Grids representing chemical parameter concentrations and isotopic variations in groundwater in the Great Artesian Basin for the following aquifers: Adori Sandstone; Cadna-owie - Hooray and equivalents; Hutton Sandstone and Winton-Mackunda Formation. (Note: Stable isotope carbon variations, Carbon-14 variation and Chlorine ratios produced for the Cadna-owie-Hooray and equivalents only) Hydrochemical parameters and isotopic variations mapped are: - Total dissolved solids (TDS) (mg/L) (adori_tds.txt, cad-hoor_tds.txt, hutton_tds.txt, wint-mack_tds.txt) - Total alkalinity (mg/L CaCO3) (adori_alk, cad-hoor_alk, hutton_alk, wint-mack_alk) - Sulphate (mg/L) ( adori_so4, cad-hoor_so4, hutton_so4, wint-mack_so4) - Fluoride (mg/L) ( adori_flu, cad-hoor_flu, hutton_flu, wint-mack_flu) - Sodium adsorption ratio (adori_sar, cad-hoor_sar, hutton_sar, wint-mack_sar) - Stable carbon isotope variations (d13C % PDB) ( tp-rs_13c_ch) - Carbon-14 variation (14C pMC) ( tp-rs_14c_ch) - Chlorine-36 to Chloride ratio ( t-rs_36clr_ch) Grid cell size (X, Y) = 0.015 DD, 0.015 DD. These GIS data sets were produced for the Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment and used in Figures 8.2, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.8, 8.10, 8.12 and 8.13 of Ransley TR and Smerdon BD (eds) (2012) Hydrostratigraphy, hydrogeology and system conceptualisation of the Great Artesian Basin. A technical report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment. CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia. This dataset and associated metadata can be obtained from www.ga.gov.au, using catalogue number 76942.

Recent national and state assessments have concluded that sedimentary formations that underlie or are within the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) may be suitable for the storage of greenhouse gases. These same formations contain methane and naturally generated carbon dioxide that has been trapped for millions of years. The Queensland government has released exploration permits for Greenhouse Gas Storage in the Bowen and Surat basins. An important consideration in assessing the potential economic, environmental, health and safety risks of such projects is the potential impact CO2 migrating out of storage reservoirs could have on overlying groundwater resources. The risk and impact of CO2 migrating from a greenhouse gas storage reservoir into groundwater cannot be objectively assessed without knowledge of the natural baseline characteristics of the groundwater within these systems. Due to the phase behaviour of CO2, geological storage of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state requires depths greater than 800m, but there are no hydrochemical studies of such deeper aquifers in the prospective storage areas. Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, worked collaboratively under the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA) to characterise the regional hydrochemistry of the Denison Trough and Surat Basin and trialled different groundwater monitoring strategies. The output from this Project constitutes part of a regional baseline reference set for future site-specific and semi-regional monitoring and verification programmes conducted by geological storage proponents. The dataset provides a reference of hydrochemistry for future competing resource users.

This report presents a summary of the groundwater hydrochemistry data release from the Western Davenport project conducted as part of Exploring for the Future (EFTF). This data release records the groundwater sample collection methods and hydrochemistry and isotope data from monitoring bores in the Western Davenport project area, Northern Territory (NT). The Western Davenport project is a collaborative study between Geoscience Australia and the NT Government. Hydrochemistry and isotope data were collected from existing and newly drilled bores in the Western Davenport area.

Poster prepared for International Association of Hydrogeologists Congress 2013 Surface-groundwater interactions are often poorly understood. This is particularly true of many floodplain landscapes in Australia, where there is limited mapping of recharge and discharge zones along the major river systems, and only generalised quantification of hydrological fluxes based on widely spaced surface gauging stations. This is compounded by a lack of temporal data, with poor understanding of how surface-groundwater interactions change under different rainfall, river flow and flood regimes. In this study, high resolution LiDAR, in-river sonar, and airborne electromagnetic (AEM) datasets (validated by drilling) have been integrated to produce detailed 3-dimensional mapping that combines surface geomorphology and hydrogeology. This mapping enables potential recharge zones in the river and adjacent landscape to be identified and assessed under different flow regimes. These potential recharge zones and groundwater flow pathways were then compared against the spatial distribution of discontinuities in near-surface and deeper aquitard layers derived from the AEM interpretation. These 3D mapping constructs provide a framework for considering groundwater processes. Hydrochemistry data, allied with hydraulic data from a bore monitoring network, demonstrate the importance of recharge during significant flood events. In many places, the AEM data also affirm the spatial association between fresher groundwater resources and sites of river and floodplain leakage. At a more localised scale, hydrogeochemical data allows discrimination of lateral and vertical fluxes. Overall, this integrated approach provides an important conceptual framework to constrain hydrogeological modelling, and assessments of sustainable yield. The constructs are also invaluable in targeting and assessing managed aquifer recharge (MAR) options.

