Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Natural Resource Topics

Water resources - Overview - Northern Territory

Location map of Great Artesian Basin - Western

Groundwater Management Unit: Great Artesian Basin - Western

Introduction

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) comprises 23 hydrologic zones (accounting for interstate / territory boundaries). These zones were determined by the Great Artesian Basin Consultative Council (GABCC) in 1999. The total area of the GAB is approximately 1.8 million sq km.

The Western (NT) Groundwater Management Unit (GMU) is one of these hydrologic zones. Its area is about 53150 sq km which accounts for approximately 3% of the total GAB area.

The Western (NT) zone lies to the southwest of the GAB. It extends approximately 240km north of the South Australian border along the Queensland border, and almost 360km west of the Queensland border along the South Australian border. The northern boundary of this zone is formed by an arc drawn between these two points along the Queensland and South Australian borders. The town of Finke lies just to the west of the Western (NT) zone.

Natural surface levels predominantly range from zero to 200 m above mean sea level. Moving towards the southwestern corner of the zone, natural surface levels tend upward to 300 m above mean sea level.

Rainfall in the Western (NT) zone is about 100 mm/yr. Evaporation generally exceeds average annual rainfall by up to 4000 mm/yr.

The dominant land use is for other industry purposes. However, a small portion in the southwestern corner of the zone is used for the cattle industry.

The Western (NT) zone is covered largely by Vacant Crown Land. About 10% exists as Aboriginal Freehold tenure. Moving further west, another 15% exists as Leasehold Land.

Most of the Western (NT) zone is covered by tall open shrubland with small pockets of dense sown pasture lying mostly in the southwest.

Vital Statistics:

Area: 53,150 Km2
Total water allocated: no data
Total water consumed: 570 ML/yr
Average salinity: 2,271 mg/l
Sustainable yield: 490 ML/yr
Depth to top of aquifier: 840 m

Further Information

Key

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