The Exploring for the Future Program (EFTF) is a $100.5 million four year, federally funded initiative to better characterise the mineral, energy and groundwater potential of northern Australia. As part of this initiative, this record presents new whole-rock geochemistry data from 967 samples of sedimentary rocks sampled from 26 wells in the South Nicholson region, including the Proterozoic South Nicholson Basin and Lawn Hill Platform, the Neoproterozoic to Devonian Georgina Basin and the Jurassic to Cretaceous Carpenteria Basin. This work complements other components of the EFTF program, including the South Nicholson Basin seismic survey, a comprehensive geochronology program and hydrocarbon prospectivity studies to better understand the geological evolution and basin architecture of the region, and facilitate identification of areas of unrecognised resource potential and prospectivity. The South Nicholson region, straddling north-eastern Northern Territory and north-western Queensland, arguably represents one of the least geologically understood regions of Proterozoic northern Australia. The South Nicholson region is situated between two highly prospective provinces, the greater McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory, the Lawn Hill Platform and the Mount Isa Province in Queensland, both with demonstrated hydrocarbon and base metal potential. These new geochemical data provide baseline understanding of regional resource prospectivity of sedimentary rocks in the South Nicholson region. During 2017 and 2018, 967 drill core and cuttings were sampled from 26 legacy boreholes that intersected the South Nicholson region housed in Northern Territory Geological Survey’s core repository in Darwin, the Geological Survey of Queensland’s core repository in Brisbane and Geoscience Australia’s core repository in Canberra. This data release contains the results of elemental analyses on these samples, which include X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Loss-On-Ignition (LOI), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) for all samples, in addition to ron titration (FeO) for selected samples. The data was generated in the Inorganic Geochemistry laboratory at Geoscience Australia between 2017 and 2019 as part of the EFTF program. All data was quality controlled based on Certified Reference Material standards (CRMs) and duplicate samples analysed with each batch of samples.

<p>In this study, a total of 53 surface outcrop samples were analysed for both inorganic and organic whole-rock geochemistry as part of Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, a government initiative undertaken by the Australian Government to boost investment in resource exploration and development in northern Australia. The samples were collected during two EFTF funded field seasons conducted in May 2017 (18 samples, GA job number 33004) and May 2018 (35 samples, GA job number 33228). <p>This data release contains the results of elemental analyses including X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), iron titration (FeO), Loss-On-Ignition (LOI) and Rock-Eval pyrolysis on 53 outcrop samples collected across two seasons of fieldwork in the South Nicholson region. This data release are provided to facilitate establishment of important baseline assessments and whole rock characterisation of regional sedimentary rocks for insight into the resource prospectivity of northern Australian basins. These data was generated at the Geochemistry Laboratories at Geoscience Australia as part of the Exploring for the Future program

Exploring for the Future (EFTF) is a four-year (2016-20) geoscience data and information acquisition program that aims to better understand on a regional scale the potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources concealed under cover in northern Australia and parts of South Australia. Hydrogeochemical surveys utilise groundwater as a passive sampling medium to reveal the chemistry of the underlying geology including hidden mineralisation. These surveys also potentially provide input into regional baseline groundwater datasets that can inform environmental monitoring and decision making. Geoscience Australia, as part of the Australian Government’s EFTF program, undertook an extensive groundwater sampling survey in collaboration with the Northern Territory Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Queensland. During the 2017, 2018 and 2019 dry season, 224 groundwater samples (including field duplicate samples) were collected from 203 pastoral and water supply bores in the Tennant Creek-Mt Isa EFTF focus area of the Northern Territory and Queensland. An additional 38 groundwater samples collected during the 2013 dry season in the Lake Woods region from 35 bores are included in this release as they originate from within the focus area. The area was targeted to evaluate its mineral potential with respect to iron oxide copper-gold, sediment-hosted lead-zinc-silver and Cu-Co, and/or lithium-boron-potash mineral systems, among others. The 2017-2019 surveys were conducted across 21 weeks of fieldwork and sampled groundwater for a comprehensive suite of hydrogeochemical parameters, including isotopes, analysed over subsequent months. The present data release includes information and atlas maps of: 1) sampling sites; 2) physicochemical parameters (EC, pH, Eh, DO and T) of groundwater measured in the field; 3) field measurements of total alkalinity (HCO3-), dissolved sulfide (S2-), and ferrous iron (Fe2+); 4) major cation and anion results; 5) trace element concentrations; 6) isotopic results of water (δ18O and δ2H), DIC (δ13C), dissolved sulfate (δ34S and δ18O), dissolved strontium (87Sr/86Sr), and dissolved lead (204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb) isotopes; 7) dissolved hydrocarbon VFAs, BTEX, and methane concentrations, as well as methane isotopes (δ13C and δ2H); and 8) atlas of hydrogeochemical maps representing the spatial distribution of these parameters. Pending analyses include: CFCs and SF6; tritium; Cu isotopes; and noble gas concentrations (Ar, Kr, Xe, Ne, and 4He) and 3He/4He ratio. This data release (current as of July 2021) is the second in a series of staged releases and interpretations from the Northern Australia Hydrogeochemical Survey. It augments and revises the first data release, which it therefore supersedes. Relevant data, information and images are available through the GA website (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/133388) and GA’s EFTF portal (https://portal.ga.gov.au/).

<div>As part of the Data Driven Discoveries program, Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Queensland collaborated to re-examine legacy well cuttings for a chemostratigraphic study. The aim was to identify opportunities for resource discovery in the Devonian-aged Adavale Basin in south-central Queensland by conducting a chemostratigraphic study to define regional stratigraphic correlations in a structurally complex basin with limited well penetrations. A total of 1,489 cutting samples were analysed for whole-rock geochemistry, as well as subsets of samples for whole-rock mineralogy and/or carbonate carbon and oxygen isotopes, from a whole-rock sample. The purpose was to establish new chemostratigraphic correlations across the basin independently, using data from 10 wells that sampled the Adavale Basin.</div>