Arafura Basin Hydrogeology and Groundwater Management Inventory

Geoscience Australia's inventory describes hydrogeological attributes for the Arafura Basin, a large sedimentary basin along Australia's northern margin. The dataset groups descriptive topics into themes including Location, Demographics, Geology, Hydrogeology, and Groundwater management. It covers a sedimentary record spanning over 250 million years, from the late Neoproterozoic to early Permian.

Use Cases

• Analyze Hydrogeology and Groundwater themes to characterize fractured sandstone aquifers like the Marchinbar Sandstone.
• Map Geology and Surface water attributes to model shallow marine and fluvial depositional environments.
• Assess Groundwater management and use data for remote communities such as Maningrida and Galiwinku.
• Correlate Physical geography and Land use attributes with environmental and industrial planning.

Strengths

• Covers a sedimentary record spanning over 250 million years.
• Groups data into 11 thematic categories including Hydrogeology, Geology, and Groundwater management.
• Describes a basin where over 90% occurs offshore in the Arafura Sea.

Limitations

• Data is provided in PDF format, limiting direct computational analysis.
• No detailed basin-scale hydrogeological studies are referenced, indicating a knowledge gap.
• Specific quantitative data points, row counts, or column structures are unavailable.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Compiled descriptive attribute information for areas bounded by spatial groundwater features.

Time Range

Sedimentary record from late Neoproterozoic to early Permian.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

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