The TI-TREE BASIN AQUIFER

MAP LOCALITY 300000mE 325000mE 350000mE 375000mE 400000mE 425000mE

Western NHULUNBUY NT DARWIN Creek Por JABIRU NORTHERN RIVER 1802 Ken Soak NT Por 3636 TERRITORY KATHERINE AHAKEYE WESTERN QUEENSLAND ABORIGINAL LAND TRUST The TI-TREE BASIN AQUIFER AUSTRALIA NORTHERN SOUTH Ti Tree Ti-Tree AUSTRALIA Nturiya NEW SOUTH B RN 5506 Adelaide Bore WALES TERRITORY Creek AQUIFER THICKNESS metres VICTORIA Stallion TENNANT CREEK MOUNT SKINNER 0 1020304050607080 7550000mN NT Por 704 7550000mN TASMANIA STUDY HANSON Road

AREA RN 12594 RIVER Adelaide Cartography by L. J. Fritz, Saltbush microwave tower Whitewood Dam Angula ALICE SPRINGS Bore Limit of Ti-Tree Basin Aquifer Family Outstation Spatial Data & Mapping Branch, Mt Skinner Pmara Jutunta Woodgreen Natural Resources Division, Creek RN 5507 Limit of Ti-Tree Basin Station Homestead Department of Natural Resources, Environment, Water Bore Principal Road - Sealed The Arts and Sport, Northern Territory of Australia. RN 17268 Current Monitoring Bores Minor Road - Sealed / Unsealed File Reference: Ti-Tree-Basin-Aquifer_250k Prepared and produced by the G0280010 Gauging station Track Department of Natural Resources, Environment Data Source; WOODFORDERN 17269 Whiterock The Arts and Sport, Northern Territory of Australia, A B Line of Cross-section Railway Dam 23 November 2010 Cadastre - Department of Lands & Planning, Property Boundary Gas Pipeline Northern Territory of Australia. Hydrogeology by R. Read and S. J. Tickell, Town Boundary Excavated Tank or Dam Water Resources Branch, Natural Resources Division, Topography - GEODATA TOPO 250K RN 17270 Anira Ti-Tree Town Fenceline Department of Natural Resources, Environment, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT. The Arts and Sport, Northern Territory of Australia. Nturiya Major Community

HIGHWAY Creek White Hills Tank For further information contact: RN 17271 NT Por NT Por Elbreda Dam Water Resources Branch, Natural Resources Division, C Northern Territory of Australia 6110 2427 Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport. Ph. (08) 8999 4455 This product and all material forming part of it is copyright belonging to the Northern Territory of Australia. RIVER Goyder Centre, Chung Wah Terrace, Palmerston, Northern Territory of Australia. You may use this material for your personal, non-commercial use or use it within your organisation for Tinarkie Soak G0280010 Unrapa non-commercial purposes, provided that an appropriate acknowledgement is made and the material is not Pine Hill RN 17272 Tank HIGHWAY As with most arid zone groundwaters, those in the basin contain moderate amounts of salt HANSON PINE HILL SALINITY altered in any way. Subject to the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, you must not make any 7525000mN 7525000mN WOODGREEN (predominantly common salt, sodium chloride). Salinity, expressed as Total Dissolved Solids on the map below varies other use of this product (including copying or reproducing it or part of it in any way) unless you have the NT Por 725 Woodgreen across the basin. The salinity is related to how easily water can get into the aquifer. Where recharge is high, salinities are 300000mE RN 17273 NT Por NT Por 2673 TI-TREE WATER CONTROL DISTRICT written permission of the Northern Territory of Australia to do so. Creek 6152 lower but where recharge is low salt becomes concentrated in the soil and sub-soil by evapotranspiration and this is NT Por NT Por Bank eventually flushed into the groundwater. In places, higher salinities may limit the use of the water. The Northern Territory of Australia does not warrant that the product or any part of it is correct or complete 6109 2673 Dam and will not be liable for any loss damage or injury suffered by any person as a result of its inaccuracy or Athinna The nitrate content of the groundwater also limits its use for human consumption over much of the basin. It is natural in NT Por incompleteness. NT Por NT Por origin and is produced by nitrogen fixing vegetation and termites. 3694 3520 RIVER 6646 Mulga Bore A SANDOVER Angula GROUNDWATER SALINITY REGIONAL SETTING WHITE HILL YARD The TI-TREE BASIN is one of many small sedimentary basins found across Central Australia. It started WOODFORDE 325000mE 350000mE 375000mE 400000mE to form around 65 millions years ago when lakes and swamps occupied a depression in the landscape. Initially clay NT Por NT Por 6153 STUART and peat began to fill the basin but later, rivers carried sand, silt and clay, forming the upper portion of the basins fill. 6108 HANSON RIVER RIVER Ti-Tree HANSON 1500 Barrow Yerik Tank Creek NT Por 2000 RIVER 2000 1500

