Geoscience Australia and Geological Survey of Queensland Surat and Bowen Basins Groundwater Surveys Hydrochemistry Dataset (2009-2011)

Brief description

Recent national and state assessments have concluded that sedimentary formations that underlie or are within the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) may be suitable for the storage of greenhouse gases. These same formations contain methane and naturally generated carbon dioxide that has been trapped for millions of years. The Queensland government has released exploration permits for Greenhouse Gas Storage in the Bowen and Surat basins. An important consideration in assessing the potential economic, environmental, health and safety risks of such projects is the potential impact CO2 migrating out of storage reservoirs could have on overlying groundwater resources. The risk and impact of CO2 migrating from a greenhouse gas storage reservoir into groundwater cannot be objectively assessed without knowledge of the natural baseline characteristics of the groundwater within these systems. Due to the phase behaviour of CO2, geological storage of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state requires depths greater than 800m, but there are no hydrochemical studies of such deeper aquifers in the prospective storage areas. Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, worked collaboratively under the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA) to characterise the regional hydrochemistry of the Denison Trough and Surat Basin and trialled different groundwater monitoring strategies. The output from this Project constitutes part of a regional baseline reference set for future site-specific and semi-regional monitoring and verification programmes conducted by geological storage proponents. The dataset provides a reference of hydrochemistry for future competing resource users.

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Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Statement: Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Queensland established a project in 2009 called the "The Greenhouse Gas Storage Groundwater Project" under a National Geoscience Agreement. The purpose of the project was to characterise the regional hydro-geochemistry of the Denison Trough and trial different groundwater monitoring strategies. Data from the Project constitutes part of a regional baseline reference set for site specific and semi-regional monitoring and verification programmes conducted by CCS proponents. Hydrochemical surveys of groundwater bores were conducted in the Surat and Bowen Basins over 2009 - 2011. Water and gas field measurements were undertaken and samples were collected for trace metal, isotopic, trace organics, gas composition, gas isotopic composition, and major and minor ion analysis.