Hydrogeology and groundwater resources of the Lake Amadeus and Ayers Rock region, Northern Territory

A hydrogeological map-set of the Lake Amadeus-Ayers Rock region in central Australia has been prepared as a pilot project for a national groundwater resources inventory. The maps in the set were compiled on a computer graphics system at 1:250000 scale from layers representing topography, bedrock geology, surficial geology, hydrodynamics, hydrochemistry, and water-bore locations. The quantitative information was obtained from a microcomputer database, and the geological and topographic information was digitised from specially revised maps. As the hydrogeological data are sparse it was decided to publish the main maps at 1:500000 scale. For three areas where more detailed information was available, inset maps at 1:100000 scale are presented. The region mapped is arid; annual rainfall is about 250 mm and potential evaporation close to 3000 mm. Groundwater recharge is of the order of I mm/year. Important aquifers are surficial Cainozoic sand and calcrete, and bedrock sandstone units including the Palaeozoic Pacoota Sandstone and Mereenie Sandstone. Groundwater varies in quality from 0.4 g/L to more than 200 g/L total dissolved solids. Groundwater converges from the north and south towards a southeast-trending chain of playas, where it discharges by evaporation. Hydrochemical evolution is apparent along groundwater flow paths. Fresher water, generally bicarbonate-rich, occurs close to the hilly recharge areas and in the calcrete. This evolves to highly saline chloride-rich brines in the playas, by processes of solution, precipitation of minerals, and evaporative concentration. Groundwater supplies have been developed for the Yulara tourist resort, the largest settlement in the area, although the water, derived from Cainozoic sands, is desalinated for use in domestic supplies. For a proposed tourist resort at Kings Canyon, a water supply is being developed from bedrock units, mainly the Pacoota Sandstone. Single bores are scattered through the region, supplying cattle stations and Aboriginal settlements. In this hydrogeologically complex region, extrapolation from conceptually known areas is difficult. The detailed assessment of ground water resources will require additional drilling.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
1989-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/27

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics

 Canberra
Author

Jacobson, G.

 1
Author

Lau, G.C.

 2
Author

McDonald, P.S.

 3
Author

Jankowski, J.

 4
Name

Bulletin

Issue identification

230

ISBN

0644095660

Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

EGD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Spatial resolution

Equivalent scale

Denominator
500000
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Unknown

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

Keywords

  • GA Publication

  • Bulletin

Theme

  • groundwater

Theme

  • hydrogeology

Keywords

  • AU-NT

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

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

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

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
OnLine resource

Download the Bulletin (pdf)

Download the Bulletin (pdf)

Distribution format

  • pdf

Resource lineage

Statement

Unknown

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

GA Publication

Description

Source data not available.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

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

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

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/a05f7892-951f-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

Legacy AGSO BMR Bulletins

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/27

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-951f-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T06:04:40
Date info (Creation)
1996-10-29T00:00:00

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

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

groundwater hydrogeology

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Associated resources

Not available