Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre Annual Report 2015

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CWI - Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre Annual Report 2015 Never Stand Still


Š2016 Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre UNSW AUSTRALIA The Centre acknowledges the support and assistance of various funding bodies, donors and industry partners involved in our research projects including the Australian Research Council, Federal Department of Education, Federal Department of Environment and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation. ADDRESS Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre The University of New South Wales UNSW Australia NSW 2052 W http://www.connectedwaters.unsw.edu.au/ PRODUCTION Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre Editors: Martin S Andersen and Katie Coleborn Design: The Imagination Agency Pty Ltd helena@theimaginationagency.org Images: Members of CWI, including: 02 Research Image: by Gabriel Raul 03 Finance Image: by Martin Andersen 04 Publications Image: Monika Markowska walking to Golgotha Cave by Pauline Treble Front cover: by Gabriel Raul and Australian photographers from stock.

Golgotha Cave Entrance (I. Fairchild)

CRICOS provider NO 000098G

Katie Coleborn Yarrangobilly Caves fire in April 2015 (Katie Coleborn)

Pauline Treble in Golgotha Cave (A.Baker)


CONTENTS

REPORTS

01

4

RESEARCH

02

14

PUBLICATIONS

03

29


01 REPORTS In 2015, CWI staff and students were able to celebrate numerous achievements which included invited plenary talks, best presentation awards, and national and international prizes...

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Centre Director’s Introduction The Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre (CWI) operates a wide portfolio of groundwaterrelated research projects across the faculties of Science, Engineering and Law. The CWI has faculty staff in the Schools of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), Civil and Environmental Engineering (CVEN), Mining Engineering (MINE), and the Faculty of Law. In 2015, the School of Petroleum Engineering (SCOPE) became affiliated to the centre. New faculty staff in 2015 included the arrival of ARC Future Fellow Denis O’Carroll (CVEN), and appointment of Dr Hamid Roshan (SCOPE). The CWI also welcomed new affiliate staff Dr Pauline Treble and Dr Karina Meredith (both ANSTO). CWI Founding Director Ian Acworth retired in 2015, but remains an active centre researcher in his new Emeritus Professor position. You can read about all our staff and our research here: www. connectedwaters.unsw.edu.au The CWI team continued to expand the centre research portfolio. In 2015, successful proposals to the Australian Research Council (ARC) included the Linkage and Discovery Rounds. The CWI team now holds ARC funding which includes the only groundwater-related ARC Future Fellowship (O’Carroll), an ARC DECRA (Holley), several ARC Linkage (Baker, Andersen, Holley, with affiliates Meredith and Treble) and Discovery grants (Baker, Andersen, O’Carroll). Non-ARC funding focuses on coal seam gas related research funded by the Cotton Research Development Corporation (CRDC) (Kelly, Andersen, and CWI affiliate Cendón), and the Department of Environment Office of Water Science (Andersen, and affiliate Eberhard). The CWI continues to manage the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure program for the Federal Government (Department of Education, Andersen).

Compliance staff. The CWI team met with numerous industry representatives from organisations such as CSIRO, NSW Department of Planning, Qld Department of Mines and Natural Resources and Commonwealth Office of Water. The full list can be found on the CWI website. The UNSW Connected Waters Initiative team had a very strong presence at this year’s Australian Groundwater Conference in Canberra. The team gave a total of 21 oral presentations including 3 key note addresses and presented 5 posters. Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre was also well represented at the 13th AEIC in Sydney, with six members presenting groundwater isotope research. Other conferences showcasing exemplary groundwater research from CWI included the American Geophysical Union, the European Geophysical Union General Assembly, International Symposium on Isotope Hydrology, 42nd Annual Congress for International Association of Hydrogeologists, and the 2nd Australian Cotton Conference. In 2015, CWI staff and students were able to celebrate numerous achievements which included invited plenary talks, best presentation awards, and national and international prizes. Wendy Timms and Andy Baker were invited plenary speakers at the Australian Groundwater Conference and 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference (AEIC) respectively. Postgraduate researchers Charlotte Iverach, Scott Cook and Juan Carlos Castilla won best early career research presentations at the AEIC and Australian Groundwater Conference. Undergraduate honours research student Gurinder Nagra was awarded the American Geophysical Union 2015 David E. Lumley Young Scientist Scholarship for Energy and Environmental Science. In August, Ian Acworth received the NSW International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Woolley Award for lifetime achievement. The CWI is a cross-faculty research centre, and after three years being managed by the Science Faculty team, the CWI rotates back to Engineering in 2016. Martin Andersen takes over as the new Centre Director, supported by a management team of Denis O’Carroll (CVEN), Cameron Holley (LAW) and Andy Baker (BEES).

