Not available

This report documents the findings of the Ord Valley Airborne Electromagnetics (AEM) Interpretation Project. The project was co-funded by the Australian and Western Australian Governments to provide information in relation to salinity and groundwater management in the Ord Valley, Western Australia. The project involved the acquisition of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) and Light Ranging and Detection (LiDAR) surveys, and complementary drilling, borehole geophysics, laboratory analysis and interpretation services. The project was undertaken under the auspices of the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, and managed by Ord Irrigation Cooperative (OIC) for the WA Rangelands NRM Group.

The Broken Hill Managed Aquifer Recharge (BHMAR) project is part of a larger strategic effort aimed at securing Broken Hill's water supply and identifying significant water-saving measures for the Darling River system. The project builds on an earlier scoping study (the Broken Hill Groundwater Assessment (BHGA) Project), which investigated the potential for Broken Hill to source most of its water requirements from groundwater (Lewis et al., 2008). The project is funded by the Australian Government and managed through the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA). The project builds on an earlier scoping study (the Broken Hill Groundwater Assessment (BHGA) Project), which investigated the potential for Broken Hill to source most of its water requirements from groundwater (Lewis et al., 2008). The BHGA Project identified a work plan for the BHMAR Project that involves 5 phases: - Phase 1: A risk assessment / AEM technology selection exercise. - Phase 2: Acquire and interpret baseline hydrological and geological data. - Phase 3: Assess feasibility of extraction and storage options for groundwater. - Phase 4: Implement and test preferred groundwater extraction and storage option at a small operational scale. - Phase 5: Construct and operate groundwater extraction/storage option. This interim report summarises the findings of Phase 2 of the BHMAR Project.

Phase 3a of the Broken Hill Managed Aquifer Recharge (BHMAR) project is tasked with assessing whether a sustainable ground water extraction approach, including MAR, is a feasible option for securing Broken Hill's water supply in times of drought. More specifically, the project is charged with determining, with a defined level of confidence, whether at least 3 years water supply (~30 GL), at a similar salinity to that already available for Broken Hill would be available at all times through these new arrangements. This interim report documents the preliminary findings of the Phase 3a study, which is focussed on a priority target immediately south of Menindee.

Considerable work has been carried out both in Australia and overseas on the spatial variations in recharge and discharge. This work usually relates point measurements and modelled recharge to spatial units such as land management units or soil units. There is also a considerable literature on the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems in mapping hydrological features including recharge and discharge zones. This report brings together much of this work. It describes the various data that can be used at a national or finer scale as inputs to GIS-based models for spatial distribution of recharge and discharge characteristics. These include remotely sensed satellite imagery and common remote sensing algorithms; digital elevation models; geophysical data (airborne electromagnetics, gamma-ray radiometrics); water table surface elevation mapping; climate; soil, regolith and geology; and vegetation and land cover. This report also describes various mapping frameworks that could be adapted to provide a spatial context for mapping the distribution of recharge-discharge characteristics including Atlas of Australian Soils, Hydrogeomorphic Units, Hydrogeological Landscapes and Groundwater Flow Systems. It is recommended that remote sensing and GIS methods be developed for mapping recharge and discharge zones usign a variety of data from a variety of sources. Each dataset needs to be characterised in terms of its resolution, availability and ease of use. When combined with companion reports that review recharge and discharge estimation studies in Australia, these reports will provide the basis for the subsequent phase of the project, aimed at demonstrating methodologies for recharge/discharge estimation in data poor areas.

This report summarises the result of a study into seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers in the Northern territory coastal plain using AEM data, down hole geophysics, and bore hole geology carried out by Geoscience Australia on behalf of the National Water Commission and in partnership with NRETAS. The study showed that ground-validated AEM is able to map areas of saline aquifers in the area and differentiate them from bedrock conductors.

This document presents an assessment of five earthquake scenarios for Adelaide, South Australia. The earthquake scenarios occur on the Para Fault that runs beneath the Adelaide urban area and are aligned with recurrence intervals of 100, 500, 1000, 10,000 years and the maximum magnitude earthquake possible on the fault (approximately 1 in 20,000 year event). The events selected are hypothetical and are underpinned by the current understanding of the earthquake hazard in the Adelaide region.

Report on calibration of NAS Nowra compass swing site.

This study was aimed at testing whether the regional tectonostratigraphic history established for Australia's premier hydrocarbon province, the North Carnarvon Basin, is applicable to the less well endowed, western Exmouth Sub-basin on its southern margin. This was achieved through the first systematic analysis of the structural architecture of the basin utilising 3D seismic and potential field data. Analysis focused on the Late Triassic to present basin history which highlighted some significant departures from the established tectonostratigraphic paradigm. The results indicate rifting occurred in two separate events. The first occurred under an east-west paleostress field and developed north striking faults controlled by Phanerozoic and Carbonifer to Permian pre-rift structures. This phase of basin development climaxed in the Callovian which resulted in the development of a significantly under filled basin and the deposition of anoxic petroleum source rocks. The first phase of rifting ceased in the Oxfordian and was followed by post-rift subsidence and later, previously unrecognised, Oxfordian to Tithonian south directed inversion localised above Proterozoic basement west-northwest oriented structures. This inversion event occurred under a detached stress filed which resulted in the formation of doubly plunging fault propagation anticline above south directed thrusts which terminated at a depth of 5-6 km. accompanied by contemporaneous extension along north to north-northeast striking fault segments in the upper most crust. Inversion ceased at the base of the Cretaceous and was followed by the second phase of rifting this time under west-northwest extension which resulted in rift fault system reorganisation and new normal fault growth. Rifting terminated at the onset of nearby Valanginian sea floor spreading. Post-rift thermal subsidence followed punctuated by variably directed periods of basin inversion over the last 130 Myrs. This long phase of inversion was enabled by an abnormally thick pre-rift lithosphere which took a long time to cool following rifting and hence could accommodated shortening over this long time span. A consideration of this thick lithosphere in hydrocarbon charge modelling in the Exmouth Sub-basin may lead to a change in the prevailing view that the main hydrocarbon charge occurred before the deposition of the regional seal, thereby making this apparently less well endowed basin more prospective for future exploration. A new understanding of the tectonstratigraphic evolution of the area has also highlighted new petroleum plays in previously un recognised structures some of which have been unaffected by Valanginian fresh water flushing and hence may contain non-biodegraded hydrocarbons.

Enhancing Natural Hazard Risk Assessment in the Philippines - Completion Report