November 2016

A monthly online newsletter with product news, data releases and project highlights relating to the minerals and energy exploration industries.

1. New geochronology results
2. Updated EarthSci tool and new 3D datasets
3. Update on geophysical data release
4. About Minerals Alert

1. New geochronology results

GA Record 2016/21 by Bodorkos et al., reports new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age results from 8 samples from the Central Lachlan Orogen and one sample from the New England Orogen, New South Wales. This work was conducted under a National Collaboration Framework Geochronology Project Agreement between Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of New South Wales (GSNSW), and the results complement ongoing regional mapping work by GSNSW in the Central Lachlan Orogen.

Geochronology data presented and discussed in this Record are also available for download via Geoscience Australia's Geochron Delivery system.

For further information on geochronology at Geoscience Australia, please email geochronology@ga.gov.au.

In addition, the following manuscript has recently been accepted for publication by Australian Journal of Earth Sciences and will appear in an upcoming issue:

Laurie, J. R., Bodorkos, S., Nicoll, R. S., Crowley, J. L., Mantle, D. J., Mory, A. J., Wood, G. R., Backhouse, J., Holmes, E. K., Smith, T. E. and Champion, D. C. Calibrating the middle and late Permian palynostratigraphy of Australia to the geologic time scale via U-Pb zircon CA-IDTIMS dating.

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

2. Updated EarthSci tool and new 3D datasets

An updated version of EarthSci, Geoscience Australia's freely available 3D visualisation software, was launched at the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Convention in Adelaide (August 2016) and the International Geological Congress in South Africa (August-September 2016). This version has improved stability, new drag and drop support for loading ascii GOCAD® 3D objects and the ability to save and import layers and bookmarks. For more information on this open source tool and how it can be downloaded please visit the EarthSci webpage.

Geoscience Australia is progressively making a wide range of new and legacy national to regional 2D and 3D datasets accessible through the EarthSci Common Earth Model. A highlight of this release is a new model of the 3D major crustal boundaries of Australia which builds on the previously released 2D boundaries utilising constraints from all available deep reflection seismic profiles. EarthSci's ability to link datasets to publications and/or institutional websites has enabled Geoscience Australia to access and distribute academic datasets (e.g. the Australian Seismological Reference Model and Australia's lithospheric density field). The new drag and drop functionality within EarthSci makes it easier to add datasets to the plethora of datasets pre-loaded in the Common Earth Model (e.g. national Ni potential maps, new bouguer gravity grid, Moho depth, the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary, etc...).

EarthSci Common Earth Model interface shows a perspective view of the AusMoho surface, AusREM crustal velocity model and the new 3D major crustal boundaries of Australia with x7.5 vertical exaggeration.

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

3. Update on geophysical data release

Geoscience Australia manages the data acquisition program in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and the Northern Territory on behalf of the state/territory geological surveys.

The current status of Geoscience Australia's geophysical survey data acquisition is available in a comprehensive table.

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

4. About Minerals Alert

For more information, please email clientservices@ga.gov.au; or phone 1800 800 173.