Groundwater flow and solute transport at the Mourquong saline-water disposal basin, Murray Basin, southeastern Australia |
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| Authors: | Craig T Simmons Kumar A Narayan Juliette A Woods Andrew L Herczeg |
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| Institution: | (1) School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, and Centre for Groundwater Studies, GPO Box 2100, 5001 Adelaide SA, Australia,;(2) CSIRO Land and Water and Centre for Groundwater Studies, PMB 2, 5064 Glen Osmond SA, Australia,;(3) Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide, 5005 Adelaide SA, Australia, |
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| Abstract: | Saline groundwater and drainage effluent from irrigation are commonly stored in some 200 natural and artificial saline-water
disposal basins throughout the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia. Their impact on underlying aquifers and the River Murray,
one of Australia's major water supplies, is of serious concern. In one such scheme, saline groundwater is pumped into Lake
Mourquong, a natural groundwater discharge complex. The disposal basin is hydrodynamically restricted by low-permeability
lacustrine clays, but there are vulnerable areas in the southeast where the clay is apparently missing. The extent of vertical
and lateral leakage of basin brines and the processes controlling their migration are examined using (1) analyses of chloride
and stable isotopes of water (2H/1H and 18O/16O) to infer mixing between regional groundwater and lake water, and (2) the variable-density groundwater flow and solute-transport
code SUTRA. Hydrochemical results indicate that evaporated disposal water has moved at least 100 m in an easterly direction
and that there is negligible movement of brines in a southerly direction towards the River Murray. The model is used to consider
various management scenarios. Salt-load movement to the River Murray was highest in a "worst-case" scenario with irrigation
employed between the basin and the River Murray. Present-day operating conditions lead to little, if any, direct movement
of brine from the basin into the river.
Electronic Publication |
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| Keywords: | Surface water/groundwater interaction Groundwater protection Numerical modelling Hydrochemistry Brine leakage Density-dependent flow |
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