In 2015, CWI staff were heavily involved in industry engagement for example Bryce Kelly and Cameron Holley provided advice to the Californian CFEE in Sydney with a cameo role from Andy Baker. Wendy Timms was appointed to the NSW Resources Advisory Forum and Andy Baker was reappointed to his position on the NSW Karst Management Advisory Committee. Cameron Holley was invited to present to the Environmental Justice Australia, a Community Legal Centre/ NGO in Victoria. In addition, Holley attended monthly meetings with DPI Water and trained 26 DPI Water Monitoring and

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Summary of CWI Goals & Performance

...increase industry and community engagement and to increase industry funding... Key Performance Indicators for the CWI as detailed our 2012-2017 Business Plan are to: đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Keep UNSW at the forefront of groundwater research in Australia đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Raise UNSW profile by successfully maintaining long-term groundwater monitoring sites đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Increase staffing capacity in groundwater at UNSW, especially by attracting high quality PhD students, international post-doctoral researchers and international collaborators.

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With respect to these indicators, in 2015 In 2016, the major goals for CWI are: the CWI team: đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ To increase industry and community engagement and to đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Authored one scholarly book chapter and co-authored a further two chapters, published 46 journal articles, 63 conference presentations and 3 technical reports. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Attracted and supported a successful ARC Future Fellow Denis O’Carroll who commenced his role in 2015 đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Supported international collaborators including Mark Cuthbert (EU Marie Curie fellowship). đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Successfully met NCGRT Key Performance Indicator targets. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Continued using the Wellington Field Training facility for undergraduate student training.

increase industry funding. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ To increase the portfolio of research grants, including category 1 and 2 funding from the Government. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ To successfully maintain the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure program with funding from the Federal Government. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Continue to use the Wellington Field Training facility, including undergraduate field teaching in Engineering. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ To support the development of centre staff, especially early career researchers and professional staff. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Expand the research centre by attracting more academics, PhD students and researchers.

đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Successfully managed and operated the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure Program. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CWI Successfully secured Cat 1 and Cat 2 funding: An ARC-LIEF grant for a coupled high temperature elemental analyser - gas chromatograph - mass spectrometer for climate, water and ecological research. An Office of Water Science grant to inform the assessment of ecohydrological responses to coal seam gas extraction and coal mining. đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ Enrolled one new PhD student Charlotte Iverach.

...support the development of centre staff, especially early career researchers and professional staff... CONNECTED WATERS INITIATIVE - ANNUAL REPORT 2015 <7>


Media releases 14 January 2015: The new rainfall monitoring system at Fowlers Gap recorded extreme downpours as covered by the UNSW newsroom. 5 May 2015: ANSTO media centre reported on an article published by CWI PhD student Monika Markowska which examined Australia’s past climate variability from an underground perspective. 19 June 2015: The Conversation published an article on the long standing research of Andy Baker et al looking at how stalagmites preserve 3,000 years of northern hemisphere climate. 13 July 2015: CWI welcomes ARC Future Fellow Denis O’Carroll who will be investigating the transport of nanoparticles in the environment to inform health risk. 14 July 2015: Andy Baker and CWI affiliate Karina Meredith featured in a piece celebrating the latest funding successes as reported by the ANSTO media centre. 14 August 2015: Ian Acworth receives the NSW IAH Woolley Award for lifetime achievement.

20 August 2015: The Courier covers a story focussing on Bryce Kelly’s research studying the effects of CSG in the Pilliga. 18 September 2015: CWI students Calvin Li, Charlotte Iverach, Mark Hocking and Muklis Mah presented their research at the 2nd AACS Australian Cotton Research Conference to great acclamation. 5 October 2015: An article following the novel research by Katarina David et al using natural isotope tracers in Sydney’s groundwater was published by The Conversation. October 2015: Bryce Kelly and Dr Dioni Cendón discuss the outcomes of the aquifer connectivity study in the Condamine Catchment, Qld in the Australian Cottongrower. 23 October 2015: New research covered by news outlet AlphaGalileo identifies a gap in sediments and questions simple groundwater models on the Liverpool Plains, NSW, Australia by CWI staff Gabriel Rau, Bryce Kelly, Wendy Timms, Ian Acworth. 1 November 2015: Photo exhibition from UNSW’s artist in residence at the Australian museum featured ‘Wild Researcher’ Katie Coleborn.

..Ian Acworth receives the NSW IAH Woolley Award for lifetime achievement...

IAH Secretary Graham Hawkes (right) presented the award to Ian Acworth (left) followed by a speech of thanks from CWI Associate Director Martin Andersen.

