Please contact education@ga.gov.au for information regarding the availability of this product.

The Gold Rush Technology slide set is a joint education project with the Sovereign Hill Ballarat Education Service and comprises - 14 page booklet with background information and descriptions of each image. Includes equipment used by Gold Rush miners, from simple alluvial panning to underground mining. Also includes modern gold exploration methods using geology and geophysics. - 15 slides - student question/s for each slide Suitable for primary levels Years 5-6 and secondary levels Years 7-8

Abstract for submission to 11th IEA GHG International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies. Conference paper to follow pending selection for oral or poster presentation. Abstract covers the GA-ACCA21 China Australia Geological Storage of CO2 (CAGS) Project run through PMD/ED 2009-2012.

Geoscience Australia will publish a new book on Australia's geology for the 34th International Geological Congress (IGC) to be held in Brisbane in 2012. Shaping a continent-building a nation: a geology of Australia will tell the story of Australia's geological evolution through the lens of human impacts - both the challenges and the opportunities presented by the 'lucky country'. The book will not attempt to be a definitive authority on all aspects of Australia's diverse geology, nor will it follow the 'traditional' time-based treatment of the topic. The main aim of the book is to showcase the excellence of Australian Geoscience and how the understanding of the unique geology has shaped the Australian continent and thus impacted the Australian people. The book will be novel in that it will integrate many disciplines of the geosciences in a systems framework to answer 'big questions' relevant to Australians. The book will be a high-quality desirable product written for the broader geoscientific community, with an enduring message relevant to society. The first two chapters will define Australia and Australians, and will set the spatial-temporal and cultural framework for the rest of the book. The following eight chapters will be arranged into themes around geological influences on society, environment and wealth, with time being the unifying dimension. This 500 page full colour book will be a hard backed book at A4-plus size. Full use will be made of the beauty of the visual images of Australia's geology to illustrate our message. The theme of the 34th IGC meeting is 'Unearthing our Past and Future'. This book will make a significant contribution to this theme in presenting Australia's unique geology in a new light.

The world's first satellite-derived mineral maps of a continent, namely Australia, are now publicly available as digital, web-accessible products. The value of this spatially comprehensive mineral information is readily being captured by explorers at terrane to prospect scales. However, potentially even greater benefits can ensue for environmental applications, especially for the Earth's extensive drylands which generate nearly 50% of the world's agricultural production but are most at risk to climate change and poor land management. Here we show how these satellite mineral maps can be used to: characterise soil types; define the extent of deserts; fingerprint sources of dust; measure the REDOX of iron minerals as a potential marine input; and monitor the process of desertification. We propose a 'Mineral Desertification Index' that can be applied to all Earth's drylands where the agriculturally productive clay mineral component is being lost by erosion. Mineral information is fundamental to understanding geology and is important for resource applications1. Minerals are also a fundamental component of soils2 as well as dust eroded from the land surface, which can potentially impact on human health3, the marine environment4 and climate5. Importantly, minerals are well exposed in the world's 'drylands', which account for nearly 50% of Earth's land area6. Here, vegetation cover is sparse to non-existent as a result of low rainfall (P) and high evaporation (E) rates (P/E<0.65). However, drylands support 50% of the world's livestock production and almost half of all cultivated systems6. In Australia, drylands cover 85% of the continent and account for 50% of its beef, 80% of its sheep and 93% of its grain production7. Like other parts of the world, Australia is facing serious desertification of its drylands6. Wind, overgrazing and overstocking are major factors in the desertification process8. That is, the agriculturally productive clay-size fraction of soils (often includes organic carbon) is lost largely through wind erosion, which is acerbated by the loss of any vegetative groundcover (typically dry plant materials). Once clay (and carbon) loss begins, then the related break down of the soil structure and loss of its water holding capacity increases the rate of the degeneration process with the final end products being either exposed rock or quartz sands that often concentrate in deserts.

11-5413 The Probabilistic Volcanic Ash - Hazard Map movie describes how you construct a probabilistic hazard map for volcanic ash, using an example scenario from GA's volcanic ash modelling work in West Java, Indonesia. The target audience is other govt. agencies both national and international, and the general public. The 3.3 minute movie uses 3D Max animations and 2D affects, has narration and production music. The narration will also be done in Bahasa Indonesian, at a later date.

Legacy product - no abstract available

One page article discussing aspects of Australian stratigraphy; this article discusses practical Australian solutions to igneous nomenclature and the indexing of relevant Antarctic units

Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available