South-east Australian Fractured Rock Province Hydrogeological Inventory

A 2026 dataset from the Australian Ocean Data Network describes hydrogeological attributes for fractured rock provinces in south-east Australia. Groundwater in these fractured rock aquifers comprises about 40% of Australia's groundwater, though they account for only 10% of total extraction. The inventory groups descriptive topics into themes including location, demographics, physical geography, geology, hydrogeology, and land use.

Use Cases

• Assessing groundwater availability for irrigation and town supplies based on hydrogeological attributes
• Modeling groundwater flow direction influenced by fracture orientation rather than hydraulic head
• Studying mineral deposit distribution in relation to lithological units like granite bodies and volcano-intrusive complexes
• Analyzing the relationship between land use, industry types, and groundwater management in fractured rock regions

Strengths

• Covers a significant region, the Lachlan Orogen, which contains diverse lithological units and mineral deposits
• Groups descriptive information into 11 specific themes, suggesting structured attribute organization
• Provides context on fractured rock aquifers, which store about 40% of Australia's groundwater

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• The study excludes additional Orogens in the east (New England) and west (Thomson and Delamerian), limiting geographic completeness

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Descriptive attribute information bounded by spatial groundwater features from an associated Hydrogeology Index map.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 02:09:01.122164; freshness should be verified

Geography

South-east Australia, specifically the Lachlan Orogen extending from central and eastern New South Wales to Victoria and Tasmania.