Product catalogue
Mapping freshwater lenses in the Cooper Creek floodplain using airborne electromagnetics
<div>Cooper Creek is a dryland river system that extends from the western Great Dividing Range in Central Queensland to Lake Eyre in South Australia. The middle course of the Cooper Creek is characterised by anabranching river channels across a wide floodplain that flow intermittently due to monsoonal flooding event higher in the catchment. As floodwaters recede, freshwater stagnates within numerous deeper segments of river channels forming ‘waterholes’ which support ecosystems with significant ecological and cultural value. However, there is little evidence that shallow groundwater discharges into these surface water bodies and the link between surface water and groundwater is not well understood. This study aims to demonstrate how airborne electromagnetics (AEM) and other geoscientific data can be integrated to identify recharge within shallow saline groundwater systems, which are so common in arid inland Australia.</div><div>
The regional water table underneath the floodplain is shallow (<10m) and highly saline (>38,000 TDS), with a chemical signature suggesting salts were concentrated by evapotranspiration. Surface swelling clays likely limits the amount of recharge that occurs through the floodplain itself. However, a detailed study by Cendón et al (2010) found that during high flow events, floodwater scoured the base of the waterholes allowing freshwater to recharges into the shallow groundwater system forming chemically distinct freshwater lenses.</div><div>
AEM is a geophysical technique capable of estimating bulk conductivity for the top few hundred metres of the subsurface. Part of the AusAEM Eastern Resource Corridor survey (Ley-Cooper 2021) crossed the Cooper Creek floodplain with a 20km line spacing. The bulk conductivity models delivered as part of this survey resolved the top of the saline water table regionally. In several locations, we identified resistive lenses sitting on the shallow water table which coincide with river channels that are frequently inundated.</div><div><br></div><div>Cendón, D.I., Larsen, J.R., Jones, B.G., Nanson, G.C., Rickleman, D., Hankin, S.I., Pueyo, J.J. and Maroulis, J., 2010. Freshwater recharge into a shallow saline groundwater system, Cooper Creek floodplain, Queensland, Australia. <em>Journal of Hydrology</em>, <em>392</em>(3-4), pp.150-163.</div><div>LeyCooper, Y. 2021. Exploring for the Future AusAEM Eastern Resources Corridor: 2021 Airborne Electromagnetic Survey TEMPEST® airborne electromagnetic data and GALEI inversion conductivity estimates. Geoscience Australia, Canberra.</div>
This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2022 Australasian Groundwater Conference 21-23 November ( https://www.aig.org.au/events/australasian-groundwater-conference-2022/)
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2022-07-26
- Date (Publication)
- 2022-08-04T07:55:21
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147039
- Cited responsible party
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Author Symington, N.
Internal Contact Author Halas, L.
Internal Contact Author Evans, T.
Internal Contact Author Rollet, N.
Internal Contact Editor Buckerfield, S.
Internal Contact
- Name
-
Australasian Groundwater Conference (AGC) 2022, Perth WA
- Purpose
-
AGC conference abstract
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Evans, T.
MEG Internal Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
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
- Project
-
-
Lake Eyre Basin
-
- Project
-
-
National Groundwater System
-
- Keywords
-
-
groundwater
-
- Keywords
-
-
recharge
-
- Keywords
-
-
AEM
-
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
-
-
Groundwater hydrology
-
- Keywords
-
-
Published_External
-
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
-
CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Addressee
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details User Any
- Use constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
-
© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2022
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Classification system
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
-
Link to Australasian Groundwater Conference 2022
Link to Australasian Groundwater Conference 2022
- Distribution format
-
- OnLine resource
-
Download Presentation (pptx) [27.9 MB]
Download Presentation (pptx) [27.9 MB]
- Distribution format
-
-
pptx
- File decompression technique
-
nil
-
Resource lineage
- Statement
-
<div>AEM data was from AusAEM eastern corridor survey (eCAT 145744). The analysis was done as part of the National Groundwater System project.</div>
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/410f20cc-ae41-4496-a6cb-0a90f281c428
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Evans, T.
MEG Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
-
Conference Abstract
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/147039
- Date info (Creation)
- 2022-08-04T07:47:27
- Date info (Revision)
- 2022-08-04T07:47:27
Metadata standard
- Title
-
AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
-
ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
-
ISO 19115-3
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
-
Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551