Layered geology of Australia

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) 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. The Layered Geology of Australia 1:1 000 000 scale dataset (2024 edition) is a seamless national coverage of Australia’s surface and subsurface geology. Geology concealed under younger cover units are mapped by effectively removing the overlying stratigraphy (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset is a layered product and comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic. As an example, the Mesozoic time slice (or layer) shows Mesozoic age geology that would be present if all Cenozoic units were removed. The Pre-Neoproterozoic time slice shows what would be visible if all Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic units were removed. In general, a top down approach has been taken so that only the uppermost units for each era are shown. However, in areas of relative geological complexity and where that detail was available in the source data, some units may show overlap. In these instances, the units are ordered from oldest (base) to youngest (top). The Cenozoic time slice layer for the national dataset was extracted from Raymond et al., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition. Geoscience Australia, Canberra, and retains the data schema of that dataset. For that layer’s metadata, refer to https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/74855.Geological units are represented as polygon and line geometries and are attributed with information regarding stratigraphic nomenclature and hierarchy, age, and lithology. All stratigraphic information populated in the dataset is derived from the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database. The dataset also contains a layer for structural features such as faults and shears.

澳大利亚地球科学局（Geoscience Australia）的"未来探索"（Exploring for the Future，EFTF）计划提供竞争前信息，为政府、社区及行业在澳大利亚矿产、能源与地下水资源可持续发展方面的决策提供依据。通过收集、分析和解读新的及已有的竞争前地球科学数据与知识，我们正在构建澳大利亚地质与资源潜力的全国图景，旨在为全体澳大利亚人打造强劲经济、韧性社会与可持续环境。这包括支持澳大利亚向净零排放转型、巩固强大且可持续的资源与农业部门，以及为区域和偏远社区创造经济机遇与社会效益。该计划始于2016年，是澳大利亚政府投资2.25亿澳元的八年期项目。澳大利亚分层地质1:100万比例尺数据集（2024版，Layered Geology of Australia 1:1 000 000 scale dataset）是覆盖澳大利亚全境地表与地下地质的无缝数据集。被较新覆盖层掩盖的地质体通过有效移除上覆地层来绘制（Liu等，2015）。该数据集为分层产品，包含五个年代地层时间切片（chronostratigraphic time slices）：新生代、中生代、古生代、新元古代及前新元古代。例如，中生代时间切片（或层）展示了移除所有新生代地层单元后暴露的中生代地质体；前新元古代时间切片则展示了移除所有新元古代、古生代、中生代及新生代地层单元后可见的地质体。总体采用自上而下法（top-down approach），仅显示各时代最上部的地层单元；但在地质相对复杂且源数据包含相关细节的区域，部分单元可能重叠，此时单元按从最老（底部）到最新（顶部）的顺序排列。全国数据集的新生代时间切片层提取自Raymond等（2012）的《澳大利亚地表地质（1:100万比例尺，2012版）》（澳大利亚地球科学局，堪培拉），并保留了原数据集的数据模式（data schema）。关于该层的元数据，请参考https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/74855。地质单元以多边形和线几何图形（geometries）表示，属性信息包括地层命名与层级、时代及岩性；数据集中所有地层信息均源自澳大利亚地层单元数据库（Australian Stratigraphic Units Database）。该数据集还包含构造特征层，如断层和剪切带。