Data

AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey, Conductivity section images, geometry files and interpretation aids for use in the AEMInterpConvert workflow

Geoscience Australia
Nicoll, M. ; Wong, S. ; LeyCooper, Y. ; Deo, R. ; Dennis, J. ; Sedgmen, A. ; Ray, A.
Viewed: [[ro.stat.viewed]] Cited: [[ro.stat.cited]] Accessed: [[ro.stat.accessed]]
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Please see the parent publication, by Ley-Cooper & Deo (2025; https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/150185) for further details on the acquisition and processing of these data.The datasets contained in this package consists of Geoscience Australia’s Layered-Earth-Inversion (GALEI; Brodie, 2016) conductivity-depth estimates from the AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 AEM Survey (Ley-Cooper & Deo, 2025), delivered in JPEG format with accompanying geometry files. The purpose of this data package is to release the components formatted for use in the Multilayered chronostratigraphic AEM interpretation workflow (Wong et al., 2022) and the AEMInterpConvert tool (Nicoll et al., 2025). The conductivity section JPEGs are used in the interpretation workflow, whereas the geometry files are used to transform the 2D interpretations to 3D geographic space using the AEMInterpConvert tool. Release of these formats provide users the dependencies required to perform the interpretation and convert these interpretations to a range of formats compatible with various text editing, spreadsheet, 2D and 3D software packages, as well as the Estimates of Geological and Geophysical Surfaces (EGGS) database (Mathews et al., 2020) and Geoscience Australia’s Data Delivery Portal.Additionally, this data package contains files that are intended to aid interpretations and facilitate data integration. To aid interpretations, this package contains map data extracted along each flight line. Known as Linear Geology, the extracted map data can be plotted above the corresponding JPEG within a geographic information system (GIS), providing the user with a geological dataset to interrogate and refer to within their interpretation space. The extraction of Linear Geology has been provided for two datasets, 1) the Surface Geology of Australia 1:1 million scale dataset 2012 edition (Raymond et al., 2012), and 2) the pre-Neoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic and Mesozoic layers of the Layered Geology of Australia (Sanchez et al., 2024). World files have also been provided to facilitate superimposition of conductivity sections from the probabilistic inversions of the Northeast Queensland survey AEM data (Scarr et al., 2025) over the deterministic inversion conductivity section images. These world files register the probabilistic inversion conductivity images in the same space as the deterministic inversion images within a GIS, allowing users to consider the information in both the deterministic and probabilistic inversions during their interpretation.Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeededStatement: The AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey (Ley-Cooper & Deo 2025) was acquired between July and October 2024 by Geoscience Australia in partnership with the Geological Survey of Queensland. The AEM data were inverted to produce the images in this release using Geoscience Australia’s Layered-Earth-Inversion (GALEI, Brodie, 2016). The AEM data were also inverted using the open source HiQGA (High Quality Geophysical Analysis) code (Ray et al. 2023a,b; Scarr et al., 2025) to produce the probabilistic inversion images that are referred to in this release.The AEMInterpConvert tool (Nicoll et al., 2025) is based on the airborne electromagnetic interpretation conversion process that was developed as part of the Exploring for the Future Program and was published in the Multilayered chronostratigraphic airborne electromagnetic interpretation workflow Geoscience Australia record (Wong et al., 2022). The original conversion process was scripted in the AWK programming language and was used to convert AEM interpretations created as part of the Exploring for the Future Program. This workflow shares some similarities to previous work at Geoscience Australia, involving the capture of section-based interpretation with commonly available geographic information systems (GIS) software and existing skillsets. This technique has been applied to deep seismic reflection interpretation, magnetotelluric interpretation, geological cross sections and 2D models for forward modelling. The AEMInterpConvert online graphical user interface version of the workflow is aimed at adding additional functionality and user-friendliness to the conversion process.This interpretation workflow and conversion process has been used to produce interpretation from over 115,000 flightline km, covering mostly 20 km-spaced flight lines over an area of 2,085,000 km2 or 27% of the Australian continent (Connors et al., 2022; Folkes et al., 2022; Vilhena et al. 2023; Wong et al., 2020; Wong et al., 2021; Wong et al., 2023).&rft.creator=Nicoll, M. &rft.creator=Wong, S. &rft.creator=LeyCooper, Y. &rft.creator=Deo, R. &rft.creator=Dennis, J. &rft.creator=Sedgmen, A. &rft.creator=Ray, A. &rft.date=2026&rft.coverage=westlimit=138.00; southlimit=-30.00; eastlimit=154.00; northlimit=-9.00; projection=Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 / geodetic (EPSG: 1168)&rft.coverage=westlimit=138.00; southlimit=-30.00; eastlimit=154.00; northlimit=-9.00; projection=Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 / geodetic (EPSG: 1168)&rft.coverage=uplimit=-2000; downlimit=0; projection=Australian Height Datum / vertical (EPSG: 5111)&rft.coverage=uplimit=-2000; downlimit=0; projection=Australian Height Datum / vertical (EPSG: 5111)&rft_rights=Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/&rft_rights=© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2026&rft_rights=Australian Government Security Classification System https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/pspf-annual-release&rft_subject=geoscientificInformation&rft_subject=AusAEM&rft_subject=AusAEM interpretation&rft_subject=AEMInterpConvert&rft_subject=AEM&rft_subject=airborne electromagnetic (aem)&rft_subject=airborne electromagnetics interpretation&rft_subject=surface geology&rft_subject=Layered geology&rft_subject=RAPi&rft_subject=Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity&rft_subject=Onshore National Geology&rft_subject=Stratigraphy (incl. biostratigraphy&rft_subject=sequence stratigraphy and basin analysis)&rft_subject=Structural geology and tectonics&rft_subject=Electrical and electromagnetic methods in geophysics&rft_subject=Groundwater hydrology&rft_subject=Resource geoscience&rft_subject=Knowledge and information management&rft_subject=Published_External&rft.type=dataset&rft.language=English Access the data

