GAB
Water
ControlDistrict
B
C
A
Plenty
River
Lilla
River
Illogwa
Hale
Huckitta
Creek
Creek
River
Hay
Todd
River R
iver
Creek
Finke
Todd
River
Hale River
Field
River
Finke
River
Hugh
River
Plenty
River
Lilla
River
Illogwa
Hale
Huckitta
Creek
Creek
River
Hay
Todd
River R
iver
Creek
Finke
Todd
River
Hale RiverField
River
Finke
River
Hugh
River
Plenty
River
Lilla
River
Illogwa
Hale
Huckitta
Creek
Creek
River
Hay
Todd
River R
iver
Creek
Finke
Todd
River
Hale RiverField
River
Finke
River
Hugh
RiverP
lenty
River
Lilla
River
Illogwa
Hale
Huckitta
Creek
Creek
River
Hay
Todd
River R
iver
Creek
Finke
Todd
River
Hale RiverField
River
Finke
River
Hugh
River
Finke
River
CreekGoyder
RN018352
RN018593
New Crown
Old AndadoAndado
Atula
Numery
Limbla
Lilla Creek
Horseshoe Bend
RingwoodTodd River
AllambiDeep Well
Ooriminna
Santa Teresa
Titjikala
Amoonguna
Finke
ALICESPRINGS
Santa Teresa
Titjikala
ALICE SPRINGSAmoonguna
Finke
Santa Teresa
Titjikala
ALICE SPRINGSAmoonguna
Finke
Santa Teresa
Titjikala
ALICE SPRINGSAmoonguna
Finke
Finke
STUAR
T HW
Y
Northern Territory
South Australia
Queensland
of
Con
finem
ent
Lim
it
GAB
Water
ControlDistrict
GAB
Water
ControlDistrict
GAB
Water
ControlDistrict
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200210
220230240
250260
210
170
180
190
190
180
170
Mulligan RiverSprings
Dalhousie Springs
400000mE 450000mE 500000mE 550000mE 600000mE 650000mE 700000mE 750000mE
400000mE 450000mE 500000mE 550000mE 600000mE 650000mE 700000mE 750000mE
7400
000m
N73
5000
0mN
7300
000m
N72
5000
0mN
7200
000m
N71
5000
0mN
7400000mN
7350000mN
7300000mN
7250000mN
7200000mN
7150000mN
450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE
450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE
7350
000m
N72
5000
0mN
7150
000m
N
7350000mN
7250000mN
7150000mN
450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE
450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE
7350
000m
N72
5000
0mN
7150
000m
N
7350000mN
7250000mN
7150000mN
450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE
450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE
7350
000m
N72
5000
0mN
7150
000m
N
7350000mN
7250000mN
7150000mN
850000mE
850000mE
Th
om
as
1
Co
lso
n
Mc
Dill
s
RN
01
78
71
RN
01
83
02
RN
00
40
09
RN
01
85
93
RN
01
64
83
RN
00
73
97
RN
00
24
96
AT
B1
RN
01
87
91
RN
01
87
93
RN
01
27
81
RN
00
26
07
RN
01
27
80
RN
01
13
55
Be
ac
hc
om
be
r
< 10
10 to 30
30 to 50
50 to 70
70 to 90
> 90
GAB Springs
200
Data Point
Groundwater Flow
Limit of Artesian Groundwater
Limit of Confinement
Groundwater Contour mAHD
Legend
Carbon-14 in Groundwater (pMC)
J Aquifer Unsaturated
HAY RIVERSF5316
ALICE SPRINGSSF5314
RODINGASG5302
HALE RIVERSG5303
SIMPSON DESERTNORTHSG5304
FINKESG5306
McDILLSSG5307
SIMPSON DESERTSOUTHSG5308
Rolling Downs GroupTertiary and Quaternary
J AquiferPre JurassicFormations
Rolling Downs Group,Tertiary and Quaternary
J Aquifer
Pre Jurassic Formations
ILLOGWA CREEKSF5315
0 to 40
0 to 40
80 to 120
> 120
Points used in interpolation
Limit of Artesian Groundwater
Limit of Confinement
Legend
Groundwater level J Aquifer (metres)relative to ground surface
belowground surface
aboveground surface
40 to 80
J Aquifer Unsaturated
40 to 80
> 80
Points used in interpolation
< 50
100 to 300
300 to 500
50 to 100
500 to 1000
1000 to 1500
1500 to 1950
Legend
Depth to J Aquifer(metres below ground level)
See Enlargement
This map was producedon the Geocentric Datum
of Australia 1994 (GDA 94)
C Northern Territory of Australia
