Shepparton Numurkah Regional Ground Gravity Survey

The Geological Survey of Victoria and Geoscience Australia are acquiring new public geological data along public roads and tracks across the Shepparton and Numurkah region in northern Victoria between Seymour, Echuca and Wodonga.

The acquisition program started in August 2023 and is expected take 12 months to complete. The field activities will be carried out by contracted gravity survey specialists (depending on weather). During the survey, crews will be  driving four-wheel-drive vehicles. They will pull safely to the side of the road at a pre-planned location (approximately every 500 metres), taking care not to interrupt traffic or to pose a hazard to other road users.

Measurement of Earth’s gravity will occur using a sensitive portable instrument (a small box containing a mass suspended from a spring), which is placed on the ground for 1-2 minutes. Each stop takes about three to five minutes in  total.  Survey activities will not disturb or impact the ground, and nothing will be left behind, apart from footprints and tyre tracks. Care will be taken to protect roadside flora and fauna, and  biosecurity procedures will be in place to avoid transport of soil and plant material.

By acquiring fundamental regional geoscience datasets, the state’s understanding of the geology of Victoria is progressively expanded.

This ground gravity survey will provide new data about southeast Australia’s deep underlying geological architecture as well as the bedrock geology beneath the Victorian Riverine Plain.

The data, once interpreted, will complement other geoscientific data collected by previous surveys within the Eastern Victoria Geoscience Initiative.

For more information, please download a community information fact sheet on the Shepparton Numurkah Regional Ground Gravity Survey.

Page last updated: 12 Feb 2024