2096 7550000mN 1500 MACKAY microwave tower LANDER Chiripee Dam 1000 TANAMI RIVER 1000 GEORGINA RIVER 325000m

RIVER Ti-Tree E Yuendumu SANDOVER 1000 TI-TREE BASIN 7500000m 1000

HIGHWAY 7500000mN 1500 N 1500 1000 ROAD STUART 2000 This map was produced

WHITCHERRY BASIN HAY on the Geocentric Datum 7525000mN Mulga Waterhole WOODFORDE RIVER RIVER of Australia 1994 (GDA 94) AILERON 1500 BURT STUART PLENTY PLENTY HIGHWAY NT Por 703 Lake Lewis Hart Range kilometres kilometres MOUNT WEDGE BASIN WAITE BASIN Allungra Waterhole 5 0 5 10 15 20 Papunya G0280004 HIGHWAY HALE BASIN Mt Liebig Black numbered lines are 25000 metre intervals of the Map Grid of CreekRedcliff Dam Kunparrka AY Australia (MGA) Zone 53 Universal Transverse Mercator Projection 1000 HALE (Haasts Bluff) HIGHW Horizontal Datum: GDA 94 Vertical Datum: AHD (metres)

Deering NAMATJIRA ROSS Creek GROUNDWATER 1000 Creek ALICE SPRINGS TODD RIVER SALINITY & USE

A IY LA

AL W A RL I RT A ST R NU

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A E C Allungra MACKAY FINKE RIVER DRIVE TODD RIVER RIVER 1500 7500000mN

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A Hermannsburg Y FARM BASIN 350000m Stock LEGEND - CROSS-SECTION E 2000 HALE BASIN Cainozoic Basin Geology Boundary ALCOOTA Salt Tolerant Bore with Mueller Watertable NT Por 4029 Crops Limit of Ti-Tree Basin Aquifer Registered Number BUSHY PARK RN 17268 1500 Standing Water NT Por 687 Creek

Ti-Tree Water Control District HIGHWAY km 0 20 40 60 80 km Level April 2005 Marginal for

7475000mN TDS (mg/L) Horticulture MACKAY Surfacewater Catchment Main Aquifer 1000

7475000mN Human Consumption and Horticulture km 0 5 10 15 km Edwards 0 Once in the aquifer, GROUNDWATER MOVES horizontally under the action of gravity. TI-TREE WATER CONTROL DISTRICT 7475000mN The directions that the water moves can be deduced from the watertable map below. It moves from where the watertable is A CROSS-SECTION A - B (See Main Map for Location of Cross-section) B high to where it is low. Recharge areas tend to be in the high watertable zones and discharge from the aquifer tends to occur 800 800 where the watertable is lower. Groundwater flows relatively slowly (centimetres to metres per year) due to the low hydraulic Bushy Park What goes in must eventually come out! DISCHARGE usually occurs at low points in the landscape. In gradients that drive the process and the resistance of having to pass through the minute pores between sand grains. Dam Bushy Park the map area there are no springs or swamps that could discharge groundwater. Stirling Swamp located near Wilora, 60 km north of the basin is thought to be a discharge point for groundwater that leaves the basin via the narrow outlet 700 700 SANDOVER Creek on its northeast side. The dominant pattern of flow is from south to north. The groundwater that is not used by evapotranspiration is funnelled into RN 17273 WOODFORDE RIVER RN 17272 RN 17271 RN 17270 RN 17269 STUART HIGHWAY RN 17268 Watertable Camerons Dam the narrow outlet on the basins north east side. Creek 600 Ti-Tree Basin Aquifer 600 Within the basin the main mechanism of discharge is evaporatranspiration. The acacia shrubland that covers the area Sand, silt & clay is capable of tapping the watertable where it is shallow enough. The map below indicates the depth below ground WATER LEVELS Mueller level of the water table. 375000m Dam 500 500 HIGHWAY 325000mE 350000mE 375000mE 400000mE Clay, silt, brown coal & minor sand E 25 Mile PLENTY Gem Fields DEPTH TO WATER Rd Dam (Roadhouse) RIVER 400 400 500 325000mE 350000mE 375000mE 400000mE ELEVATION Gillen (metres AHD) Pinnacle HANSON ueller HANSON Ti-Tree 300 Bedrock (greywacke, siltstone, 300 M granite, and metamorphic rocks RIVER RIVER RN 5506 510 400000mE 425000mE Ti-Tree

7550000mN 10 RN 5507 200 200 RN 12594 05 102030404515 25 35 10 7550000mN 520 DISTANCE - kilometres GROUNDWATER LEVELS and MONTHLY RAINFALL 20 10 600 555 520 RIVER 10

540 The main Ti-Tree Basin (water bearing formation) is

AQUIFER 10 developed in the old river sands. It is located as shallow as 10 metres to over See Main Map for 10 530 60 metres below the ground. In places moderately high yields (5 to 15 Location of Observation Bores HIGHWAY L/second) can be extracted from bores. Variations in thickness of the aquifer 500

and in the amount of silt and clay mixed with the sand make for considerable HIGHWAY

FLOODOUT 550 variability in bore yield. Aquifers occur beneath the main aquifer but they are No Record 40

WOODFORDE 540 7525000mN generally limited in extent and thickness.

The cross-section above shows the location of the main aquifer in relation to 60 STUART 7525000mN the two main geological layers. WOODFORDE 400 20 RN 5506 STUART 10

550 RN 12594

RN 5507

FLOODOUT FLOODOUT 300 550 515 20 Groundwater RECHARGE is the process where water seeps CK down into the aquifer. Due to the low average rainfall (318 mm/year) and its WATER LEVELS sporadic nature, the aquifer does not receive recharge every year. The abrupt RN 12594 rises in groundwater levels seen on the graph to the right, record recharge No Record Ti-Tree Basin events, typically associated with heavy rainfalls. An exceptionally large event RN’s 5506 & 5507 560 DEPTH TO WATER Aquifer 7500000mN occurred in the mid to late 1970’s. Groundwater levels have still not fallen to ALLUNGRA 200 Water Level Contour pre-1970’s levels over much of the basin. The long term average recharge is MONTHLY RAINFALL (mm) estimated at 2 mm/year, a relatively small amount. - metres AHD 40 7500000mN 550 (April 2005) Recharge is not evenly distributed across the area but is thought to be 60 WATER LEVEL (metres above sea level) Groundwater Flow concentrated in flood-outs. These are features where rivers enter the basin from No Record adjoining hills and then fan out across the plains into numerous channels. During 100 Observation Bore the rare times that the rivers flood, most of the water soaks into the sandy soils 40 570 Observation Bore of the flood-outs and the flood-waters only reach a limited distance from the hills. The Allungra Creek and Woodforde River flood-outs are the most important RN 5506 with Registered No. 20 570 recharge areas in the basin. 60 Property Boundary 0 545 510 Road 10 2001 1991 1981 1971 Depth - metres (April 2005) 2003 2005 1993 1995 1983 1985 1973 1975 2002 1992 1982 1972 1999 1989 1979 1969 1998 1988 1978 1968 1997 1987 1977 1967 2000 2004 1990 1994 1996 1980 1984 1986 Satellite image sourced from km 0 5 10 15 km 1970 1974 1976 km 0 5 10 15 km 7475000mN Terrametrics R , TruEarth R imagery 0

WATER YEAR 7475000mN