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2026

Australian Government Security Classification System
https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/pspf-annual-release

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Full description

The airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, in which the AEMInterpConvert interpretation and conversion dependencies were derived from, were acquired between July and October 2024 by Geoscience Australia in partnership with the Geological Survey of Queensland. The survey covers a total of 30,500 flight line kilometres, flown at a nominal line spacing of 20 kilometres (Figure 1). The AEM data were processed using Geoscience Australia’s Layered-Earth-Inversion (GALEI, Brodie, 2016). Please see the parent publication, by Ley-Cooper & Deo (2025; https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/150185) for further details on the acquisition and processing of these data.

The datasets contained in this package consists of Geoscience Australia’s Layered-Earth-Inversion (GALEI; Brodie, 2016) conductivity-depth estimates from the AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 AEM Survey (Ley-Cooper & Deo, 2025), delivered in JPEG format with accompanying geometry files. The purpose of this data package is to release the components formatted for use in the Multilayered chronostratigraphic AEM interpretation workflow (Wong et al., 2022) and the AEMInterpConvert tool (Nicoll et al., 2025). The conductivity section JPEGs are used in the interpretation workflow, whereas the geometry files are used to transform the 2D interpretations to 3D geographic space using the AEMInterpConvert tool. Release of these formats provide users the dependencies required to perform the interpretation and convert these interpretations to a range of formats compatible with various text editing, spreadsheet, 2D and 3D software packages, as well as the Estimates of Geological and Geophysical Surfaces (EGGS) database (Mathews et al., 2020) and Geoscience Australia’s Data Delivery Portal.

