Hydrogeochemistry of the Curnamona and Mundi region  


Authors / CoAuthors

Reid, N. | Schroder, I. | Thorne, R. | Folkes, C. | Hore, S. | Eastlake, M. | Petts, A. | Evans, T. | Fabris, A. | Pinchand, T. | Henne, A. | Palombi, B.R. | Czarnota, K.

Abstract

<div><strong>Output Type: </strong>Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Short Abstract: </strong>Groundwater geochemistry is an important and often under-appreciated medium to understand geology below surface and is a valuable tool as part of a regional mineral exploration program. This study presents an assessment of hydrogeochemical results from the Curnamona and Mundi region with respect to their insights into mineral prospectivity and characterisation of groundwater baselines. The work is a collaboration with the Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre (MinEx CRC), the Geological Survey of New South Wales and the Geological Survey of South Australia as part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program. It combines new and legacy groundwater chemistry from 297 samples to identify multiple elevated multi-element anomalies (Ag, Pb, Cd) and signatures of sulfide mineralisation (d34S and sulfur excess), which are interpreted as potential features from subsurface Broken Hill Type mineralisation (Pb-Zn-Ag). Additional multi-element anomalies (Cu, Mo, Co, Au) may be attributable to Cu-Au, Cu-Mo and Au mineralisation. We then apply hierarchical cluster analysis to understand sample hydrostratigraphy and characterise robust hydrogeochemical baselines for the major aquifer systems in the region. This reveals that the majority of anomalies are restricted to groundwaters derived from basement fractured rock aquifer systems, with a couple anomalies observed in the Lake Eyre Basin cover, which helps narrow the search-space for future groundwater-based mineral exploration in this region (to prioritise these aquifers and anomalies). In addition, we demonstrate the capability of these local hydrogeochemical baselines to support more sensitive resolution of hydrogeochemical anomalies relating to mineralisation, as well as reveal hydrogeological processes such as mixing.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation: </strong>Reid, N., Schroder, I., Thorne, R., Folkes, C., Hore, S., Eastlake, M., Petts, A., Evans, T., Fabris, A., Pinchand, T., Henne A., & Palombi, B.R., 2024. Hydrogeochemistry of the Curnamona and Mundi region. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://doi.org/10.26186/149509</div>

Product Type

document

eCat Id

149509

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
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Digital Object Identifier

https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/149509

Keywords

( Project )
  • EFTF – Exploring for the Future
( Project )
  • Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian
( Project )
  • MinEx CRC – Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre
  • Curnamona Province
  • groundwater
  • hydrogeochemistry
  • hydrostratigraphy
  • Eromanga Basin
  • Lake Eyre Basin
  • Mineral exploration
  • Exploration geochemistry
  • hierarchical clustering
  • geochemical indices
  • sulfur isotope
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
  • Exploration geochemistry
  • Published_External

Publication Date

2024-08-11T22:56:48

Creation Date

2024-05-17T12:00:00

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security Classification System    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Use - license otherRestrictions

Status

completed

Purpose

An EFTF extended abstract to capture the application of hydrogeochemistry to characterise aquifers and investigate mineral prospectivity in the Curnamona region

Maintenance Information

asNeeded

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Lineage

<div>This work is a collaborative project within the Exploring for the Future Program and the MinEx CRC. CSIRO are project leads, with Geoscience Australia, Geological Survey of South Australia, Geological Survey of New South Wales contributing partners.</div><div>This work utilises previously published groundwater chemistry collected as part of CRC-LEME (Caritat et al. 2022, 2005), and new sampling (Reid et al. 2024)</div>

Parent Information

Extents

[-44.00, -9.00, 112.00, 154.00]

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Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [3.6 MB]  

Download supplementary data (zip) [1.6 MB]  

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