Journal article
Identifying fluvial recharge and artesian upwards leakage contributions to arid zone shallow, unconfined groundwater
JF Costelloe, EC Irvine, AW Western, M Tyler
Chemical Geology | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Published : 2012
Abstract
Evaporation losses from unconfined groundwater can form an important part of the water balance of arid zone groundwater systems. However, in artesian groundwater systems, the discrimination between artesian leakage and surface recharge contributions to the unconfined water table is required. We use hydrochemical analysis techniques and isotopic data to investigate the provenance of unconfined groundwater in zones of artesian discharge along the margin of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) of Australia. Forward modelling of evapoconcentration and use of trilinear plots identified unconfined groundwater that was largely derived from fluvial recharge, compared to upwards artesian leakage, particula..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
Funding for this research was provided by the Australian Research Council Linkage grant LP0774814, in conjunction with industry partners BHP-Billiton, Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee, Santos Limited and the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resource Management Board. We thank BHP-Billiton for permission to use the monitoring data of unconfined groundwater levels around Borefield A and for use of facilities during fieldwork. The permission of the following landholders to conduct fieldwork is gratefully acknowledged; Robert Khan (Marree Station), George Morphett (Callanna Station), David Brook and Frank Booth (Murnpeowie Station), Reg Dodd (Finniss Springs Station), Bobby Hunter (Stuart Creek Station), Randall Crozier (Mt Anna Station), Trevor Williams (Nilpinna Station). The fieldwork would not have been possible without the assistance of Vjeko Matic, Graeme Tomlinson, Dinh Phu Nguyen, Belis Matabire, Maria Friderich, Peter Richards and Susan Hayes. Dr Andrew Herczeg provided valuable comments on an earlier draft and we wish to thank the two reviewers and editor for their helpful and constructive comments.