Authors / CoAuthors
Abstract
This Central Australian Cenozoic Basins 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. Cenozoic basins are an important source of readily accessible groundwater within the arid deserts of central Australia. This province represents a collection of six notable Cenozoic basins within the region, including the Ti Tree, Waite, Hale, Mount Wedge, Lake Lewis and Alice Farm basins. Many local communities in this region (such as Papunya, Ti Tree and Ali Curung) rely upon groundwater stored within Cenozoic basin aquifers for their water security. The basins typically contain up to several hundred metres of saturated sediments that can include relatively thick intervals of hydraulically conductive sands, silts and minor gravels. It is noted that the potential groundwater storage volumes in the Cenozoic basins are much greater than the annual amount of runoff and recharge that occurs in central Australia, making them prospective targets for groundwater development. Groundwater quality and yields are variable, although relatively good quality groundwater can be obtained at suitable yields in many areas for community water supplies, stock and domestic use and irrigated horticulture operations, for example, in the Ti Tree Basin. However, not all of the Cenozoic basins have the potential to supply good quality groundwater resources for community and horticultural supplies. With the exception of several small sub-regions, most of the Waite Basin has very little potential to supply good quality groundwater for agricultural use. This is mainly due to limited aquifer development, low yielding bores and elevated groundwater salinity (commonly >2000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids). However, bores have been successfully installed for smaller-scale pastoral stock and domestic supplies and small communities or outstations in the Waite Basin.
Product Type
document
eCat Id
148715
Contact for the resource
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
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- Contact instructions
- MEG
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Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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- HydrogeologyENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCESStratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy)PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCEEnvironmental ManagementECOLOGYLand Use and Environmental PlanningEARTH SCIENCESGEOLOGYBasin AnalysisSedimentology
- ( Project )
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- National Groundwater Sytems
- ( Theme )
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- Groundwater
- ( Theme )
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- Exploring for the Future
- ( Theme )
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- National Hydrogeological Inventory
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2023-09-28T07:21:34
Creation Date
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Status
completed
Purpose
A thematic summary of the Central Australian Cenozoic Basins. Part of a compendium of consistently compiled summaries that comprise the National Hydrogeological Inventory
Maintenance Information
asNeeded
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation inlandWaters environment
Series Information
Lineage
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.
Parent Information
National Hydrogeology Inventory
UUID - 77a96e76-a39e-483d-976b-4137a79141f8,
eCat ID - 148897
Extents
[-23.9207, -21.6317, 130.0169, 134.7467]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Source Information