Murray Basin Geology and Salinity Analysis for Southeastern Australia

A geological bulletin from Geoscience Australia details the structural and stratigraphic framework of the Murray Basin, a 300,000 km² agricultural region. It synthesizes geophysical and borehole evidence to explain subsurface conditions contributing to salinity problems over the past 60 million years. The document identifies major depositional sequences and aquifer systems within the Cainozoic sediment blanket.

Use Cases

• Model groundwater flow and salinity risk using identified regional aquifer systems and confining layers from the stratigraphic framework.
• Analyze the relationship between basin structure, described as block-faulted Proterozoic basement and graben-like troughs, and modern hydrogeological processes.
• Correlate sediment thickness data, ranging up to 600m in depocentres, with agricultural land use patterns to assess environmental vulnerability.
• Study the three major Tertiary depositional sequences (Paleocene to Pliocene) to reconstruct paleoenvironmental and depositional history.

Strengths

• Covers a defined geographic area of 300,000 square kilometers in southeastern Australia.
• Integrates multiple data sources including geophysical evidence and borehole data for geological synthesis.
• Provides temporal context spanning approximately 60 million years of basin development.

Limitations

• Data is presented as a descriptive document (HTML/PDF), not as a structured, queryable dataset with rows and columns.
• Lacks quantitative, tabular data on specific measurements like borehole logs or groundwater levels for direct analysis.
• The primary content is a geological summary, limiting immediate utility for numerical modeling without additional data extraction.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Synthesis of geophysical and borehole evidence into a geological bulletin.

Time Range

Covers basin development over approximately 60 million years.

Freshness

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Geography

Murray Basin, spanning over 300,000 km² in inland southeastern Australia (NSW, VIC, SA).