Hydrogeological Inventory For The Arafura Sedimentary Basin

Over 250 million years of geological history are documented in this hydrogeological inventory of the Arafura Basin, a large sedimentary basin along Australia's northern margin. It compiles descriptive attributes across themes like geology, hydrogeology, groundwater use, and land use, created by the Australian Ocean Data Network. The dataset was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze groundwater management practices by referencing the 'Groundwater management and use' theme data.
• Correlate aquifer properties like fracturing and weathering depth with specific geological units such as the Marchinbar Sandstone.
• Study the relationship between surface water features and hydrogeology using the 'Surface water' and 'Hydrogeology' theme groups.
• Map land use and industry types against geological formations to assess environmental impact on groundwater systems.

Strengths

• Covers a geological time span exceeding 250 million years, from the late Neoproterozoic to the early Permian.
• Groups data into 11 distinct thematic categories including Geology, Hydrogeology, and Land use.
• Describes a major basin where over 90% of its area occurs offshore in the Arafura Sea.

Limitations

• No detailed basin-scale hydrogeological studies are available, relying on localized investigations from the 1980s and 1990s.
• Specific data volume, row count, and column details are unknown.
• Primary data format is PDF, which may hinder direct computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Compilation of descriptive attribute information grouped into thematic categories, associated with a spatial groundwater feature index map.

Time Range

Late Neoproterozoic to early Permian (geological record).

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Arafura Basin, northern continental margin of Australia, extending onshore in Arnhem Land and offshore into the Arafura Sea.