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...hundreds of uncapped bores have for decades been leaking methane...

9 November 2015: An article published in The Conversation focussed on the work led by Gabriel Rau et al looking at the interation between surface climate and caves, foucssing particularly on the numerous experiments carried out at Wellington Caves, NSW.

12 December 2015: Bryce Kelly discusses the hundreds of uncapped bores have for decades been leaking methane and the lack of government knowledge surrounding this topic in an article in The Saturday Paper titled “Coal seam gas leaks a climate debacle”.

9 November 2015: The CWI newsroom reported on the strong CWI presence at the Australian Groundwater Conference 2015 with PhD student Juan Carlos Castilla-Rho receiving the award for best early career oral presentation and PhD student Scott Cook receiving the award for best early career poster.

18 December 2015: CWI was well-represented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2015 with honours student Gurinder Nagra taking home the 2015 David E. Lumley Young Scientist Scholarship for Energy and Environmental Science

25 November 2015: The ANSTO media centre features an interview with Dr Dioni Cendón about how research reveals little water connectivity between coal seam gas and aquifers.

24 December 2015: The CWI newsroom featured a report on the latest study exploring the role of groundwater in the carbon cycle led by PhD student Peter Graham.

26 November 2015: UNSW newsroom discusses the UNSW-led research using a new technique to assess the threat to groundwater from CSG extraction. 2 December 2015: ABC Rural publish an online article about the research carried out by Bryce Kelly et al reveals low risk of short term impacts of CSG on groundwater followed a radio interview with Bryce Kelly in which he discusses a new technique used to examine coal seam gas production and impacts on groundwater.

The UNSW Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) team had a very strong presence at this year’s Australian Groundwater Conference in Canberra. The team gave a total of 21 oral presentations and presented 5 posters.

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Staff and Meetings Significant managerial or personnel changes Through 2015 the CWI management team consisted of Andy Baker (Director) and Martin Andersen (Associate Director). Throughout 2015, the presiding faculty was Science. By the end of 2015 the Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre had the following staff make up (funding source in brackets):

Director

Record of dates and attendance of management and advisory committee meetings 13th CWI Management Board Meeting, 6th May 2015. Dr Martin Andersen (Associate Director CWI); Prof Merlin Crossley (Presiding Chair); Prof Mark Hoffman; Prof Paul Hagan; Prof Ian Turner; A/Prof David Cohen; Prof Travis Waller (on behalf of Steve Foster). Apologies: Prof Andy Baker (Director CWI), Prof Steve Foster

Prof Andy Baker (BEES)

Associate Director Dr Martin Andersen (CVEN)

Academics Prof Ian Acworth (CVEN) Dr Cameron Holley (LAW) A/Prof Bryce Kelly (BEES) Dr Wendy Timms (MINE) Dr Gabriel Rau (CVEN) A/Prof Denis O’Carroll† (CVEN) Dr Hamid Roshan† (SCOPE)

2nd of November, CWI Annual retreat at the Mantra on Northbourne, Canberra. CWI members, external advisory board and invited guests. 14th CWI Management Board Meeting, 17th November 2015. Prof Andy Baker (Director); Dr Martin Andersen (Acting Director, CWI); Prof Merlin Crossley (Presiding Chair); Prof Mark Hoffman; Prof Bill Sherwin; Prof Paul Hagan; Prof Nasser Khalili (Acting Head of School, CVEN); A/Prof Ron Cox (Acting WRL Director). Apologies A/Prof David Cohen. Directors End-of-2015 Report, December 2015 (Meeting in correspondence in place of a Management Board Meeting).

Post-doctoral Researchers Dr Helen Rutlidge Dr Hamid Roshan* Dr Richard Crane

Research Associate Katie Coleborn

Professional Staff Mark Whelan Dayna McGeeney Evan Jensen* Iwona Buczek†

Centre Affiliates Dr Dioni Cendón Dr Janice Gray A/Prof Stuart Khan Dr Karina Meredith† Dr Pauline Treble† Dr Andrew McCallum Dr Stefan Eberhard† Dr Darren Sinclair Dr Mark Cuthbert Dr Catherine Jex * Staff that left the centre in 2015 † Staff and affiliates that joined the centre in 2015

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...CWI management team consisted of Andy Baker (Director) and Martin Andersen (Associate Director). Throughout 2015, the presiding faculty was Science...


CWI Annual Research Retreat in Canberra With the majority of the Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre team in Canberra for the Australian Groundwater Conference, the annual research retreat was held in Canberra on Monday 2nd November. We were delighted that our Industry Advisory Board members were also able to join us. Our pre-dinner speaker was ARC Future Fellow A/Prof Denis O’Carroll, who joined the CWI team this year. We would also like to thank our dinner guests, who represented government agencies and our research collaborators.

