The Australian Government, through the Department of Industry (DoI), routinely funds Geoscience Australia (GA) to acquire pre-competitive data to support prospectivity assessments of various offshore basins. As part of the National Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Infrastructure Plan, a marine seismic survey (MSS) is proposed for the offshore Gippsland Basin to aid in identifying potential sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2 in Australia. GA proposes to acquire high-quality, industry-standard precompetitive two dimensional (2D) seismic data over geologically poorly defined areas within Commonwealth waters of the southern Gippsland Basin, off the Victoria coast. Multi-beam echo-sounder (MBES) and sub-bottom profiling (SBP) data will also be collected.
The survey lines and the Operational Area are located in the southern part of the offshore Gippsland Basin, south-east Victoria, in Commonwealth waters (Figure 1-1). Approximately 955 line kilometres of 2D seismic data will be acquired along the southern margin of the basin, mainly across the major bounding Foster Fault. MBES and SBP data will also be collected along these survey lines. Additional MBES and SBP data may be acquired, if time permits, within the proposed bathymetry acquisition area. The area defined as the “Operational Area” covers approximately 3,900 km2. It is the physical area used for full power data acquisition, plus additional area for sail line run outs (required to obtain full fold coverage), soft-start procedures and vessel manoeuvring.
The proposed survey is scheduled to occur in April 2015, with a total duration of approximately 14 days. Survey timing is dependent on vessel availability, weather conditions and receiving the necessary statutory approvals.
Note: Information extracted from Summary - see summary for full activity description.