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Hydrostratigraphy, hydrogeology and system conceptualisation of the Great Artesian Basin

Ransley TR and Smerdon BD (eds) (2012) . CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia.

Chapter 2: Jurassic-Cretaceous geology

Figure 2.2 Digital elevation model with Great Artesian Basin boundary and aquifer recharge zones

  • Groundwater recharge areas:
  • Regionally variable local recharge:
    (aquifer = Winton Formation or aquifer = Mackunda Formation)
  • Cenozoic Aquifer recharge zone: (Wyaaba Cycle, Bulimba Cycle)

Figure 2.3 Digital elevation model with Great Artesian Basin boundary and aquifer recharge zones

  • Base Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence elevation:
  • Fault:

Figure 2.4 Basement to the Great Artesian Basin showing structural elements of the Carpentaria-Karumba and Laura-Kalpowar basins

  • Elevation of base of GAB sequence:
  • Structures: Line features representing the structures in the Carpentaria and Kurumba basin, captured from the Geology of the Carpentaria and Kurumba Basins Queensland 1980 hard copy map compiled 1977 by J.Smart, H.F. Doutch, Miss D. M. Pillinger, BMR; K. G. Grimes, GSQ.

Figure 2.7 Basement of Great Artesian Basin with underlying geological basins

  • Morphology of basement to the GAB:
  • Margin of underlying sedimentary basin: Australian Geological Provinces, 2013.01 edition (女女视频data set)

Figure 2.8 Basement surface of the Carpentaria and Laura basins with underlying sedimentary basins

  • Morphology of basement to the GAB:

Figure 2.12 Configuration, extent and thickness of the basal Jurassic-Cretaceous sandstone aquifers in the Carpentaria and Laura basins

  • Thickness of basal Jurassic-Cretaceous aquifer:
  • Isopach contour:

Figure 2.13 Mesozoic geology of the Carpentaria and Laura basins highlighting thickness of the onshore Normanton Formation aquifer

  • Thickness of onshore Normanton Formation:
  • Isopach contour:
  • Mesozoic geology:

Figure 2.14 Sub-basins of the Carpentaria and Laura basins and relationships with contiguous basins

  • Morphology of basement to the Great Artesian Basin:

Chapter 3: Cenozoic geology

Figure 3.1 Thickness of Cenozoic sequence over the Great Artesian Basin

  • Elevation of the Base of Cenozoic cover:
  • Cenozoic thickness contour:

Figure 3.2 Thickness of Paleogene-Neogene sequence overlying the Great Artesian Basin

  • Thickness:
  • Sediment thickness contour:

Figure 3.3 Thickness of Cenozoic weathering

  • Weathering thickness:
  • Weathering thickness contour:

Figure 3.4 Cenozoic geology and sequence thickness in the Karumba and Kalpowar basins

  • Thickness of Cenozoic sediments:
  • Isopach contour:
  • Cenozoic outcrop extents:

Chapter 5: Hydrogeology of the Great Artesian Basin

Figure 5.2 Revised hydrogeological boundary of the Great Artesian Basin

  • Revised hydrogeologic boundary of the GAB:

Figure 5.3 Location of Helidon Ridge

  • Elevation of base Hutton Sandstone:
  • Approximate location of Helidon Ridge:
  • Groundwater divide in Hutton Sandstone:

Figure 5.7 Reinterpretation of the south-western onshore boundary of the Carpentaria hydrogeological basin

  • Revised watertable boundary:

Figure 5.8 Great Artesian Basin hydrogeological units on the basal unconformity juxtaposed with topmost hydrogeological units in underlying basins

  • Great Artesian Basin units directly overlying basement:
  • Basement units in contact with base of Great Artesian Basin:

Figure 5.9 Extent of Paleogene-Neogene deposits in relation to the underlying Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence of the Great Artesian Basin

  • Overlying sediments that will contain paleochannels:
  • Hydrogeological Units:

Tables 5.2, 5.3 Figures 5.22, 5.23, 5.24, 5.25

  • Porosity and permeability values:

Figure 5.26 Spatial distribution of mean horizontal permeability and locations of data points

  • Permeability:

Figure 5.29 Thickness of Rolling Downs group with location of polygonal faulting

  • Thickness:
  • Aquifer recharge zones:

Chapter 6: Regional Watertable

Figure 6.1 Regional watertable in the Great Artesian Basin Note: elevation of the watertable is in mAHD

Figure 6.25 Great Artesian Basin - wide coverage of healthy and persistent riparian vegetation based on three EVI time series coefficients for the period 2000-2008. Streams with high EVI values along their riparian corridors are shown in orange

  • Enhanced Vegetation Index: 

Chapter 7: Regional hydrodynamics

Figure 7.1 Groundwater temperature of the Cadna-owie - Hooray Aquifer and equivalents, derived from downhole, bottom of hole and surface (free-flowing) measurements

  • Water temperature:

Figure 7.2 Potentiometric surface maps for the Cadna-owie - Hooray Aquifer and equivalents across the Great Artesian Basin for 20-year intervals of pressure measurements since the start of development of Great Artesian Basin aquifers

  • Groundwater level:

Figure 7.3 Pre-development (circa 1900 to 1920) potentiometric surface maps for the Cadna-owie - Hooray Aquifer and equivalents across the Great Artesian Basin, with and without influence of regional tectonic faulting

  • Groundwater level:

Figure 7.4 Modern (circa 2010) potentiometric surface maps for the Cadna-owie - Hooray Aquifer and equivalents across the Great Artesian Basin, with and without influence of regional tectonic faulting

  • Groundwater level:

