Planning a drilling campaign for groundwater in the Gascoyne River, Western Australia
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Conference Title
Geophysics Applied to Water Resources: Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2015
ISSN
1554-8015
Keywords
groundwater, airborne electromagnetics, AEM, informed drilling, SAGEEP 2015244
Disciplines
Hydrology | Natural Resources and Conservation | Sustainability | Water Resource Management
Abstract
The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) has identified priority areas across the State of Western Australia where land and water investigations are required to assess the capacity for further development of agriculture and related businesses. The Gascoyne River floodplain aquifer, in the arid mid-northwest of Western Australia, is one such area. As part of a collaboration between DAFWA and CSIRO the Gascoyne River AEM Aquifer and Groundwater Characterization Project was established with the aim of determining whether airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data can be employed to better map attributes of the unconfined alluvial aquifer beneath and adjacent to the ephemeral Gascoyne River, including spatial variations in groundwater salinity. The primary purpose of the project is to better inform groundwater management along the reach of the river from the Carnarvon township to about 50 km inland by helping constrain a 3-dimensional model of the aquifer system, thereby helping to secure additional groundwater resources for irrigated agriculture and providing a basis for mitigating against damage from salinity.
The Gascoyne River AEM Project involves the acquisition, processing, and inversion of high-resolution airborne electromagnetic data in a block area consisting of approximately1500 km of survey flight line data oriented north to south, crossing the Gascoyne River east of Carnarvon and stretching to Rocky Pool. Results from the AEM survey are interpreted from a hydrogeological and geophysical point of view. The over-arching intent is to inform a planned drilling program along a reach of the Gascoyne River and assist in the refinement of a groundwater model of this region of the catchment.
Recommended Citation
Paul Ivancie, Jacob Sheehan, Tewodros Y. Yosef, Chung R. Song, Aaron Davis, Timothy Munday, Richard George, Marco de Kleine, Laura Vonhögen-Peeters, Peter Vermeulen, Desmond Lee, Jair Smits, Marios Karaoulis, Pieter Doornenbal, Jared Abraham, James Cannia, Per Gisseloe, Yusen Ley-Cooper, Lukman AKINYEMI, Rasaki Kolawole Odunaike, Bradley Carr, Chris Moody, W. Steven Holbrook, and Matthew Provart, (2015), "Geophysics Applied to Water Resources," Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems Proceedings : 242-251. https://doi.org/10.4133/SAGEEP.28-034
