Connected Water in Semi Arid Environments

Research Project

Brief description This project determines the origins and fate of fresh groundwater lenses in the Murray Basin that were formed by recharge from rivers, which prior to land clearing were above the local water table. Rising water tables due to land clearing and irrigation now puts these lenses at risk. The project integrates physical hydrogeology, geochemistry, and numerical modelling to evaluate processes that control the location of the freshwater lenses, their timescale of formation, the extent of mixing with regional groundwater, and the impacts of rising water tables on the lenses. We will also determine baseflow in rivers underlain by the freshwater lenses as this indicates where the lenses are currently degrading.