Product catalogue
The Northern Australia Hydrogeochemical Survey: aquifer lithologies, local backgrounds and undercover processes
With the increasing need to extend mineral exploration undercover, new approaches are required to better constrain concealed geology, thereby reducing exploration risk and search space. Hydrogeochemistry is an under-utilised tool that can identify subsurface geology and buried mineral system components, while also providing valuable insights into environmental baselines, energy systems and groundwater resources. With this aim, 238 water bores spanning seven geological provinces in the Northern Territory and Queensland were sampled and analysed for major cations and anions, trace elements, stable and radiogenic isotopes, organic species, and dissolved gases. Here, we demonstrate the utility of this dataset for identifying carbonate-rich aquifers and mineral system components therein. First, we use trends in major element ratios (Ca+Mg)/Cl– and SiO2/HCO–3, then strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr), to define subpopulations that reflect both spatial and compositional differences. We then apply mafic-to-felsic trace element ratios (V/Cs and Cu/Rb) to reveal elevated base metal concentrations near Lake Woods caused by water–rock interaction with dolerite intrusions. Correlated Sr concentrations between groundwater and surface sediments suggest that the geochemical evolution of these mediums in carbonate-dominated terrains is coupled. Our work develops an approach to guide mineral exploration undercover via the characterisation and differentiation of groundwaters from different aquifers, resulting in improved identification of geochemical anomalies.
<b>Citation:</b> Schroder, I., de Caritat, P. and Wallace, L., 2020. The Northern Australia Hydrogeochemical Survey: aquifer lithologies, local backgrounds and undercover processes. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2020-01-30T00:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2020-06-01T23:14:26
- Date (Revision)
- 2022-06-30T01:08:51
- Date (Revision)
- 2020-06-26T07:39:05
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/134081
- Citation identifier
- Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/134081
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Schroder, I.F.
Author de Caritat, P.
Author Wallace, L.
- Name
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Record
- Purpose
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Preliminary results from the North Australia Hydrogeochemical Survey as part of EFTF
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Ivan Schroder
Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2013-01-01 2019-12-31
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Project
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Exploring For The Future
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- Project
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EFTF
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- Theme
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Hydrogeochemistry
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- Discipline
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groundwater
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- Discipline
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isotopes
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- Project
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Northern Australia Hydrogeochemical Survey
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- Discipline
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carbonate
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- Discipline
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trace elements
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- Theme
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characterise
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- Keywords
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baseline
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- Keywords
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anomaly
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- Keywords
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Mineral Systems
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [2.2 MB]
Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [2.2 MB]
- Distribution format
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pdf
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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The North Australia Hydrogeochemical Survey was completed under the Exploring for the Future initiative, The whole dataset will be available from https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/133888 . The dataset comprises comprehensive groundwater chemistry including, physicochemical parameters, major and trace elements, stable and radiogenic isotopes and dissolved gases.
- Hierarchy level
- Document
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/291ae0aa-9c10-48b4-80b5-3ad6724a36fa
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Ivan Schroder
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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GA publication: Extended Abstract
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/134081
- Date info (Creation)
- 2018-05-04T03:37:56
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-05-04T03:38:12
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
-
ISO 19115-3
- Edition date
- 2015-07-01T00:00:00
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551