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Teaching Teaching and research supervision carried out by the Centre on behalf of academic units. Centre staff employed by the Schools of CVEN, BEES, MINE, SCOPE, UNSW Law and Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre contributed the following UNSW teaching in 2015: đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ GEOS1111 Fundamentals of Geology đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ GEOS1211 Environmental Earth Science đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ GEOS2291 Ground and Surface Water đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CVEN3501 Water Resources Engineering đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CVEN3702 Solid Waste đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ GEOS3761 Quaternary Environments đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CVEN4503 Groundwater Resource Investigation đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ GEOS3733/6733 Environmental Geophysics đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CVEN9630 Groundwater Hydrology and Resources Analysis đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CVEN9884 Environmental Engineering Science 1 đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ CVEN9885 Environmental Engineering Science 2 đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ MINE1010 Mineral resources engineering đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ MINE3220 Resource estimation đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ MINE3910 Socio-environmental aspects of mining đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ MINE8760 Mine geology and geophysics đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ MINE8910 Mine water and waste management đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ MINE8930 Fundamentals of uranium mining đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ PTRL4010 Geological Modelling (Thesis A) đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ PTRL3023 Formation Evaluation (well logging) đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ LAWS3361 Environmental Law đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ JURD7361 Environmental Law đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ LAWS8068 Environmental Law in Australia đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ LAWS8069 Natural Resources Law đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ IEST5003 Addressing Environmental Issues

Finalised PhD Theses in 2015 Mahmud, Kashif. Geological Texture Synthesis by Conditional Image Quilting. Supervisors Mariethoz (CVEN) and Baker (BEES) Zoorabadi, Mahdi. Hydraulic Conductivity of Jointed Rocks. Supervisors Serkan Saydam (MINE), Timms (MINE), Bruce Hebblewhite (MINE).

Ongoing PhD Theses Burkett, Dane. Geology of the Kulumadau Intermediate Sulfidation Epithermal Deposit, Woodlark Island, Papua New Guinea. Supervisors Ian Graham (BEES), David Cohen (BEES), Bryce Kelly, (BEES) and Lee Spencer (External) Castilla, Juan R. Novel approaches to groundwater management using complex systems science and agentbased models. Supervisors Mariethoz (CWI affiliate, Andersen (CVEN) and Kelly (BEES) Cook, Scott. New approaches to characterisation of aquitard properties and processes in alluvial groundwater systems. Supervisors Timms (MINE) and Kelly (BEES) Cuadrado-Quesada, Gabriela. Groundwater Governance: Participation, Accountability and Sustainability. Supervisor Holley (LAW) David, Katarina. Characterisation of low permeability strata in the Sydney Basin. Supervisors Timms (MINE), Rudrajit Mitra (MINE) and Baker (BEES) Graham, Peter. Dissolved Organic Carbon in Groundwater. Supervisors Baker (BEES) and Andersen (CVEN) Halloran, Landon. Investigation of Surface Water – Groundwater Interactions in Ephemeral Streams Using Heat as a Tracer. Supervisors Andersen (CVEN), Rau (CVEN) and Roshan (CVEN) Hocking, Mark. Assessing the Impact of Coal Seam Gas Developments in the Condamine Catchment. Supervisor Kelly (BEES) and Craig Beverly (External). Iverach, Charlotte The application of isotopes for assessing the impacts of the gas sector on groundwater and air. Supervisors: Kelly (BEES), Cendón (ANSTO, CWI Affiliate) Keshavarzi, Mohammedreza. Geochemical and geophysical investigations of carbonate hydrogeology, SE Australia. Supervisors Baker and Kelly (BEES) Li, Calvin. Spatial and Temporal Importance of Diffuse and Stream Recharge in Semi-arid Environments. Supervisors Andersen (CVEN), Kelly (BEES) and Rau (CVEN) Markowska, Monika. Speleothem records of past climate and groundwater recharge in SE Australia. Supervisors Baker (BEES), Treble (ANSTO, CWI Affiliate) and Andersen (CVEN)

