Eromanga Basin hydrogeological inventory

This Eromanga Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus.

The Eromanga Basin, part of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) in Australia, is an extensive Mesozoic sedimentary basin filled with a mix of non-marine and marine rocks. The GAB covers about 22% of the Australian land surface, including areas in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. The Eromanga Basin is the largest among the basins that form the GAB.

Spanning over 1,250,000 square kilometres in central and eastern Australia, the Eromanga Basin contains rocks ranging from Jurassic to Cretaceous in age. The sedimentary deposits consist of three main basin successions: Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous fluvial and lacustrine, Early to mid-Cretaceous marine, and Late Cretaceous fluvial-lacustrine successions. The basin's stratigraphic architecture results from a complex interplay between subsidence-controlled accommodation, sediment supply rates, and changing sediment provenance. These controls were influenced by various factors, such as intra-plate stress fields, eustatic sea-level fluctuations, and dynamic mantle-driven topography during the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent.

During the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, regional uplift of the Australian continent led to an influx of fluvial sand-rich sediments in the western Eromanga Basin. Subsequent rapid subsidence and global high sea levels during the Early Cretaceous allowed marine sediments to spread across much of Australia, including the Eromanga Basin. The basin later returned to non-marine sedimentation during the Late Cretaceous with deposition of the Winton Formation, followed by closure due to an east-directed Late Cretaceous compressional event.

This rapid deposition of the Late Cretaceous Winton Formation played a crucial role in generating and expelling hydrocarbons from various source intervals. The movement of the Australian continent significantly impacted the basin, causing most tectonic activity to occur on the southern side of a prominent keel near Innamincka in the southern half of the GAB. Additionally, variations in the mechanical properties of the sub-lithospheric mantle affected stress distribution, leading to changes in surface elevation and the expression of discharge from aquifers, potentially influencing the location and pattern of spring sites within the South Australian part of the GAB.

Identification info

Date (Creation): 2023-09-01

Date (Publication): 2023-09-28T07:21:34

Citation identifier: Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/148720

Citation identifier: Digital Object Identifier/https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/148720

Cited responsible party

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Publisher	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice

Purpose: A thematic summary of the Eromanga Basin. Part of a compendium of consistently compiled summaries that comprise the National Hydrogeological Inventory

Status: Completed

Point of contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Point of contact	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice
Point of contact	Carey, H.	MEG Internal Contact
Resource provider	Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division	External Contact

Spatial representation type

Topic category

Geoscientific information
Inland waters
Environment

Extent

Maintenance and update frequency: As needed

Resource format

Title: Product data repository: Various Formats

Website: Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf

GEOLOGY
Hydrogeology
Land Use and Environmental Planning
Sedimentology
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Environmental Management
Basin Analysis
EARTH SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ECOLOGY
Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy)

Project

National Groundwater Sytems

Theme

Groundwater

Theme

Exploring for the Future

Theme

National Hydrogeological Inventory

Keywords

Published_External

Resource constraints

Title: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title: CC-BY

Edition: 4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints: License

Use constraints: License

Other constraints: (c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2023

Resource constraints

Title: Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date: 2018-11-01T00:00:00

Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification: Unclassified

Language: English

Character encoding: UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Distributor	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice facsimile

OnLine resource: Download the report (pdf) [585 KB]

Download the report (pdf) [585 KB]

Distribution format

Resource lineage

Statement

This document for the National Hydrogeological Inventory was created through the compilation and analysis of various national geospatial datasets and a range of supporting scientific and technical literature. In most cases, the spatial boundary (polygon) for the region was sourced from the Geoscience Australia Geological Provinces 2018 dataset. The geospatial data reported for the region of interest were selected by spatial queries of the region's polygon using Geographic Information System (GIS) applications. A variety of national-scale datasets were assessed for each region, with these data relevant to the study of groundwater, hydrogeology and related social, cultural or environmental characteristics. These data are published by various organisations (mostly Australian Government entities) and include fundamental Australian datasets such as the National Groundwater Information System (NGIS), National Aquifer Framework, Atlas of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems and the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD). A complete list of all data used to develop the National Hydrogeological Inventory, and the various data processing and analysis methods used, will be released as part of a future Geoscience Australia publication focused on the hydrogeological inventory methodology.

The document also contains written summary information about the geology, hydrogeology and related features of the region of interest. These narrative summaries were compiled by Geoscience Australia researchers based on literature review and analysis of a range of scientific and technical publications about the region. The reports use similar document templates to ensure the consistency of information provided across the entire Australian continent.