Geoscience Australia and its predecessors have analysed hydrochemistry of water sampled from boreholes (both pore water and groundwater), surface features, and rainwater. Sampling was undertaken during drilling or monitoring projects, and this dataset represents a significant subset of stored analyses. Water chemistry including isotopic data is essential to better understand groundwater origins, ages and dynamics, processes such as recharge and inter-aquifer connectivity and for informing conceptual and numerical groundwater models. This GA dataset underpins a nationally consistent data delivery tool and web-based mapping to visualise, analyse and download groundwater chemistry and environmental isotope data. This dataset is a spatially-enabled groundwater hydrochemistry database based on hydrochemistry data from projects completed in Geoscience Australia. The database includes information on physical-chemical parameters (EC, pH, redox potential, dissolved oxygen), major and minor ions, trace elements, nutrients, pesticides, isotopes and organic chemicals. Basic calculations for piper plots colours are derived from Peeters, 2013 - A Background Color Scheme for Piper Plots to Spatially Visualize Hydrochemical Patterns - Groundwater, Volume 52(1) <https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12118>. Upon loading the data to the database, all hydrochemistry data are assessed for reliability using Quality Assurance/Quality Control procedures and all datasets were standardised. This data is made accessible with open geospatial consortium (OGC) web services and is discoverable via the Geoscience Australia Portal (<a href="https://portal.ga.gov.au/">https://portal.ga.gov.au/</a>). This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia.

This web service provides access to geological, hydrogeological and hydrochemical digital datasets that have been published by Geoscience Australia for the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).

<div>This report presents key results from the Upper Darling River Floodplain groundwater study conducted as part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program in north-western New South Wales. The Australian Government funded EFTF program aimed to improve understanding of potential mineral, energy, and groundwater resources in priority areas for each resource.</div><div><br></div><div>The Upper Darling River Floodplain study area is located in semi-arid zone northwest New South Wales is characterised by communities facing critical water shortages and water quality issues, along with ecosystem degradation. As such, there is an imperative to improve our understanding of groundwater systems including the processes of inter-aquifer and groundwater-surface water connectivity. The key interest is in the fresh and saline groundwater systems within alluvium deposited by the Darling River (the Darling alluvium - DA) which comprises sediment sequences from 30 m to 140 m thick beneath the present-day floodplain.</div><div><br></div><div>The study acquired airborne, surface and borehole geophysical data plus hydrochemical data, and compiled geological, hydrometric, and remote sensing datasets. The integration of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data with supporting datasets including surface and borehole magnetic resonance, borehole induction conductivity and gamma, and hydrochemistry data has allowed unprecedented, high resolution delineation of interpreted low salinity groundwater resources within the alluvium and highly saline aquifers which pose salination risk to both the river and fresher groundwater. Improved delineation of the palaeovalley architecture using AEM, seismic, and borehole datasets has permitted interpretation of the bedrock topography forming the base of the palaeovalley, and which has influenced sediment deposition and the present-day groundwater system pathways and gradients.</div><div><br></div><div>The integrated assessment demonstrates that the alluvial groundwater systems within the study area can be sub-divided on the basis of groundwater system characteristics relevant to water resource availability and management. Broadly, the northern part of the study area has low permeability stratigraphy underlying the river and a generally upward groundwater gradient resulting in limited zone of freshwater ingress into the alluvium around the river. A bedrock high south of Bourke partially restricts groundwater flow and forces saline groundwater from deeper in the alluvium to the surface in the vicinity of the Upper Darling salt interception scheme. From approximately Tilpa to Wilcannia, sufficiently permeable stratigraphy in hydraulic connection with the river and a negligible upward groundwater gradient allows recharge from the river, creating significant freshwater zones around the river within the alluvium.</div><div><br></div><div>Hydrometric and hydrochemical tracer data demonstrate that the alluvial groundwater systems are highly coupled with the rivers. Results support the conceptual understanding that bank-exchange processes and overbank floods associated with higher river flows are the primary recharge mechanism for the lower salinity groundwater within the alluvium. When river levels drop, tracers indicative of groundwater discharge confirm that groundwater contributes significant baseflow to the river. Analysis of groundwater levels and surface water discharge indicates that the previously identified declining trends in river discharge are likely to produce the significant decline in groundwater pressure observed across the unconfined aquifer within the alluvium. Improved quantification and prediction of groundwater-surface water connectivity, water level and flux is considered a high priority for both the Darling River and the wider Murray–Darling Basin. This information will assist in understanding and managing water resource availability in these highly connected systems, and enhance knowledge regarding cultural values and groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs).</div><div><br></div><div>This study identifies several aquifers containing groundwater of potentially suitable quality for a range of applications in the south of the study area between Wilcannia and Tilpa and assessed the geological and hydrological processes controlling their distribution and occurrence. Potential risks associated with the use of this groundwater, such as unsustainable extraction, impacts on GDEs, and saline intrusion into aquifers or the river, are outside the scope of this work and have not been quantified.</div>

