1976 Gravity Map of Australia at 1:5,000,000 Scale

Approximately 260,000 gravity observations from 300 surveys were compiled to produce the 1976 1:5,000,000 Gravity Map of Australia. The Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) published the map after completing systematic reconnaissance gravity coverage of the continent, which began in 1959. Computer processing for the map took about four months, followed by three months of cartography.

Use Cases

• Modeling subsurface density variations based on the Bouguer and free-air anomaly maps.
• Analyzing continental-scale geological structures based on gravity survey data.
• Historical comparison of geophysical mapping techniques and data from the mid-20th century.

Strengths

• Based on approximately 260,000 gravity observations from a systematic national survey.
• Derived from data collected over 17 years (1959-1976) at an estimated cost of $12,000,000.
• Includes both Bouguer and free-air anomaly maps produced from the same data bank.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is historical (1976), and more recent surveys may provide updated measurements.
• Primary file formats are PDF and HTML, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR), now part of Geoscience Australia.

Collection Method

Compilation of gravity observations from approximately 300 surveys conducted by various organizations.

Time Range

Surveys conducted from 1959 to 1976.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:42:04.610252; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia, including the continental shelf and margins.