http://creativecommons.org/l icenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlikeThis publication is provided under a CreativeCommons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is an extensive Cretaceous to Jurassic aged groundwater system which underlies over a fifth of the Australian continent. Around 5% of this resource is located in theNorthern Territory underlying an area of 84,500 square kilometres or 6% of the Northern Territory landmass. Located in the southeast corner of the Northern Territory, the GAB comprises a massivequartz sandstone aquifer (J aquifer) underlying a thick sequence of low permeability mudstone and shale (Rolling Downs Group). The first recorded bore in the J aquifer in the Northern Territory wasdrilled in 1894 as a water supply for the Charlotte Waters telegraph station. This was followed shortly after in 1898 by the completion of the first flowing well, Anacoora Bore. Over the last 110 yearsaround another 80 bores have been drilled and constructed in the J aquifer in the Northern Territory, the vast majority of these are located along the basin margin and are predominantly used toprovide stock and domestic water supply.
Recharge to the J aquifer occurs when flooding in ephemeral water courses, suchas the Finke River, leads to the infiltration of water directly into the aquifer. Thisrecharge mechanism is restricted to a discrete zone along the edge of the GABwhere the surface drainage is in direct connection with outcropping J aquifer.Observation bore RN018593 is located in the Finke River recharge zone - thewater level in this bore shows a lagged response to major rainfall events both fromthe immediate area (New Crown rainfall station) and the greater catchment(Hermannsburg rainfall Station located in the headwaters of the catchment 300kilometres to the northeast). Observation bore RN018352 is located on the edge ofthe Finke River 20 kilometres to the southeast of observation bore RN018593. Inthis area the J aquifer is confined, the water level in RN018352 is static and doesnot show a correlation with the rainfall records indicating the ephemeral riverrecharge mechanism is not operating along this section of the Finke River.
This inset represents the groundwater level in the J aquifer relative to ground surface. The black hatch along the northern and western margin of the GABdisplays the area where the aquifer is unsaturated or contains no groundwater. Adjacent to this area the aquifer is unconfined and deep groundwater levelsare encountered. The depth to water in the southwest corner of the GAB is over 120 metres beneath the surface. Further to the east the J aquifer becomesconfined by the Rolling Downs Group and the groundwater is artesian. The water level in an artesian bore is above the land surface and if uncontrolled willflow freely. The purple dashed line shows the approximate location of the artesian limit. Bores drilled into the J aquifer to the east of this line are likely toencounter flowing groundwater, bores drilled to the west of the boundary will have a water level below the ground surface.
This inset shows the direction of groundwater flow within the J aquifer. Groundwater enters the aquifer on the margin of the GAB around the Finke and Plenty Rivers. Groundwater flows eastand south, discharging in Queensland at the Mulligan River Springs and in South Australia at Dalhousie Springs. The coloured dots show the Carbon-14 concentrations of groundwater in theJ aquifer. Carbon-14 is a radionuclide that is commonly used to investigate groundwater residence time in aquifers. The red dots show high Carbon-14 values and modern groundwater whilethe blue dots represent low Carbon-14 concentrations and suggest groundwater residence times of 10000’s years. The distribution of Carbon-14 concentrations supports the groundwaterflow directions and shows an increasing residence time from the GAB margin to the spring groups.
