GAB

Water

ControlDistrict

B

C

A

Plenty

River

Lilla

River

Illogwa

Hale

Huckitta

Creek

Creek

River

Hay

Todd

River R

iver

Creek

Finke

Todd

River

Hale River

Field

River

Finke

River

Hugh

River

Plenty

River

Lilla

River

Illogwa

Hale

Huckitta

Creek

Creek

River

Hay

Todd

River R

iver

Creek

Finke

Todd

River

Hale RiverField

River

Finke

River

Hugh

River

Plenty

River

Lilla

River

Illogwa

Hale

Huckitta

Creek

Creek

River

Hay

Todd

River R

iver

Creek

Finke

Todd

River

Hale RiverField

River

Finke

River

Hugh

RiverP

lenty

River

Lilla

River

Illogwa

Hale

Huckitta

Creek

Creek

River

Hay

Todd

River R

iver

Creek

Finke

Todd

River

Hale RiverField

River

Finke

River

Hugh

River

Finke

River

CreekGoyder

RN018352

RN018593

New Crown

Old AndadoAndado

Atula

Numery

Limbla

Lilla Creek

Horseshoe Bend

RingwoodTodd River

AllambiDeep Well

Ooriminna

Santa Teresa

Titjikala

Amoonguna

Finke

ALICESPRINGS

Santa Teresa

Titjikala

ALICE SPRINGSAmoonguna

Finke

Santa Teresa

Titjikala

ALICE SPRINGSAmoonguna

Finke

Santa Teresa

Titjikala

ALICE SPRINGSAmoonguna

Finke

Finke

STUAR

T HW

Y

Northern Territory

South Australia

Queensland

of

Con

finem

ent

Lim

it

GAB

Water

ControlDistrict

GAB

Water

ControlDistrict

GAB

Water

ControlDistrict

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

200210

220230240

250260

210

170

180

190

190

180

170

Mulligan RiverSprings

Dalhousie Springs

400000mE 450000mE 500000mE 550000mE 600000mE 650000mE 700000mE 750000mE

400000mE 450000mE 500000mE 550000mE 600000mE 650000mE 700000mE 750000mE

7400

000m

N73

5000

0mN

7300

000m

N72

5000

0mN

7200

000m

N71

5000

0mN

7400000mN

7350000mN

7300000mN

7250000mN

7200000mN

7150000mN

450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE

450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE

7350

000m

N72

5000

0mN

7150

000m

N

7350000mN

7250000mN

7150000mN

450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE

450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE

7350

000m

N72

5000

0mN

7150

000m

N

7350000mN

7250000mN

7150000mN

450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE

450000mE 550000mE 650000mE 750000mE

7350

000m

N72

5000

0mN

7150

000m

N

7350000mN

7250000mN

7150000mN

850000mE

850000mE

Th

om

as

1

Co

lso

n

Mc

Dill

s

RN

01

78

71

RN

01

83

02

RN

00

40

09

RN

01

85

93

RN

01

64

83

RN

00

73

97

RN

00

24

96

AT

B1

RN

01

87

91

RN

01

87

93

RN

01

27

81

RN

00

26

07

RN

01

27

80

RN

01

13

55

Be

ac

hc

om

be

r

< 10

10 to 30

30 to 50

50 to 70

70 to 90

> 90

GAB Springs

200

Data Point

Groundwater Flow

Limit of Artesian Groundwater

Limit of Confinement

Groundwater Contour mAHD

Legend

Carbon-14 in Groundwater (pMC)

J Aquifer Unsaturated

HAY RIVERSF5316

ALICE SPRINGSSF5314

RODINGASG5302

HALE RIVERSG5303

SIMPSON DESERTNORTHSG5304

FINKESG5306

McDILLSSG5307

SIMPSON DESERTSOUTHSG5308

Rolling Downs GroupTertiary and Quaternary

J AquiferPre JurassicFormations

Rolling Downs Group,Tertiary and Quaternary

J Aquifer

Pre Jurassic Formations

ILLOGWA CREEKSF5315

0 to 40

0 to 40

80 to 120

> 120

Points used in interpolation

Limit of Artesian Groundwater

Limit of Confinement

Legend

Groundwater level J Aquifer (metres)relative to ground surface

belowground surface

aboveground surface

40 to 80

J Aquifer Unsaturated

40 to 80

> 80

Points used in interpolation

< 50

100 to 300

300 to 500

50 to 100

500 to 1000

1000 to 1500

1500 to 1950

Legend

Depth to J Aquifer(metres below ground level)