<div>This report details results and methodology from two hydrochemistry sampling programs performed as part of Geoscience Australia’s Musgrave Palaeovalley Project. The Musgrave Palaeovalley Project is a data acquisition and scientific investigation program based around the central west of Australia. It is aimed at investigating groundwater processes and resources within the Cenozoic fill and palaeovalleys of the region. This project, and many others, have been performed as part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, an eight-year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program.</div><div>Data released here is from 18 bores sampled for groundwater and tested for a range of analytes including field parameters, major and minor elements, isotopes and trace gases. The sampling methods, quality assurance/quality control procedures, analytical methods and results are included in this report.</div>

<div>This dataset comprises hydrochemistry results for groundwater, surface water, and rainwater samples collected as part of the Upper Darling Floodplain groundwater study. Associated methods, interpretation, and integration with other datasets are found in the Upper Darling Floodplain geological and hydrogeological assessment (Geoscience Australia Ecat ID:149689). This project is part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, an eight-year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program. The dataset contains 68 groundwater samples, 17 surface water samples, and four rainwater samples. Groundwater samples are from the Cenozoic formations within the alluvium of the Darling River, the Great Artesian Basin, and the Murray geological basin. Surface water samples are from the Darling River, and rainwater samples were taken within the study area. Subsets of the samples were analysed for major ions and trace metals, stable isotopes of water (δ2H and δ18O), radiocarbon (14C), stable carbon isotopes (δ13C), strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) isotopes, chlorine-36 (36Cl), noble gases, and Radon-222. The results were used to inform a range of hydrogeological questions including aquifer distribution and quality, inter-aquifer connectivity, and groundwater-surface water connectivity.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div>

<div>This data package is a key output from the integrated, basin-scale hydrogeological assessment of South Nicholson-Georgina as part of Geoscience Australia’s National Groundwater Systems project in the Exploring for the Future program.&nbsp;This comprehensive desktop study has integrated numerous geoscience and hydrogeological datasets to develop a new whole-of-basin conceptualisation of groundwater flow systems and recharge and discharge processes within the regional unconfined aquifers of the Georgina Basin.</div><div><br></div><div>This data release includes an ESRI geodatabase and ESRI shapefiles with associated layer files:</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Georgina Basin watertable trend surface</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Georgina Basin reduced standing water level (RSWL) contours</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Regional scale groundwater divides</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Groundwater flow paths</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bores with aquifer attribution and water level information where available</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hydrochemistry data for bores and springs, and aquifer attribution (where available)</div><div>-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Basin boundary extents</div><div><br></div><div>For more information and detail on these products, refer to associated report, Dixon-Jain et al. (2024).</div><div><br></div><div>Dixon-Jain, P., Bishop, C., Lester, J., Orlov, C., McPherson, A., Pho, G., Flower, C., Kilgour, P., Lawson, S., Vizy, J., Lewis, S. 2024. Hydrogeology and groundwater systems of the South Nicholson and Georgina basins, Northern Territory and Queensland. Record 2024/37. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/149730</div>