Additionally, this data package contains files that are intended to aid interpretations and facilitate data integration. To aid interpretations, this package contains map data extracted along each flight line. Known as Linear Geology, the extracted map data can be plotted above the corresponding JPEG within a geographic information system (GIS), providing the user with a geological dataset to interrogate and refer to within their interpretation space. The extraction of Linear Geology has been provided for two datasets, 1) the Surface Geology of Australia 1:1 million scale dataset 2012 edition (Raymond et al., 2012), and 2) the pre-Neoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic and Mesozoic layers of the Layered Geology of Australia (Sanchez et al., 2024). World files have also been provided to facilitate superimposition of conductivity sections from the probabilistic inversions of the Northeast Queensland survey AEM data (Scarr et al., 2025) over the deterministic inversion conductivity section images. These world files register the probabilistic inversion conductivity images in the same space as the deterministic inversion images within a GIS, allowing users to consider the information in both the deterministic and probabilistic inversions during their interpretation.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded
Statement:
The AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey (Ley-Cooper & Deo 2025) was acquired between July and October 2024 by Geoscience Australia in partnership with the Geological Survey of Queensland. The AEM data were inverted to produce the images in this release using Geoscience Australia’s Layered-Earth-Inversion (GALEI, Brodie, 2016). The AEM data were also inverted using the open source HiQGA (High Quality Geophysical Analysis) code (Ray et al. 2023a,b; Scarr et al., 2025) to produce the probabilistic inversion images that are referred to in this release.

The AEMInterpConvert tool (Nicoll et al., 2025) is based on the airborne electromagnetic interpretation conversion process that was developed as part of the Exploring for the Future Program and was published in the Multilayered chronostratigraphic airborne electromagnetic interpretation workflow Geoscience Australia record (Wong et al., 2022). The original conversion process was scripted in the AWK programming language and was used to convert AEM interpretations created as part of the Exploring for the Future Program. This workflow shares some similarities to previous work at Geoscience Australia, involving the capture of section-based interpretation with commonly available geographic information systems (GIS) software and existing skillsets. This technique has been applied to deep seismic reflection interpretation, magnetotelluric interpretation, geological cross sections and 2D models for forward modelling. The AEMInterpConvert online graphical user interface version of the workflow is aimed at adding additional functionality and user-friendliness to the conversion process.

This interpretation workflow and conversion process has been used to produce interpretation from over 115,000 flightline km, covering mostly 20 km-spaced flight lines over an area of 2,085,000 km2 or 27% of the Australian continent (Connors et al., 2022; Folkes et al., 2022; Vilhena et al. 2023; Wong et al., 2020; Wong et al., 2021; Wong et al., 2023).

Notes

Purpose
The purpose of this product is to release the core components used in the Multilayered chronostratigraphic AEM interpretation workflow (Wong et al., 2022) and the AEMInterpConvert tool (Nicoll et al., 2025) for the AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey. The core files are the conductivity section images and geometry files. This product also releases additional files that can be used to improve the efficiency and quality of interpretations made using this workflow for this survey, these are the Linear Geology and the probabilistic to deterministic inversion image registration files.

Issued: 23 03 2026

This dataset is part of a larger collection

154,-9 154,-30 138,-30 138,-9 154,-9

146,-19.5

text: westlimit=138.00; southlimit=-30.00; eastlimit=154.00; northlimit=-9.00; projection=Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 / geodetic (EPSG: 1168)

text: uplimit=-2000; downlimit=0; projection=Australian Height Datum / vertical (EPSG: 5111)

Other Information
Download Data Package (zip) [112.3 MB]

url : https://d28rz98at9flks.cloudfront.net/150859/150859_00_1.zip

Download Technical Report (pdf) [1.581 MB]

url : https://d28rz98at9flks.cloudfront.net/150859/150859_01_0.pdf

AusAEM, Northeast Queensland, Australia, 2024 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey TEMPEST® airborne electromagnetic data and GALEI conductivity estimates

local : 150185

AEMInterpConvert – Geoscience Australia’s Online Airborne Electromagnetic Interpretation Conversion Tool

local : 150529

Multilayered chronostratigraphic airborne electromagnetic interpretation workflow

local : 147251

Identifiers