Exploring for the Future (EFTF) is an Australian Government initiative that gathers new data and information about potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources. Commencing in 2016 with a focus on northern Australia, an EFTF extension to 2024 was recently announced, with expanded coverage across mainland Australia and Tasmania. The EFTF energy component aims to improve our understanding of the petroleum potential of frontier onshore Australian basins and has acquired significant pre-competitive datasets, including the recently drilled Barnicarndy 1 deep stratigraphic well in Western Australia’s Canning Basin (in partnership with the Geological Survey of Western Australia), and NDI Carrara 1 deep stratigraphic well in the South Nicholson region of the Northern Territory (in partnership with the MinEX CRC). These are the first stratigraphic wells drilled in a petroleum basin by Geoscience Australia since the formation in 2001 from its predecessor agencies. Both wells were sited along two-dimensional, deep crustal seismic surveys acquired by Geoscience Australia as part of EFTF, and provide stratigraphic control for the imaged geology. The sedimentary fill intersected by the Barnicarndy 1 and NDI Carrara 1 wells were cored and logged with a broad suite of wireline tools, providing substantial new data in two frontier basins. These data provide insights into regional stratigraphy and local lithology. Geochronology, petrographic, organic and inorganic geochemistry, petrophysical rock properties, petroleum systems elements, palaeontological, and fluid inclusion studies have been undertaken upon which inferences on regional prospectivity can made in these data-poor regions. Moving into the next phase of EFTF, these wells provide a template for new pre-competitive data acquisition by Geoscience Australia, expanding our knowledge of frontier regions making them attractive for new investment and exploration.

As part of the East Tennant National Drilling Initiative campaign, ten stratigraphic boreholes were drilled in the vicinity of the Barkly Roadhouse, east of Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory. These holes were designed to test stratigraphic, structural and mineral systems questions in the completely buried and poorly-understood East Tennant region. Drilling was completed during September to December 2020 and was undertaken by MinEx CRC on behalf of Geoscience Australia. This report outlines basic borehole targeting rationale, borehole metadata, and analyses performed immediately following drilling to accompany data available through the Geoscience Australia portal.

The GSQ Eulo 4 borehole was drilled approximately 35.5 km SW of Eulo, Queensland. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, and to test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data.

The Euroli 1 borehole was drilled approximately 23 km SSW of Hungerford, Queensland (which is located on the New South Wales-Queensland border). The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates. The Euroli 1 borehole was commenced as a vertical mud rotary borehole and was completed with a deviated diamond drilled tail using a wedge.

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 a low emissions economy, strong 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. Further detail is available at http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf. The National Groundwater Systems (NGS) project, is part of the Australian Government’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, led by Geoscience Australia (https://www.eftf.ga.gov.au/national-groundwater-systems), to improve understanding of Australia’s groundwater resources to better support responsible groundwater management and secure groundwater resources into the future. The project is developing new national data coverages to constrain groundwater systems, develop a new map of Australian groundwater systems and improve data standards and workflows of groundwater assessment to populate a consistent data discovery tool and web-based mapping portal to visualise, analyse and download hydrogeological information. While our hydrogeological conceptual understanding of Australian groundwater systems continues to grow in each State and Territory jurisdiction, in addition to legacy data and knowledge from the 1970s, new information provided by recent studies in various parts of Australia highlights the level of geological complexity and spatial variability in stratigraphic and hydrostratigraphic units across the continent. We recognise the need to standardise individual datasets, such as the location and elevation of boreholes recorded in different datasets from various sources, as well as the depth and nomenclature variations of stratigraphic picks interpreted across jurisdictions to map such geological complexity in a consistent, continent-wide stratigraphic framework that can support effective long-term management of water resources and integrated resource assessments. This stratigraphic units data compilation at a continental scale forms a single point of truth for basic borehole data including 47 data sources with 1 802 798 formation picks filtered to 1 001 851 unique preferred records from 171 367 boreholes. This data compilation provides a framework to interpret various borehole datasets consistently, and can then be used in a 3D domain as an input to improve the 3D aquifer geometry and the lateral variation and connectivity in hydrostratigraphic units across Australia. The reliability of each data source is weighted to use preferentially the most confident interpretation. Stratigraphic units are standardised to the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD) nomenclature (https://asud.ga.gov.au/search-stratigraphic-units) and assigned the corresponding ASUD code to update the information more efficiently when needed. This dataset will need to be updated as information grows and is being revised over time. This dataset provides: 1. ABSUC_v1 Australian stratigraphic unit compilation dataset (ABSUC) 2. ABSUC_v1_TOP A subset of preferred top picks from the ABSUC_v1 dataset 3. ABSUC_v1_BASE A subset of preferred base picks from the ABSUC_v1 dataset 4. ABSUC_BOREHOLE_v1 ABSUC Borehole collar dataset 5. ASUD_2023 A subset of the Australia Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD) This consistent stratigraphic units compilation has been used to refine the Great Artesian Basin geological and hydrogeological surfaces in this region and will support the mapping of other regional groundwater systems and other resources across the continent. It can also be used to map regional geology consistently for integrated resource assessments.

The Milcarpa 1 borehole was drilled approximately 9 km SSE of Hungerford, Queensland, adjacent to the road between Hungerford and Wanaaring, NSW. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates.

The GSQ Eulo 3 borehole was drilled approximately 50 km SW of Eulo, Queensland. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks and to test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks.

The Tongo 1 borehole was drilled approximately 83 km NE of White Cliffs, New South Wales. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks and to test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data.

The Congararra 1 borehole was drilled approximately 70 km NNW of Bourke, NSW. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates.

The Congararra 2 borehole was drilled approximately 73 km NNW of Bourke, NSW/ The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates.