Hydrogeological Review of the Musgrave Province, South Australia
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Hydrogeological review of the Musgrave Province, South Australia Sunil Varma Goyder Institute for Water Research Technical Report Series No. 12/8 www.goyderinstitute.org Goyder Institute for Water Research Technical Report Series ISSN: 1839-2725 The Goyder Institute for Water Research is a partnership between the South Australian Government through the Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources, CSIRO, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. The Institute will enhance the South Australian Government’s capacity to develop and deliver science-based policy solutions in water management. It brings together the best scientists and researchers across Australia to provide expert and independent scientific advice to inform good government water policy and identify future threats and opportunities to water security. Enquires should be addressed to: Goyder Institute for Water Research Level 1, Torrens Building 220 Victoria Square, Adelaide, SA, 5000 tel: 08-8303 8952 e-mail: [email protected] Citation Varma, S., 2012, Hydrogeological review of the Musgrave Province, South Australia, Goyder Institute for Water Research Technical Report Series No. 12/8. Copyright © 2012 CSIRO To the extent permitted by law, all rights are reserved and no part of this publication covered by copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means except with the written permission of CSIRO. Disclaimer The Participants advise that the information contained in this publication comprises general statements based on scientific research and does not warrant or represent the completeness of any information or material in this publication. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... vii 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Location ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Previous studies .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.4 Data collection ............................................................................................................................ 2 2 REGIONAL SETTING ............................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Topography and drainage ........................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Climate ........................................................................................................................................ 5 3 GEOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................... 8 4 HYDROGEOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Groundwater occurrence ............................................................................................................ 9 4.2 Recharge ................................................................................................................................... 11 4.3 Groundwater flow ..................................................................................................................... 12 4.4 Groundwater quality ................................................................................................................. 15 5 GROUNDWATER RESOURCES .............................................................................................................. 18 5.1 Groundwater use and future demand ...................................................................................... 18 5.2 Groundwater potential ............................................................................................................. 18 5.3 Climate change impacts on groundwater ................................................................................. 21 6 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 25 7 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 26 REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................................... 27 GLOSSARY ......................................................................................................................................................... 29 Hydrogeological review of the Musgrave Province | iii Figures Figure 1: Location of the study area showing the Musgrave Province, aboriginal communities and road access. ................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Figure 2: Bore data availability in the Musgrave Province. ................................................................................ 4 Figure 3: Topography and drainage of the Musgrave Province. ........................................................................ 6 Figure 4: Musgrave Province rainfall (Source: SILO patch point data for Pukatja). ........................................... 7 Figure 5: Geology of the Musgrave Province (Major and Conor, 1993) ............................................................. 8 Figure 6: Surface map of the principal hydrogeological units of the Musgrave Province showing the overburden thickness (m) where available. Modified from the surface geology GIS data obtained from SARIG, South Australia. ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 7: Palaeochannels of the northwestern part of South Australia (after Hou et al., 2007). The map also shows the present day drainage and the locations of hydrogeological sections PC1 and PC2, shown in Figures 8 and 9 respectively. ........................................................................................................................ 12 Figure 8: Hydrogeological sections near a palaeochannel (PC1) showing the channel sediments and the watertable. Section location is shown in Figure 7. ........................................................................................... 13 Figure 9: Hydrogeological sections near a palaeochannel (PC2) showing the channel sediments and the watertable. Section location is shown in Figure 7. ........................................................................................... 14 Figure 10: Regional watertable (RSWL) contours (m AHD) for the eastern Musgrave Province. Data density is shown as black dots. There is a lack of watertable elevation data in the western part. Groundwater flow is perpendicular to the contours. A watertable may not exist where basement outcrops occur unless they have laterally and vertically connected fractures that are saturated with groundwater. .................................................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 11: Groundwater salinity in the Musgrave Province, colour coded with respect to the aquifer intersected. The background map shows the surface of valley bottoms based on their topographic signature as flat low-lying areas based on MrVBF algorithm (Gallant and Dowling, 2003). ............................ 17 Figure 12: Schematic section showing typical successful groundwater bore locations (after Allen, 1996). ... 19 Figure 13: Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI) image of Musgrave Province (Gum and Conor, 2003). ................. 20 Figure 14: Water level trends in the aboriginal community bores - Amata, Indulkana, Kaltjiti and Kalka communities. The adjacent map shows the surface geology at the bores. The location of the community and the colour codes for the geology are shown in Figure 6. .......................................................................... 22 Figure 15: Water level trends in the aboriginal community bores - Mimli, Pipalyatjara, Pukatja, Yunyarinyi and Umuwa communities. The adjacent map shows the surface geology at the bores. The location of the community and the colour codes for the geology are shown in Figure 6. .............................. 23 Figure 16: Hydrographs of selected bores in the Musgrave Province showing minimal effect of annual rainfall the static water level (meters below natural surface). ........................................................................ 24 Tables Table 1: Summary of bore data in the Musgrave Province for each of the 1:250,000 map areas. ................... 9 Table 2: Bore data summary for each type of aquifer in the Musgrave Province. ............................................ 9 Hydrogeological review of the Musgrave Province