Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future 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 net zero emissions, strong, sustainable 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. This work contributes to building a better understanding of the Australian continent, whilst giving the Australian public the tools they need to help them make informed decisions in their areas of interest.
As part of the Australia's Resources Framework Project, in the Exploring for the Future Program, Geoscience Australia and CSIRO undertook a magnetic source depth study across four areas, with the objectives of generating cover model constraints from magnetic modelling to expand national coverage, and to improve our subsurface understanding of these areas. During this study, 2005 magnetic estimates of depth to the top of magnetization were generated, with solutions derived using a consistent methodology (targeted magnetic inversion modelling, or TMIM; also known as ‘sweet-spot’ modelling). The methodology for these estimates are detailed in a summary report by Foss et al (2024), and is available for download through Geoscience Australia’s enterprise catalogue (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/149239).
The new points were generated over four areas: 1) the western part of Tasmania that is the southernmost extension of the Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian (DCD) project area; 2) northeastern Queensland; 3) the Officer Basin area of western South Australia and southeastern West Australia; and 4) the Eastern Resources Corridor (ERC), covering eastern South Australia, southwest Queensland, western New South Wales and western Victoria. These depth estimates have been released, together with a summary report detailing the data and methodology used to generate the results, through Geoscience Australia's product catalogue (ecat) at https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/149239.
This supplementary data release contains the chronostratigraphic attribution of the new TMIM magnetic depth estimates, which range in depth from at surface to 13,294 m below ground. To ensure that the interpretations took into account the local geological features, the magnetic depth estimates were integrated and interpreted with other geological and geophysical datasets, including borehole stratigraphic logs, potential fields images, surface and solid geology maps, and airborne electromagnetic interpretations (where available).
Each depth-solution is interpretively ascribed to either a chronostratigraphic boundary with the stratigraphic units above and below the depth estimate, or the stratigraphic unit that the depth estimate occurs within, populated from the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD). Stratigraphic attribution adds value and informs users of the depth to certain stratigraphic units in their areas of interest. Each solution is accompanied by confidence estimates. The depth estimate points are formatted for compliance with Geoscience Australia’s (GA) Estimates of Geological and Geophysical Surfaces (EGGS) database, the national repository for standardised depth estimate points.
Results from these interpretations provided some support to stratigraphic drillhole targeting, as part of the Delamerian Margins NSW National Drilling Initiative campaign, a collaboration between GA’s EFTF program, the MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative and the Geological Survey of New South Wales. The magnetic depth-estimate solutions produced within this study provide important depth constraints in data-poor areas. These data help to construct a better understanding of the 3D geometry of the Australian continent and aid in cover thickness modelling activities. The availability of the depth-estimate solutions via the EGGS database through Geoscience Australia’s Portal creates enduring value to the public.
