Hydrogeochemical Baseline Mapping of the Great Artesian Basin Groundwater  


Authors / CoAuthors

Kuske, T.J. | van der Wielen, S.E. | Dunsmore, R. | Ransley, T.R. | Draper, J. | Feitz, A.J.

Abstract

The first large scale projects for geological storage of carbon dioxide on the Australian mainland are likely to occur within sedimentary sequences that underlie or are within the Triassic Cretaceous Great Artesian Basin aquifer sequence. Recent national and state assessments have concluded that certain deep formations within the Great Artesian Basin show considerable geological suitability for the storage of greenhouse gases. These same formations contain trapped methane and naturally generated carbon dioxide stored for millions of years. In July 2010, the Queensland Government released exploration permits for Greenhouse Gas Storage in the Surat and Galilee basins. An important consideration in assessing the potential economic, environmental, health and safety risks of such projects is the potential impact carbon dioxide migrating out of storage reservoirs could have on overlying groundwater resources. The risk and impact of carbon dioxide migrating from a greenhouse gas storage reservoir into groundwater cannot be objectively assessed without an adequate knowledge of the natural baseline characteristics of the groundwater within these systems. Due to the phase behaviour of carbon dioxide, geological storage of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state requires depths greater than 800m, but there are few hydrogeochemical studies of these deeper aquifers in the prospective storage areas. Historical hydrogeochemical data were compiled from various State and Federal Government agencies. In addition, hydrogeochemical information has been compiled from thousands of petroleum well completion reports in order to obtain more information on the deeper aquifers, not typically used for agriculture or human consumption. The data were passed through a quality checking procedure to check for mud contamination and ascertain whether a representative sample had been collected. The large majority of the samples proved to be contaminated but a small selection passed the quality checking criteria.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

72818

Contact for the resource

  Custodian

ED  

  Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Keywords

  • GA PublicationPoster/Image
( Theme )
  • carbon dioxide
( Theme )
  • data
( Theme )
  • environmental
( Theme )
  • geochemical modelling
( Theme )
  • geochemistry
( Theme )
  • geological storage of CO2
( Theme )
  • geology
( Theme )
  • groundwater
( Theme )
  • resource management
( Theme )
  • salinity
( Theme )
  • water resources
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Published_Internal

Publication Date

2010-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - restricted

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Lineage

Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

[-32.0, 0.0, 132.0, 152.0]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links

Source Information

Source data not available.