Browsing by Author "Coote, M"

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    Hydrological conceptualisation of the Walyarta Mound springs
    (Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, 2018-07) Rutherford, JL; Cendón, DI; Soerensen, C; Batty, S; Huntley, B; Bourke, L; Pinder, K; Quinlan, K; English, V; Coote, M
    Major geological and hydrogeological investigations have taken place in the Canning Basin since the early 1900’s as the basin is prospective for hydrocarbons, base metals and groundwater. In the west Canning Basin (WCB), groundwater demand from both the unconfined Broome and confined Wallal aquifers has increased over the last decade, which has created a need to undertake rapid assessments of the sustainability of groundwater resources. The major conclusion of recent groundwater resource modelling in the western part of the Basin is that insufficient data have been collected to understand how the aquifers will respond to groundwater abstraction over time. The west Canning Basin also contains unique environmental assets that have high heritage and ecological values, including the Ramsar listed Mandora Marsh mound spring and wetland system, which are located in the Walyarta Conservation Park. The artesian mound spring system hosts unique phreatophytic vegetation communities and perennial and ephemeral water bodies inhabited by fish and invertebrates. The springs are not thought to represent a significant part of the west Canning Basin water balance, but they are broadly understood to be sustained by groundwater discharge along discrete geological faults. Predictions from past and recent groundwater assessments appear contradictory, one advising springs in the western basin margin are likely to be sensitive to groundwater level changes in the confined Wallal aquifer and another advising there will be limited Wallal aquifer drawdown in the Walyarta study area. This is of concern for two main reasons. The first reason being there is a high degree of uncertainty on how the Wallal aquifer will respond to groundwater abstraction and the second is, groundwater contributions from the Wallal aquifer to the Walyarta mound springs have not been assessed. These concerns prompted the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) to undertake a study of the hydrological processes that support perennial groundwater discharge in the Walyarta mound springs and surface water systems. The approach concentrated on developing a three dimensional understanding of hydrological processes, with data mining (sourcing and interpretation) used to develop evidence for transferring the results to areas with less information. © Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions on behalf of the State of Western Australia 2018