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Peterson, Mark. Interpreting fractured rock aquifers and groundwater residence time using radioisotopes. Supervisors Andersen (CVEN) and Cendรณn (ANSTO, CWI Affiliate) Tadros, Carol. Geochemical signatures of past climate variability in speleothems from Yarrangobilly Caves. Supervisors Baker (BEES) and Treble (ANSTO, CWI Affiliate) Wells, Eliza. A multi-scale investigation into groundwater hydrochemical processes on Rottnest Island using isotopic and accelerator-based techniques. Supervisors Baker (BEES), Andersen (CVEN), Meredith (ANSTO, CWI Affiliate) and Vincent Post (External) Yan, Jie (Jack). Unravelling the deformation history of the Northern Hastings Block, south New England Orogen. Supervisors Paul Lennox (BEES), Kelly (BEES), Robin Offler Zainuddin, Nur. Sources and mobility of arsenic in alluvial river sediments. Supervisors Andersen (CVEN) and Baker (BEES)

Ongoing Research Master Theses Auhl, Alexandra. Ecohydrological impacts of groundwater drawdown: A comparative examination of microbial activity in the hyporheic zone and boreholes. Supervisors Baker (BEES), Andersen (CVEN) Holley (LAW)

Master Theses Cheng, Jungson (2015) Characterising the spatiotemporal variability of surface water-groundwater interactions using natural heat as a tracer. Supervisors Andersen (CVEN) and Rau (CVEN) Ibrahim, Andrew (2015) The water balance in peatland swamps. Supervisors Andersen (CVEN) and William Glamore (CVEN)

Honours Theses Fegan, Alexandra. (2015) Evaluation and management of final voids in open cut coal mines in the Hunter Valley. Supervisor Timms (MINE). Flemons, Ingrid. (2015) Shallow karst hydrochemistry at Wombeyan Caves in NSW, Australia: Implications for speleothem paleoclimatology. Supervisor Baker (BEES) Gao, Lin. (2015) Water productivity and reuse in coal mining in the Hunter Valley region. Supervisor Timms (MINE) Lupingna, Amethyst (2015) Fire, water and the earth below: quantifying the geochemical signature of fire in infiltration water and their impacts on underlying karst systems. Supervisor Baker (BEES) Moll, Cecil Anthony Javellana. (2015) Stygofauna and physicochemistry: a case study of Horsearm Creek, New South Wales, Australia. Supervisor Andersen (CVEN) Morris, Daniel. (2015) The modelling and remediation of nearsurface fractures in river valleys above longwall mines in the southern coalfields. Supervisor Timms (MINE) Salma, Afrida Farzin. (2015) Mapping surface watergroundwater interactions and hyporheic flow using radon-222 and other geochemical tracers. Supervisor Andersen (CVEN) Saad, Luke. (2015) The impact of clay on the corrosion of rock bolts. Supervisor Timms (MINE) Simic, Marija. (2015) The impacts of biomes hazard reduction burning on urban atmospheric methane concentrations in Sydney, Australia. Supervisor Bryce Kelly (BEES) Tan, Yubing (Natalie). (2015) Methane Oxidation by Microbial Processes within Wombeyan Caves, NSW. Supervisor Bryce Kelly (BEES) Zechao, Cai (Paul). (2015) Hydrogeological Properties of Rock Strata Overlying Longwall Coal Mines. Supervisors Timms (MINE) and Andersen (CVEN).

PhD recruitment Charlotte Iverach is in receipt of an APA, CRDC top up scholarship and ANSTO top up scholarship.

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02 RESEARCH <14> CONNECTED WATERS INITIATIVE - ANNUAL REPORT 2015


ARC DECRA (Holley)

ARC Linkage with DPI Water (Holley)

The project is currently a little over half way through. Initially, recent developments in the literature and legislation relating to collaborative water governance were mapped. The focus was then the research design, methodology and data collection, including preparation of research instruments, obtaining ethics clearance and commencing fieldwork. The fieldwork completed to date has resulted in a number of publications (an edited book, 6 peer reviewed book chapters accepted or published, 5 peer reviewed articles accepted or published and 9 conference presentations, including 4 invited presentations and one invited keynote). A scholarly workshop was also held in December 2015, and this will lead to special issue in a journal and an edited collection on rethinking water governance.

During the first six months of the project, an initial mapping of compliance and enforcement challenges in non-urban water use contexts was completed on schedule by the CIs, with the assistance of RA (Darren Sinclair).

The remaining project milestones will be to conduct a final round of interviews in 2016 to test the validity of initial findings, the production of subsequent articles and a manuscript that combines a policy examination of Australian arrangements (to suggest why and how collaborative water governance should be remodeled to better achieve its water and public interest goals) with a theoretical examination of collaboration and its governance implications.