Figure 7.5 Potentiometric difference surface between pre-development and modern day including selected groundwater level hydrographs

  • Difference in groundwater level:

Figure 7.6 Difference between the watertable and Cadna-owie - Hooray Aquifer and equivalents potentiometric surface across the Great Artesian Basin. Positive values indicate potential for downward flow and negative values indicate potential for upward flow

  • Water table elevation:
  • Potentiometric surface:

Figure 7.9 Groundwater recharge estimated by the chloride-mass-balance method to Cadna-owie - Hooray and Hutton aquifers

  • Recharge:

Chapter 8: Regional hydrogeochemistry

Figure 8.2 Total dissolved solids for groundwaters within formations of the Great Artesian Basin sequence

  • Total dissolved solids:

Figure 8.4 Alkalinity for groundwaters within formations of the Great Artesian Basin sequence

  • Total alkalinity:

Figure 8.5 Stable carbon isotope variations in Cadna-owie - Hooray groundwaters

  • Stable carbon isotope variations:

Figure 8.6 Sodium adsorption ratio for groundwaters within formations of the Great Artesian Basin sequence

  • Sodium adsorption ratio:

Figure 8.8 Sulphate concentrations for groundwaters within formations of the Great Artesian Basin sequence

  • Sulphate:

Figure 8.10 Fluoride concentration for groundwaters within formations of the Great Artesian Basin sequence

  • Flouride:

Figure 8.12 Carbon-14 variation in the Cadna-owie - Hooray Aquifer groundwaters across the Great Artesian Basin (after Radke et al., 2000)

  • Carbon-14 variation:

Figure 8.13 Chlorine-36 to chloride ratio variations in the Cadna-owie - Hooray aquifers across the Great Artesian Basin

  • Chlorine-36 to chloride ratio variations:

Chapter 9: Advancing the understanding of the Great Artesian Basin

Figure 9.2 Coincidence of crustal stress vectors (after Hillis and Reynolds, 2000) and river tracts with high evapotranspiration losses

  • Great Artesian Basin:
  • Transpiration Streams:
  • Watercourse:

Compendium of A3 figures

A3 Figure 1 Digital elevation model with Great Artesian Basin boundary and aquifer recharge zones

  • Groundwater recharge areas:
  • Regionally variable local recharge:
  • Cenozoic Aquifer recharge zone:

A3 Figure 2 Hydrogeological basement elevation with structural elements of the Eromanga, Carpentaria, Surat and Clarence-Moreton basins

  • Base Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence elevation:
  • Fault:

A3 Figure 3 Basement of Great Artesian Basin with underlying geological basins

  • Morphology of basement to the GAB:
  • Margin of underlying sedimentary basin:

A3 Figure 4 Thickness of Cenozoic sequence over the Great Artesian Basin

  • Elevation of the Base of Cenozoic cover:
  • Cenozoic thickness contour:

A3 Figure 5 Thickness of Paleogene-Neogene sequence overlying the Great Artesian Basin

  • Thickness:
  • Sediment thickness contour:

A3 Figure 6 Thickness of Cenozoic weathering

  • Weathering thickness:
  • Weathering thickness contour:

A3 Figure 10 Extent of Paleogene-Neogen deposits in relation to the underlying Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence of the Great Artesian Basin

  • Overlying sediments that will contain paleochannels:
  • Hydrogeological Units:

A3 Figure 20 Thickness of Rolling Downs group with location of polygonal faulting

  • Thickness:
  • Aquifer recharge zones:

A3 Figure 21 Thickness of Rolling Downs group with location of polygonal faulting

  • Enhanced Vegetation Index:

APPENDIX E: Hydrodynamic data

Apx Figure E.1 Potentiometric difference surface between pre-development and modern day including selected groundwater level hydrographs (black dots) presented in this appendix

  • Difference in groundwater level:

Modelling of climate and groundwater development

Welsh WD, Moore CR, Turnadge CJ, Smith AJ and Barr TM (2012) . CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia.

Chapter 2: GABtran model

Figure 2.3 Change in GABtran groundwater level (m) under Scenario A

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 2.4 Change in GABtran groundwater level (m) under Scenario C

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 2.5 Change in GABtran groundwater level (m) under Scenario C relative to Scenario A

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 2.6 Change in GABtran groundwater level (m) under Scenario D

  • Change in groundwater level:

Chapter 4: Cape York model

Figure 4.14 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario A with the three storativity estimates

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.15 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario C with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 100 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.16 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario C with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 150 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.17 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario C with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 200 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.18 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario C relative to Scenario A with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 100 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.19 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario C relative to Scenario A with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 150 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.20 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario C relative to Scenario A with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 200 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.22 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario D, and under Scenario D relative to Scenario C with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 100 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.23 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario D, and under Scenario D relative to Scenario C with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 150 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Figure 4.24 Change in Cape York groundwater level (m) under Scenario D, and under Scenario D relative to Scenario C with storativity corresponding to an aquifer thickness of 200 m

  • Change in groundwater level:

Chapter 5: Uncertainty analyses

Figure 5.10 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration

  • Data worth:

Figure 5.11 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration in the Carpentaria region

  • Data worth:

Figure 5.12 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration in the Central Eromanga region

  • Data worth:

Figure 5.13 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration in the Surat region

  • Data worth:

Figure 5.14 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration at Granite Springs in the Surat region

  • Data worth:

Figure 5.15 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration in the Western Eromanga region

  • Data worth:

Figure 5.16 Spatial distribution of data worth of monitored groundwater levels used in GABtran calibration at Dalhousie Springs in the Western Eromanga region

  • Data worth: