Geoscience Australia

Setting the foundation for future High Purity Quartz (HPQ) discovery, we have released the first major deliverable of the #AustralianCriticalMinerals R&DHub’s High Purity Silica project. A new paper published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences titled “A review of High-Purity Quartz for silicon production in Australia” establishes a baseline understanding of Australia’s potential for HPQ resources, an area that has been significantly under-reported to date. . The paper outlines the characteristics, processing requirements and end uses of HPQ in Australia and provides a summary of the operations, deposits, exploration targets and known occurrences of the mineral across the country. Read more and access the journal paper 👉 https://bit.ly/47i0toJ CSIRO ANSTO

📢 Our final Exploring for the Future Showcase is now available online! Catch every minute of the final Showcase now. We’ve made over 30 technical talks, more than 60 new releases (publications, datasets and extended abstracts), presentations and recordings, available to everyone to access for free! 🔍 Download the full Exploring for the Future program summary report, covering 8 years of invaluable geoscience, benefits and impacts of the program with over 1,000 datasets and publications delivered from the program. 🎥 Watch senior leaders across government and industry exploring the immense value of publicly available precompetitive geoscience. 🗺️ Dive into the latest national and regional geoscience, including major new data releases from the national geophysics surveys, such as AusAEM, AusLAMP, and AusArray, new maps of the lithosphere and the world’s-first national layered geology coverage. 🌐 Try out our new GeoInsight platform, providing easy access to vital Australian regional geological information on mineral, energy, and groundwater resources and more. We are thrilled to share the incredible achievements of this world-leading science program with you. Explore the full suite wrapping up the Exploring for the Future program in its entirety 👉 ga.gov.au/showcase. #EFTF #geoscience #minerals #mineralresources #energyresources #scienceweek #criticalminerals #groundwater #energy #AustraliaResources #geoscience

[PUBLIC TALK] 🛰️ Improving data quality across multiple #Earthobservation platforms through a satellite cross-calibration radiometer can provide better insights and deliver a higher return on global investments in EO. Register now 👉 https://bit.ly/4dx4ec4 [11am Wed 28 Aug] 📷 Concept of a satellite calibration system to improve data quality of client satellites using reference satellites.

⌛ ✈️📷 Want to travel back in time to take a bird's eye view of our island continent before the Opera House, Lake Burley Griffin or even the arrival of power lines? Now you can! Our huge archive of historical aerial photography is now available in the Digital Atlas of Australia. Our new Historical Aerial Photography Explorer application in the Digital Atlas catalogues over 800,000 aerial images by location. The Explorer makes it easier for anyone to search, view and download aerial images dating back to the 1920s, bringing the value of historical data to all Australians. Whether you want to look back on your suburb, or if you’re interested in past activities on a specific site, these images can give you a window into the past. From researchers and historians to industry and government, property buyers and those exploring their neighbourhood, everyone can freely access this incredible archive. With our colleagues at the National Archives of Australia, we are working to digitise the remaining 400,000 images to make our entire archive available through this great resource. 📍Check out the Historical Aerial Photography Explorer yourself 👉 https://bit.ly/3yJA8CU 🎥 Historical Aerial Photography Explorer showing North Head, Sydney changing over time from 1929 to 1988.

What a National #ScienceWeek that was! We were thrilled to have the opportunity to inspire the next generation of Earth scientists at all the awesome National Science Week events we took part in! We had a blast sharing our knowledge of what lies beneath Parliament House on their unconformity tours, sharing some awesome hands-on Earth science activities at Westfield Woden, and demonstrating the importance of Earth science in our everyday lives at the Government Scientist Group (GSG) STEM Expo! We also had the pleasure of meeting nearly 100 ACT Public Schools Earth and Environmental Science students to explore hazards and disasters and sharing the findings from our Exploring for the Future program with hundreds of you at our Showcase. WHAT IF WE TOLD YOU THERE WAS MORE?! Save the date now for #EarthScienceWeek... a whole week dedicated to Earth Science, 13-19 October 2024! How will you celebrate? 👉 ga.gov.au/esw!

