., 2023). Overlying the Adavale Basin are the geological formations of the Galilee, Eromanga, Lake Eyre and other Cenozoic basins. The frameworks include the stratigraphic intervals used by the Trusted Environmental and Geological Information (TEGI) Program. From the base of the Adavale Basin to the top of overlying Cenozoic basins, the sedimentary sequence is categorised into 24 play intervals for resource assessment mapping and 12 hydrostratigraphic intervals for characterising groundwater systems (Wainman et al., 2023). Structural elements maps summarise where the sedimentary sequence has been deposited and later deformed by crustal movements. Structure information is used in assessing the geological potential for resources and interpreting groundwater flow and connectivity at the basin scale. The stratigraphic frameworks and structural elements provide the basic geological context for the Adavale Basin region resource and environmental assessments.

Publicly available data was compiled to provide a common information base for resource development, environmental and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin. This data guide gives an example of how these data can be used to create the components of a workflow to identify conventional hydrocarbon resource (oil and gas) opportunities. The data guide is designed to support the data package that provide insights on conventional oil and gas resources in the Adavale Basin. The conventional hydrocarbon assessment for the Adavale Basin includes 8 geological intervals, termed plays. These intervals have been defined by Wainman et al. (2023). The assessment captures data from well completion reports and government data sources (e.g. Queensland Petroleum Exploration Database (QPED) from the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) Open Data Portal) to inform the 5 components required for conventional hydrocarbons to be present. Thirty-nine boreholes in the Adavale Basin were assessed with data used to map out gross depositional environments and their geological properties relevant for conventional hydrocarbon assessments. From these datasets, the following properties have been evaluated and mapped across the basin: reservoir presence, reservoir effectiveness, top seal, trap and charge. The data are compiled at a point in time to inform decisions on resource development activities. The data guide outlines the play-based workflow for assessing conventional hydrocarbon resource prospectivity. Each of the elements required for a prospective conventional hydrocarbon system are explained and mapped. These data were then merged and spatially multiplied to show the relative assessment of conventional hydrocarbon prospectivity across the basin, at both play interval and basin scale. As an example of assessments contained within the data package, this data guide showcases the conventional hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Lissoy-Bury Play interval.

Publicly available baseline ecology data are compiled to provide a common information base for environmental, resource development and regulatory decisions in the Adavale Basin region. This data guide captures existing knowledge of the ecosystems and environmental assets overlying the Adavale Basin. The land overlying the Adavale Basin is dominated by Mulga and Mitchell Grass Downs Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregions, with small areas of Brigalow Belt South and Desert Uplands bioregions. The data on the ecosystems and environmental assets overlying the Adavale Basin have been summarised in July 2021 to inform decisions on resource development activities. Key data sources are broad vegetation groups - pre-clearing and 2019 remnant - Queensland series (Queensland Government), Field Environmental Data, Australian Wetlands Database and Heritage places and lists (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water), and the Atlas of Living Australia.