NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure

Ti Tree Basin

Where is Ti Tree?

The Ti Tree Basin is located approximately 150 km north of Alice Springs. It is located within Australia’s dry tropics, with an annual rainfall of approximately 300 mm, and covers an area of 5500 km square. Groundwater in the Ti Tree Basin is used for irrigation of horticultural crops, and town and community water supplies.

Research is being undertaken in various locations, including the Woodford River, Stirling Swamp and Allungra Creek.

Why is this location important?

Recharge to the aquifers is believed to occur in the southern and central parts of the basin, as slow percolation through the soil (diffuse recharge), and also as flood recharge associated with the ephemeral rivers. These process are not well understood, and it is expected that research in this region will not only clarify local recharge processes, but also shed light on similar systems elsewhere in the world.

Publications

Ti Tree

  1. Cleverly J., Boulain N., Villalobos-Vega R., Grant N., Faux R., Wood C., Cook P.G., Yu Q., Leigh A. and Eamus D. (2013) Dynamics of component carbon fluxes in a semi-arid Acacia woodland, central Australia. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences, 118: 1 – 18, doi:10.1002/jgrg.20101.
  2. Chen C., Eamus D., Cleverly J., Boulain N. and Cook P.G. (2014) Modelling vegetation water-use and groundwater recharge as affected by climate variability in an arid-zone Acacia savanna woodland. Submitted to Water Resources Research.
  3. Wood C., Cook P.G., Harrington G.A., Meredith K. And Kipfer R. (2014) Factors affecting carbon-14 activity of unsaturated zone CO2 and implications for groundwater dating. Journal of Hydrology, 519:465-475.
  4. Wood C., Cook P.G. and Harrington G.A. (2015) Vertical carbon-14 profiles for resolving spatial variability in recharge in arid environments. Journal of Hydrology, 520:134-142.
  5. Villeneuve S., Cook P.G., Shanafield M., Wood C. And White N. (2015) Groundwater recharge via infiltration through an ephemeral riverbed, central Australia. Journal of Arid Environments, 117:47-58.
  6. Wood C., Cook PG, Harrington GA and Knapton A (in press) Constraining spatial variability in recharge and discharge in an arid environment through modelling carbon-14 with improved boundary conditions. Water Resources Research.
  7. Chen C, Cleverly J, Zhang L, Tu Q and Eamus D (2016) Modelling seasonal and inter-annual variations in carbon and water fluxes in an arid-zone Acacia savanna woodland, 1981-2012. Ecosystems 19: 625-644.
  8. Cleverly J, Eamus D, Gorsel EV, Chen C, Rumman R, Luo Q, Coupe NR, Li L, Kljun N, Faux R, Yu Q and Huete A (2016) Productivity and evapotranspiration of two contrasting semiarid ecosystems following the 2011 global carbon land sink anomaly. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 220: 151-159.
  9. Santini NS, Cleverly J, Faux R, Lestrange C, Rumman R and Eamus D (2016) Xylem traits and water-use efficiency of woody species co-occurring in the Ti Tree Basin arid zone. Trees, 30: 295-303.
  10. Shanafield M, Cook PG, Gutierrez-Jurado HA, Cleverly J and Eamus D (2015) Field comparison of methods for estimating groundwater discharge by evaporation and evapotranspiration in an arid-zone playa. Journal of Hydrology, 527: 1073-1083.
  11. Burk L. and Cook P.G. (2015) A simple and affordable system for installing shallow drive point piezometers. Groundwater Monitoring and Remediation, 35(3): 101-104.