Constraining flow paths of saline groundwater at basin margins using hydrochemistry and environmental isotopes: Lake Cooper, Murray basin, Australia

Abstract

Solutes in saline groundwater (total dissolved solids up to 37 000 mg/L) in the Lake Cooper region in the southern margin of the Riverine Province of the Murray Basin are derived by evapotranspiration of rainfall with minor silicate, carbonate and halite dissolution. The distribution of hydraulic heads, salinity, percentage modern carbon (pmc) contents, and Cl/Br ratios imply that the groundwater system is complex with vertical flow superimposed on lateral flow away from the basin margins. Similarities in major ion composition, stable (O, H, and C) isotope, and 87Sr/86Sr ratios between groundwater from the shallower Shepparton Formation and the deeper Calivil-Renmark aquifer also imply that ..