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Hydrostratigraphy, hydrogeology and system conceptualisation of the Great Artesian Basin

Ransley TR and Smerdon BD (eds) (2012) Hydrostratigraphy, hydrogeology and system conceptualisation of the Great Artesian Basin. A technical report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment. 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

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

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: Layer 10 Great Artesian Basin base of Jurassic-Cretaceous sequence surface
  • 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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 3: Cenozoic geology

Figure 3.1 Thickness of Cenozoic sequence over the Great Artesian Basin

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

Figure 3.3 Thickness of Cenozoic weathering

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

Chapter 5: Hydrogeology of the Great Artesian Basin

Figure 5.2 Revised hydrogeological boundary of the Great Artesian Basin

Figure 5.3 Location of Helidon Ridge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 8: Regional hydrogeochemistry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compendium of A3 figures

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

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

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

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

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

A3 Figure 6 Thickness of Cenozoic weathering

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

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

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

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

Modelling of climate and groundwater development

Welsh WD, Moore CR, Turnadge CJ, Smith AJ and Barr TM (2012) Modelling of climate and groundwater development. A technical report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment. CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia.

Chapter 2: GABtran model

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

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

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

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

Chapter 4: Cape York model

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 5: Uncertainty analyses

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

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

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

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

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

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

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