This included literature on international and related fields (e.g. environmental regulation in general and resource compliance in particular); legislation; compliance policy; industry association and agency reports; social and scientific data concerning such things as the condition, quantity and health of water in the case study areas; funding and expenditure on compliance and enforcement processes, and associated performance (e.g. number of inspections and prosecutions, number of audits, extent of trading, meeting sustainable diversion limits). Following this, a survey of water users across NSW was completed and interviews with water users, drillers, industry groups and regional DPI Water staff were finalized. There has also been regular liaison with our industry partner and, through this agency, communication with Commonwealth with Darren Sinclair (Research Assistant), and other state and territory regulators for non-urban water. Notwithstanding that data collection stage is still underway (in accordance with planned milestones, a follow up survey and interviews are to be completed in first half of 2016) outputs have been possible, including reports to DPI Water and the publication of a number of peer reviewed articles and book chapters based on aspects of the data that are complete. These include: đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ 5 peer reviewed articles published or accepted for publication; đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ 5 book chapters published or accepted for publication; đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ 7 international and national conference presentations; and

Fieldwork in Leeton with Darren Sinclair (Research Assistant), NSW on Regulation and GW Drillers ARC Linkage Project, compliance and enforcement in nonurban water extraction in NSW (C Holley)

đ&#x;’§đ&#x;’§ 2 reports to DPI water and one report to water users on stakeholders views and experience with metering, compliance and enforcement in NSW.

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ARC Future Fellowship (O’Carroll) Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) have generated significant public and scientific excitement due to their unique properties. This has led to their application in a wide variety of industries (e.g., in composite materials, drug delivery). However, there is concern that some ENPs can have detrimental environmental impacts. This novel research program will quantify, for the first time, the fate of ENPs that have leached out of commercial products in groundwater systems. This information will assist regulators in developing appropriate legislation to balance the tremendous benefits and potential risks of nanotechnology.

...some ENPs can have detrimental environmental impacts...

ARC Discovery (Baker, O’Carroll, Andersen) The ARC Discovery project announced in October 2015 will investigate the processes that determine the organic carbon concentration in groundwater. Entitled “Groundwater organic matter: carbon source or sink?”, the project tackles the fact that the contribution of organic matter in groundwater to the global terrestrial carbon budget is unknown. This project aims to determine the processes which control the amount of groundwater organic matter. Innovatively, the project leverages the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure in NSW (six research borefields) and state-of-art laboratory facilities for the analysis of the concentration and character of both dissolved and colloidal organic matter. This breakthrough science aims to determine the rate and extent of both the biological and the physiochemical processes determining groundwater organic matter concentration. This project is ground-breaking as it aims, for the first time, to determine the environmental conditions where groundwater organic matter is a source or a sink.

Maules Creek fieldwork. Emeritus professor Andrew Boulton discussing hyporheic zone processes with Dr Kathryn Kobel Macquarie University and CWI Affiliate Dr Stefan Eberhard (M Andersen)

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ARC Linkage with NSW OEH, ANSTO and University of Birmingham (Baker, Andersen, Treble)

ARC Linkage with Rottnest Island Authority, ANSTO and Department of Water WA (Baker, Meredith)

This project, investigating the effects of fire on karst subsurface processes, has just over seven months to run. A prescribed burn was successfully completed in April 2015 at our Snowy Mountains research site. Post-fire soil column infiltration experiments have been completed with BEES Honours student Amethyst Lupigna. Post-fire monitoring of cave infiltration water hydrogeochemistry continues. A second prescribed burn is planned for Wombeyan Karst Reserve in autumn 2016, and pre-fire cave infiltration water hydrogeochemistry monitoring has been completed by BEES Honours researcher Ingrid Flemons. A final prescribed burn is planned for autumn 2016 at Borenore karst reserve. This burn will focus on replicating soil infiltration results.

The project, “Unlocking the secrets of the groundwater cycle using Si and Li isotopes”, is a collaboration between Baker (CWI), Meredith (ANSTO and CWI), Norman (ANU), Post (Flinders), Pigois (WA Office of Water), Shortland-Jones (Rottnest Island Authority). This project aims to determine how non-conventional lithium and silicon isotopes can be used to understand groundwater processes using an innovative source-to-target approach. The project aims to apply these isotope tracers to trace the water cycle within a well constrained system: an island aquifer with a dense borefield which has been analysed using traditional isotopic techniques. Supporting hydrochemical data will be used to determine the relationship of the isotopes with environmental processes. The project impact will be the development of new methods to help understand our groundwater resource. The improved process understanding will be translated to groundwater management in general. The projects’ focus on carbonate aquifer systems typical of coastal regions of southern, eastern and western Australia will have relevance to groundwater management in urban areas such as Perth and in rural areas for tourism and viticulture, and for management of natural resources in National Parks.

Outputs from the project to date include: (i) A paper accepted by the journal Environmental Earth Sciences (ii) Training of three Honours students to date (Flemons, Lupinga, Nagra). (iii) A session at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meetting (San Francisco, Dec 2015) chaired by Baker and Treble, with presentations from Coleborn, Nagra, Lupinga, Flemons, Baker, Treble).

