Product catalogue
Great Artesian Basin eastern recharge area assessment - northern Surat Basin airborne electromagnetic survey interpretation report
As part of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) Project a pilot study was conducted in the northern Surat Basin, Queensland, to test the ability of existing and new geoscientific data and technologies to further improve our understanding of hydrogeological systems within the GAB, in order to support responsible management of basin water resources. This report presents selected examples from the preliminary interpretation of modelled airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data acquired as part of this pilot study. The examples are selected to highlight key observations from the AEM with potential relevance to groundwater recharge and connectivity.
Previous investigations in the northern Surat Basin have suggested that diffuse groundwater recharge rates are generally low (in the order of only a few millimetres per year) across large areas of the GAB intake beds—outcropping geological units which represent a pathway for rainfall to enter the aquifers—and that, within key aquifer units, recharge rates and volumes can be heterogeneous. Spatial variability in AEM conductivity responses is identified across different parts of the northern Surat Basin, including within the key Hutton Sandstone aquifer. Consistent with findings from other studies, this variability is interpreted as potential lithological heterogeneity, which may contribute to reduced volumes of groundwater entering the deeper aquifer.
The influence of geological structure on aquifer geometry is also examined. Larger structural zones are seen to influence both pre- and post-depositional architecture, including the presence, thickness and dip of hydrogeological units (or parts thereof). Folds and faults within the Surat Basin sequences are, in places, seen as potential groundwater divides which may contribute to compartmentalisation of aquifers. Discrete faults have the potential to influence inter-aquifer connectivity.
The examples presented here demonstrate the utility of AEM models, in conjunction with other appropriate geophysical and geological data, for characterising potential recharge areas and pathways within the main GAB aquifer units, by helping to better define aquifer geometry, lithological heterogeneity and possible structural controls. Such assessments have the potential to further improve our understanding of groundwater recharge and flow path variability at local to regional scales. Acquisition of broader AEM data coverage across groundwater recharge areas, along with complementary geophysical, geological and hydrogeological data, would further assist in quantifying recharge variability, facilitating revised water balance estimates for the basin and thereby supporting GAB water resource management and policy decision-making.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Last Revision)
- 2022-06-09
- Date (Publication)
- 2022-12-21T01:38:05
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/146502
- Citation identifier
- Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2022.017
- Cited responsible party
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author McPherson, A.
MEG Internal Contact Author Rollet, N.
MEG Internal Contact Author Vizy, J.
MEG Internal Contact Author Kilgour, P.
MEG Internal Contact
- Name
-
Record
- Issue identification
-
RECORD: 2022/017
- ISBN
-
978-1-922625-01-4
- ISSN
-
2201-702X
- Purpose
-
Project report
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact McPherson, A.
MEG Internal Contact Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
- Environment
- Inland waters
Extent
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
-
-
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
-
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
-
EARTH SCIENCES
-
- Keywords
-
-
Great Artesian Basin
-
- Keywords
-
-
Northern Surat Basin
-
- Keywords
-
-
airborne electromagnetic
-
- Keywords
-
-
Published_External
-
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
-
CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
-
(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2022
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
-
Download the Record (pdf) [12 MB]
Download the Record (pdf) [12 MB]
- Distribution format
-
-
pdf
-
Resource lineage
- Statement
-
The Australian Government, through the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund – Expansion, commissioned Geoscience Australia to undertake the project ‘Assessing the Status of Groundwater in the Great Artesian Basin’ (referred to herein as the ‘Project’) ( http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/water/groundwater/gab#heading-1). Commencing in July 2019 and finishing in June 2022, the Project has acquired new geoscience and remotely sensed data, and developing and evaluating techniques and tools for assessing the status of GAB groundwater systems to support water resource management.
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/55a02ada-e9df-41ed-a274-7d68d2b5d472
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner McPherson, A
Geoscience Australia Internal Contact Point of contact McPherson, A.
MEG Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
-
GA Record
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/146502
- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
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