🌟 Celebrating a huge milestone in Australian geoscience 🌟 The conclusion of the Exploring for the Future program is a historic milestone for us, for Australia and for geoscience worldwide. After 8 years of pushing beyond the frontiers of science and knowledge, we have built on new and legacy science to help manage our groundwater resources sustainably, secure future sources of energy and find the critical minerals and strategic materials that are vital for Australia’s low emissions future. We are proud to share with you a comprehensive publication detailing the studies, surveys, and outcomes of this world-leading geoscientific program. Learn more and access the full report 👉 https://bit.ly/3YNPiBY. 📷 High resolution 3D render of over 6700 Australian AEM modelled profiles. #EFTF

[PUBLIC TALK] The shape of the seabed is as diverse as it is deep. Join Rachel Nanson to explore a world-first geoscience classification scheme to map the seabed to support the development of Australia’s sustainable Ocean Economy [11am Wed 21 Aug] 👉 https://bit.ly/3SSszRk #DGAL 📷 Flinders Reefs (Coral Sea) have grown on flat-topped seamounts that rise over 1000 m from the surrounding seabed.

🌟 Celebrating the legacy of Exploring for the Future🌟 We’re thrilled that Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia, Madeleine King, has launched Exploring for the Future: An overview of Australia’s transformational geoscience program as we summarise the world-leading geoscience delivered by the remarkable Exploring for the Future program over the past 8 years. Working closely with our partners across government, academia and communities, we have been gathering, analysing and integrating invaluable science to help our communities and industries thrive – contributing to a safer, more prosperous and well-informed Australia. Over the course of the program we: 🚁 Flew over 400,000 line km of airborne geophysics 🌍 Collected over 215,000 ground geophysical data points 🧪 Analysed over 46,000 soil, rock, and water samples 🔬 Characterized over 124 million mineral grains 🛠️ Completed 21 km of mineral, energy, and groundwater stratigraphic drilling 📊 Released over 1,000 new datasets and publications 🌐 Added more than 9.6 million data points to the Data Discovery Portal. Don’t miss our bigger than ever #EFTF Showcase this week 13-16 August, where we’ll be sharing the program’s exciting results, benefits and achievements. Big thank you to all our partners, collaborators and communities who have helped us along this journey. Your support has been instrumental to the program’s success – providing an enduring value and legacy of precompetitive geoscience to all Australians for decades and generations to come. Learn more and access the overview 👉 https://bit.ly/3yssMno.

Tonga is one of the most tsunami-prone countries in the world, and we’re proud to be working with our Tongan neighbours to help reduce the risk they face. Two of our tsunami scientists recently visited Nuku'alofa to deliver tsunami hazard assessment training to the Tonga Geological Service and Tonga Meteorological Service. With this training, these local agencies can model tsunami inundation from hypothetical earthquakes in their region, which is a key step to help them to identify areas most likely to be affected by an earthquake-generated tsunami, and how significant the effect is likely to be. Inundation mapping is vital to preparing for and responding to potential tsunami events, for example to effectively target resources to high-risk areas. This training will enable Tonga to improve their tsunami response plans based on the latest science, to deliver the best possible impact for local communities. We are delivering this training as part of the DFAT-funded Sendai Framework Implementation Programme, which works to reduce the risk and impact of natural disasters. We’ve been working with the Kingdom of Tonga since the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption that generated a tsunami which was recorded as far away as Japan, Peru, the United States and Australia. Tsunamis and earthquakes don’t recognise national borders, so when we work together, everyone is better prepared! Find out more about the science we use to help protect Australia and our Pacific neighbours from the impact of tsunamis: https://bit.ly/4dgfSYO

What does a career in STEM look like? What on Earth is a career in Geoscience? Come and find out this National Science Week! Join us on 15 August at the Government Scientist Group STEM Expo hosted by Australia's Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley and other Government science organisations in the Great Hall at Parliament House Canberra and experience a range of exciting presentations, STEM exhibitions, and hands on activities from some of the leading minds in STEM. Chief Scientist Dr Steve Hill and Strategic Science Director Dr Verity Normington FGSAust. GAICD will be on hand 10am - 4pm to chat with you and give an insight to the exciting and vital role Earth science plays in our society and the impact a STEM career can have on our future! This event is free, and registration is optional! We cannot wait to meet you there 👉 https://bit.ly/4chZbe9. #scienceweek #lovewhatyoudo