Country-shaped magnetic anomaly reveals buried geology beneath Northern Territory

Advanced modeling of magnetic data from Australia’s Northern Territory has uncovered a large magnetic anomaly shaped like the country, revealing buried geological boundaries and structures (faults, folds, basins) that conventional maps missed. Led by CSIRO researchers, the work refines the 1999 Bonney Well Survey data with a new gridding algorithm, producing clearer imagery and offering clues about Australia’s geological history and potential mineral resources, including hidden features exposed at the surface in the Hatches Creek Formation dating to 2.5–1.6 billion years ago.