The IP agreement is still being finalised for this project, which is anticipated to commence in early 2016.

(iv) Coleborn featured as one of the UNSW ‘Wild Researcher’ photo exhibition, currently at the Australian Museum (http:// www.wildresearchers.unsw.edu.au/) and associated media (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/ unsws-researchers-in-the-wild-tamara-dean-takes-on-scientist-stereotypes-20151027-gk8ney.html) Rottnest Island Quokka (Andy Baker)

Rottnest Island water sampling (Andy Baker)

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A) Mobile methane surveying equipment used to detect abandoned leaky exploration wells. B) Google Earth display of the exploration wells leaking methane (the height of the red curtain is proportional to the methane concentration. C) The location of an abandoned leaky coal exploration shown by the stick. D) Groundwater sampling for assessing the gas content, major and trace ion chemistry, and age dating.

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Cotton RDC (Kelly) In 2015 the CWI/ANSTO team of Bryce Kelly, Dioni Cendón, Stuart Hankin, Charlotte Iverach, Sabrina Berkmann, Mike Manefield, Elisa Ginty and Mark Hocking continued their CRDC funded projects on assessing the impact of Coal Seam Gas developments in the Surat and Gunnedah Basins on groundwater resources in the Condamine and Lower Namoi Catchments, respectively. A significant component of this work has been detecting the location of leaky abandoned coal exploration wells, which if poorly sealed form a pathway of hydraulic connectivity between the coal measures and the overlying fresh water aquifers. Mark Hocking is modelling the magnitude of the impact. This work has had significant impact, and the need to assess the effect of these abandoned leaky wells has recently been acknowledged in the latest “Underground Water Impact Report for the Surat Cumulative Management Area” by the Qld DNRM Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment. https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/ogia/surat-underground-water-impact-report

A significant component of this work has been detecting the location of leaky abandoned coal exploration wells...

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NCRIS Technical officer Iwona Buczek and PhD student Calvin Li downloading a data logger from the Namoi River (NSW)

The Federal National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS) The Connected Waters initiative Research Centre manages the National Collaborative Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS) Groundwater Infrastructure program, supported by partners at Flinders University, Monash University and the Australia National University. NCRIS provides sustainable and effectively targeted investment in world-class national-scale research infrastructure. It is Australia’s leading edge research infrastructure network which provides the equipment and expertise to enable Australian researchers to do world class research, and Australia’s industries to increase their productivity through new products and processes. Further details about NCRIS can be found at: https://education.gov.au/national-collaborative-research-infrastructure-strategy-ncris The NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure Program received renewed funding from the Department of Education of $429,000 for maintenance and technical staff for the financial year 20152016. After 2 months without technical support the program successfully employed a new groundwater technician, Hydrogeologist Iwona Buczek, in October for a one year contract. In 2015 the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure program entered a mature phase where all sites were installed, instrumented

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and fully operational and with live data streaming back to the NCRIS data website (http://groundwater.anu.edu.au/) from the telemetered sites. During 2015 some repair work was done at a few sites due to flood damage. 2015 saw increased usage of the UNSW NCRIS field infrastructure by visiting research teams. In a research project funded by the Cotton CRDC, A/Prof Grant Hose and Dr Kathryn Kobel from Macquarie University sampled boreholes in the Namoi River Catchment for comparative studies of groundwater ecology (invertebrate and microbial) below cotton fields vs rangeland. Due to the extensive field infrastructure, the NCRIS Maules Creek Mountain Front Hydrological Observatory (MFHO) was selected as one of two field sites for a Department of Environment – Office of Water Science grant on ‘Research to inform the assessment of ecohydrological responses to coal seam gas extraction and coal mining’ (see further reporting on this grant below). Groundwater hydrographs and climate station data were used to provide the hydrologic context for the study. The NCRIs groundwater monitoring bores were also sampled for comprehensive analysis of hydrochemistry and stygofauna (groundwater invertebrates). The NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure was also leveraged against the successful ARC Discovery proposal entitled “Groundwater organic matter: carbon source or sink?” by Baker, O’Carroll and Andersen.


Technical officer Iwona Buczek and program director Dr Martin Andersen at the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure exhibition booth at the Australian Groundwater Conference at the Shine Dome, Canberra, 3-5 November 2015.

In 2015, seven CWI journal papers using NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure or data were published. The NCRIS groundwater Infrastructure program had a well-attended exhibition booth at the Australian Groundwater Conference in Canberra in November 2015. The booth was staffed by volunteer members of the CWI. For access to the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure (http:// www.connectedwaters.unsw.edu.au/ncris), please contact Dr Martin S Andersen: m.andersen@unsw.edu.au.

