Improved predictions of groundwater salinisation rates in the Tintinara Highlands area of South Australia - the role of geology and geophysics

Abstract

In many areas of South Eastern Australia, saline soil-water in the unsaturated zone overlies fresher groundwater. In areas where remnant vegetation has been removed and has been replaced with pasture/cropping, enhanced drainage has resulted which, after a lag time, flushes the saline soil-water into the underlying aquifer. For an area near Tintinara in SE Australia, spatial simulations of groundwater salinisation under dryland and irrigation scenarios were developed for a 200 year timeframe using a distributed parameter recharge model. Inputs to the model include spatial patterns of near surface clay materials determined from the constrained inversion of helicopter frequency domain EM data. The clay significantly affects the lag time and the salt flux to the aquifer. Under dryland agriculture leaching of the salt to the aquifer takes between 50 and 200 years, whereas under irrigation leaching takes between 20 and 50 years. Under irrigation the salinity of the groundwater is expected to increase from 1000 ? 6000mg/L over the next 25-40 years. While there are no obvious economic measures available to prevent salinisation, the modelling suggests that efficient irrigation on appropriate soils could slow the process.