5 km0
This product and all material forming part of it is copyright belonging to the Northern Territoryof Australia. You may use this material for your personal, non-commercial use or use itwithin your organisation for non-commercial purposes, provided that an appropriateacknowledgement is made and the material is not altered in any way. Subject to the fairdealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, you must not make any other use of this product(including copying or reproducing it or part of it in any way) unless you have the writtenpermission of the Northern Territory of Australia to do so.
The Northern Territory of Australia does not warrant that the product or any part of it is correct orcomplete and will not be liable for any loss damage or injury suffered by any person as a result ofits inaccuracy or incompleteness.
Map Grid of Australia (MGA)Zone 53 Universal Transverse Mercator Projection
Horizontal Datum GDA 94
WESTERNAUSTRALIA
QUEENSLAND
NORTHERNTERRITORY
SOUTHAUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTHWALES
VICTORIA
TASMANIA
INDEX TO ADJOINING 250K SHEETS
CROSS SECTION A - C
0
-2500
-2000
-1500
-1000
0
EL
EV
AT
ION
(m
etr
es
AH
D)
DISTANCE (kilometres)
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
-2000
-1000
0
0
DISTANCE (kilometres)
CROSS SECTION B - C
EL
EV
AT
ION
(m
etr
es
AH
D)
50 100 150 200 250 300
CA
B C
500
-500
KATHERINE
NHULUNBUY
JABIRUDARWIN
NORTHERN
TERRITORY
TENNANT CREEK
ALICE SPRINGS
MAP LOCALITY
DISCLAIMER
RECHARGE AND SURFACE WATER INTERACTION
NORTHERN TERRITORY GREAT ARTESIAN BASINHYDROGEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE
For further information contact - Water Resources Division, Department of Land Resource ManagementGoyder Centre, 25 Chung Wah Terrace, Palmerston, Northern Territory of Australia. Phone (08) 8999 4455, email [email protected]
Project Officer: Simon FultonCartography: R. Lim, Spatial Data and Mapping
Water Resources DivisionDepartment of Land Resource Management
Northern Territory of AustraliaSeptember 2013
File Reference: GAB_Hydrogeology_1M
Mineral Exploration Hole
Petroleum Investigation Hole
Cadastre / Road
River
Aboriginal Community
(Crown Point, Finke Group, Proterozoic Basement)
(Algebuckina Sandstone)
(Rolling Downs Group, Tertiary, Quaternary)
General Features
< 50
50 - 100
100 - 200
200 - 400
400 - 600
600 - 800
> 800
10 20km 0 50 km4030
Homestead
Unsuccessful or Abandoned Bore
FORMATION THICKNESS J AQUIFER
J Aquifer Thickness (metres)
Deep Aquifer Bore
J Aquifer Bore
Shallow Aquifer Bore
10 20km 0 50 km4030
GROUNDWATER LEVEL J AQUIFER
10 20km 0 30 40 50 km
DEPTH TO THE TOP OF J AQUIFER
10 20km 0 50 km4030
GROUNDWATER ELEVATION AND FLOW J AQUIFER
200
180
160
140
120
100
0
20
40
60
80
56
58
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
Ma
y 2
01
0
Jun
20
10
Jul
20
10
Au
g 2
01
0
Se
p 2
01
0
Oct
20
10
No
v 2
01
0
De
c 2
01
0
Jan
20
11
Fe
b 2
01
1
Ma
r 2
01
1
Ap
r 2
01
1
Ma
y 2
01
1
Jun
20
11
Jul
20
11
Au
g 2
01
1
Se
p 2
01
1
We
ekl
y R
ain
fall
To
tals
(m
m)
Gro
un
dw
ate
r L
eve
l (m
etr
es
be
low
gro
un
d l
eve
l)
Finke River Recharge Groundwater Levels and Rainfall Records
RN018352
RN018593
015531 Hermannsburg Weekly Rainfall Totals (mm)015600 New Crown Weekly Rainfall Totals (mm)
Enlargement
Roll ing Downs Group
Key Bores
Legend
Groundwater BoresGroundwater Contour mAHD170
J Aquifer Unsaturated
J Aquifer Outcrop