Groundwater hydrology: modelling surface water and groundwater interaction

• Our capability  
• Skills and expertise
• Our assets 

Our capability

The Groundwater Hydrology group researches groundwater hydrology and hydrochemistry with an emphasis on:

• surface and groundwater resource assessment
• development and application of regional groundwater models
• fractured rock aquifers and isotope and tracer techniques
• vegetation and groundwater relationships.

The group comprises 34 research staff.

Skills and expertise

The group's skills and expertise cover:

• Qualitative and quantitative models of surface water and groundwater interaction, with emphasis on identifying and quantifying rates of fluid exchange and the associated geometry of groundwater capture and release zones in aquifers.

• Quantification of groundwater use by vegetation, recharge to and extraction from groundwater under managed native and plantation forests and identification of groundwater flow pathways in shallow aquifers with mixed vegetation cover.

• Regional groundwater and surface water models to assess surface and groundwater resources of the regions and predict the impacts of current and likely future climate and land development on sustainability of these resources and environment.

• Modelling tools to predict the on-site and offsite impacts of integrated plant-based and engineering solutions for lowering saline and hypersaline shallow groundwater systems.

• Modelling for the impact of groundwater extraction on stream flow and groundwater dependent ecosystems, and determining the sustainable extraction limits of groundwater and water management for irrigation associated with groundwater.

Our assets

The group's assets include Isotope analytical equipment incorporating a range of techniques for tracing and dating groundwater and rates of exchange between groundwater systems.

These tools serve to evaluate and improve our conceptual and numerical hydrological models.

Learn more about CSIRO's work at Hydrology: improving water practices and systems.

Contact Information

Science Contact

General Contact

Related Links

• Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
• CSIRO Land and Water

• Hydrology: improving water practices and systems
• River and Irrigation Hydrology: specialist skills in irrigation science
• Catchment hydrology: research leading to developing catchment modelling tools
• Environmental flows and ecology
• The Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields Project
• Isotope Analysis Service
• eWater CRC [external link]
• Murray Darling Basin Authority [external link]