See Enlargement

This map was producedon the Geocentric Datum

of Australia 1994 (GDA 94)

C Northern Territory of Australia

http://creativecommons.org/l icenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlikeThis publication is provided under a CreativeCommons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is an extensive Cretaceous to Jurassic aged groundwater system which underlies over a fifth of the Australian continent. Around 5% of this resource is located in theNorthern Territory underlying an area of 84,500 square kilometres or 6% of the Northern Territory landmass. Located in the southeast corner of the Northern Territory, the GAB comprises a massivequartz sandstone aquifer (J aquifer) underlying a thick sequence of low permeability mudstone and shale (Rolling Downs Group). The first recorded bore in the J aquifer in the Northern Territory wasdrilled in 1894 as a water supply for the Charlotte Waters telegraph station. This was followed shortly after in 1898 by the completion of the first flowing well, Anacoora Bore. Over the last 110 yearsaround another 80 bores have been drilled and constructed in the J aquifer in the Northern Territory, the vast majority of these are located along the basin margin and are predominantly used toprovide stock and domestic water supply.

Recharge to the J aquifer occurs when flooding in ephemeral water courses, suchas the Finke River, leads to the infiltration of water directly into the aquifer. Thisrecharge mechanism is restricted to a discrete zone along the edge of the GABwhere the surface drainage is in direct connection with outcropping J aquifer.Observation bore RN018593 is located in the Finke River recharge zone - thewater level in this bore shows a lagged response to major rainfall events both fromthe immediate area (New Crown rainfall station) and the greater catchment(Hermannsburg rainfall Station located in the headwaters of the catchment 300kilometres to the northeast). Observation bore RN018352 is located on the edge ofthe Finke River 20 kilometres to the southeast of observation bore RN018593. Inthis area the J aquifer is confined, the water level in RN018352 is static and doesnot show a correlation with the rainfall records indicating the ephemeral riverrecharge mechanism is not operating along this section of the Finke River.

This inset represents the groundwater level in the J aquifer relative to ground surface. The black hatch along the northern and western margin of the GABdisplays the area where the aquifer is unsaturated or contains no groundwater. Adjacent to this area the aquifer is unconfined and deep groundwater levelsare encountered. The depth to water in the southwest corner of the GAB is over 120 metres beneath the surface. Further to the east the J aquifer becomesconfined by the Rolling Downs Group and the groundwater is artesian. The water level in an artesian bore is above the land surface and if uncontrolled willflow freely. The purple dashed line shows the approximate location of the artesian limit. Bores drilled into the J aquifer to the east of this line are likely toencounter flowing groundwater, bores drilled to the west of the boundary will have a water level below the ground surface.

This inset shows the direction of groundwater flow within the J aquifer. Groundwater enters the aquifer on the margin of the GAB around the Finke and Plenty Rivers. Groundwater flows eastand south, discharging in Queensland at the Mulligan River Springs and in South Australia at Dalhousie Springs. The coloured dots show the Carbon-14 concentrations of groundwater in theJ aquifer. Carbon-14 is a radionuclide that is commonly used to investigate groundwater residence time in aquifers. The red dots show high Carbon-14 values and modern groundwater whilethe blue dots represent low Carbon-14 concentrations and suggest groundwater residence times of 10000’s years. The distribution of Carbon-14 concentrations supports the groundwaterflow directions and shows an increasing residence time from the GAB margin to the spring groups.

