The Great Artesian Basin occupies 1.7 million km² across parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. Data from the Australian Ocean Data Network describes the basin's multi-layered aquifer system, including aquifer thicknesses, hydraulic properties, and historical well discharge rates. The dataset likely contains information on the basin's structure, recharge zones, and groundwater flow.
Use Cases
- Model groundwater flow and recharge based on aquifer transmissivity and hydraulic gradient values mentioned in the description
- Analyze historical water level changes and well performance based on recorded potentiometric surface lowering and discharge data
- Assess aquifer system structure and properties based on descriptions of lithology, thickness, and confining units
- Map groundwater-dependent ecosystems and pastoral industry reliance based on the description of natural discharge springs and water supply dependency
Strengths
- Describes a vast geographic area covering 1.7 million km², about one-fifth of Australia
- Includes specific hydraulic property values, such as transmissivity ranging from tens to hundreds m²/day and hydraulic gradients of 1:2000
- Provides historical context with figures like 4700 wells drilled and a maximum discharge of 2 million m³/day recorded around 1918
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
- Data is presented in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for analysis
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Time Range
- Historical data referenced from around 1880 to the early 1970s
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-05 00:47:36.888951; freshness should be verified
- Geography
- The Great Artesian Basin, extending across parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory