Geoscience Australia has just released the 2013 preliminary edition of its Australian Geological Provinces dataset. The dataset contains descriptions and spatial extents of the fundamental geological elements of the Australian continent and its offshore surrounds. Province types include sedimentary basins, tectonic provinces such as cratons and orogens, igneous provinces and metallogenic provinces.
The spatial data has been captured mainly at around 1:1M scale for intended use at 1:2.5M or less. The full 2D spatial extent of each province has been captured, including the extent of a province under any overlying cover material. The extent of outcrop of many provinces has also been captured. Where possible, the full extent outlines of provinces have been attributed with information about the source, accuracy and observation or interpretation method of those lines. The new dataset replaces Geoscience Australia’s 1998 Australian Sedimentary Basins map and supersedes the previous incomplete 2004 dataset.
Where possible, the provinces have been attributed with their age, geological history, contained lithostratigraphic units, relationships to other provinces and mineral resource occurrences, as well as selected published references. The geological definition of some provinces is contentious. Although every effort has been made to achieve a consensus definition and extent of each province, including significant collaboration with state and territory geological surveys, scientific debate could still occur about the nature and extent of some provinces.
Note: This preliminary edition (2013.01) of the dataset is NOT a complete representation of all of Australia’s geological provinces, but is the most comprehensive national dataset available. Additionally, not all the provinces descriptions have undergone a rigorous quality assurance check to ensure the accuracy and completeness of their descriptions. Further work is underway in cooperation with the state and territory geological surveys to compile a complete national coverage for all of Australia’s geological provinces.
The Australian Geological Provinces dataset is available in shapefile and ESRI geodatabase formats for free download.