5 km0

This product and all material forming part of it is copyright belonging to the Northern Territoryof Australia. You may use this material for your personal, non-commercial use or use itwithin your organisation for non-commercial purposes, provided that an appropriateacknowledgement is made and the material is not altered in any way. Subject to the fairdealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, you must not make any other use of this product(including copying or reproducing it or part of it in any way) unless you have the writtenpermission of the Northern Territory of Australia to do so.

The Northern Territory of Australia does not warrant that the product or any part of it is correct orcomplete and will not be liable for any loss damage or injury suffered by any person as a result ofits inaccuracy or incompleteness.

Map Grid of Australia (MGA)Zone 53 Universal Transverse Mercator Projection

Horizontal Datum GDA 94

WESTERNAUSTRALIA

QUEENSLAND

NORTHERNTERRITORY

SOUTHAUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTHWALES

VICTORIA

TASMANIA

INDEX TO ADJOINING 250K SHEETS

CROSS SECTION A - C

0

-2500

-2000

-1500

-1000

0

EL

EV

AT

ION

(m

etr

es

AH

D)

DISTANCE (kilometres)

50 100 150 200 250 300 350

-2000

-1000

0

0

DISTANCE (kilometres)

CROSS SECTION B - C

EL

EV

AT

ION

(m

etr

es

AH

D)

50 100 150 200 250 300

CA

B C

500

-500

KATHERINE

NHULUNBUY

JABIRUDARWIN

NORTHERN

TERRITORY

TENNANT CREEK

ALICE SPRINGS

MAP LOCALITY

DISCLAIMER

RECHARGE AND SURFACE WATER INTERACTION

NORTHERN TERRITORY GREAT ARTESIAN BASINHYDROGEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE

For further information contact - Water Resources Division, Department of Land Resource ManagementGoyder Centre, 25 Chung Wah Terrace, Palmerston, Northern Territory of Australia. Phone (08) 8999 4455, email WaterResources.DLRM@nt.gov.au

Project Officer: Simon FultonCartography: R. Lim, Spatial Data and Mapping

Water Resources DivisionDepartment of Land Resource Management

Northern Territory of AustraliaSeptember 2013

File Reference: GAB_Hydrogeology_1M

Mineral Exploration Hole

Petroleum Investigation Hole

Cadastre / Road

River

Aboriginal Community

(Crown Point, Finke Group, Proterozoic Basement)

(Algebuckina Sandstone)

(Rolling Downs Group, Tertiary, Quaternary)

General Features

< 50

50 - 100

100 - 200

200 - 400

400 - 600

600 - 800

> 800

10 20km 0 50 km4030

Homestead

Unsuccessful or Abandoned Bore

FORMATION THICKNESS J AQUIFER

J Aquifer Thickness (metres)

Deep Aquifer Bore

J Aquifer Bore

Shallow Aquifer Bore

10 20km 0 50 km4030

GROUNDWATER LEVEL J AQUIFER

10 20km 0 30 40 50 km

DEPTH TO THE TOP OF J AQUIFER

10 20km 0 50 km4030

GROUNDWATER ELEVATION AND FLOW J AQUIFER

200

180

160

140

120

100

0

20

40

60

80

56

58

60

62

64

66

68

70

72

Ma

y 2

01

0

Jun

20

10

Jul

20

10

Au

g 2

01

0

Se

p 2

01

0

Oct

20

10

No

v 2

01

0

De

c 2

01

0

Jan

20

11

Fe

b 2

01

1

Ma

r 2

01

1

Ap

r 2

01

1

Ma

y 2

01

1

Jun

20

11

Jul

20

11

Au

g 2

01

1

Se

p 2

01

1

We

ekl

y R

ain

fall

To

tals

(m

m)

Gro

un

dw

ate

r L

eve

l (m

etr

es

be

low

gro

un

d l

eve

l)

Finke River Recharge Groundwater Levels and Rainfall Records

RN018352

RN018593

015531 Hermannsburg Weekly Rainfall Totals (mm)015600 New Crown Weekly Rainfall Totals (mm)

Enlargement

Roll ing Downs Group

Key Bores

Legend

Groundwater BoresGroundwater Contour mAHD170

J Aquifer Unsaturated

J Aquifer Outcrop