The Connected Waters initiative Research Centre manages the National Collaborative Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS) Groundwater Infrastructure program, supported by partners at Flinders University, Monash University and the Australia National University.

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Clockwise from top left: Stygofauna sampling from NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure monitoring boreholes in Maules Creek catchment; Dr Gabriel Rau (CWI) and Master student Junsong Chen installing streambed temperature arrays; CWI affiliate Dr Stefan Eberhard and M Phil student Alex Auhl installing cotton strips for microbial activity studies; and Visiting Academic Beth Neilson (Utah State University) and PhD Student Landon Halloran observing the release of a dye tracer for surface water groundwater interaction investigations.

Office of Water Science (Commonwealth Department of the Environment) (Andersen) In 2014 the Office of Water Science commissioned a multidisciplinary consortium, led by Griffith University and including the CWI at University of New South Wales, Edith Cowan University, Subterranean Ecology Pty Ltd and Yorb Pty Ltd, to carry out a research program focused on ecological research to address critical priorities concerning ecohydrological responses to coal seam gas extraction and coal mining. This project involves an integrated programme of research that addresses key elements within four major components: 1) ecohydrology of groundwater dependent terrestrial vegetation; 2) ecological values of baseflow and surface water-groundwater connectivity regimes in non-perennial streams; 3) hydrogeochemistry, biogeochemical processes and links to the hyporheos/stygofauna; and 4) composition and resilience of Great Artesian Basin spring communities. Component 3 is led by Dr Martin Andersen. In 2015 the program team developed hydro-ecological conceptual models for the impacts of groundwater drawdown on stream and groundwater ecology. The team also planned the

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field sampling design for the two study catchments Maules Creek (NSW) and Bremer River (QLD) and from February to July and completed four pilot field trips to provide proof of the study design concept. In the second half of 2015 the main field work commenced with sampling of surface waters, hyporheic zone and groundwater for water chemistry, microbial activity and invertebrate ecology. Preliminary findings for the Maules Creek catchment revealed zones within the streambed sediments of oxygenated groundwater discharge (upwelling) with a rich invertebrate abundance and diversity compared to sites of down-welling surface water, which quickly became reducing a short way into the streambed causing low invertebrate abundance and diversity. These patterns can be used to predict the ecological responses to groundwater drawdown where downwelling conditions increase and upwelling is diminished. Preliminary findings of the study were presented in two talks by post doc Helen Rutlidge and Martin S Andersen at the Australian Groundwater Conference in Canberra.


International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) (Andersen, Rau) The IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) titled “Environmental isotopes to assess groundwater impacts on surface water quality” continued to progress in 2015. This international coordinated research project under the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made significant progress in the development and knowledge transfer of isotopes in surface-groundwater interactions. In 2015, Dr Gabriel Rau went to the 3rd and final annual CPR meeting at IAEA headquarters which coincided with the IAEA’s International Symposium on Isotope Hydrology in Vienna (Austria) in May 2015. Gabriel presented work on the combination of radon and hydrochemical parameters to reveal natural and induced surface groundwater exchange pathways, and contributed to the CRP 3rd progress report.

NSW Government – Research Acceleration and Attraction Program (RAAP) (Rau) The RAAP grant ‘Groundwater Knowledge and Monitoring Infrastructure’ is NSW state science leverage contribution to the NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure program. This project is to start in 2015 and has three main goals: 1) to accelerate knowledge about the interaction between climate and groundwater resources, 2) to extend the real-time groundwater monitoring capacity, and 3) to create easy-to-understand knowledge of groundwater for public distribution.

...significant progress in the development and knowledge transfer of isotopes in surfacegroundwater interactions...

Monika Markowski is a CWI PhD student based at ANSTO studying the use of speleothem records as a proxy of past climate and groundwater recharge in SE Australia.

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Selected Publication Highlights in 2015

A Investigated cave profile from irrigation at surface to cave floor, B Star Oddi temperature sensor tied on to stalactite and C custom-built temperature sensor on cavewall flowstone with Australian 1$ coin for scale. Source: Rau et al. (2015)

Controls on cave drip water temperature: Implications for paleoclimatology This paper examines the controls on cave drip water temperature using high-precision temperature measurements conducted during a field experiment at Wellington Caves, NSW. The research was funded by NCRIS Groundwater Infrastructure, the NCGRT and an in-kind contribution from an EU Marie Curie Fellowship. Long-term drip water temperature and drip rates were monitored alongside surface and cave climate and in-cave evaporation rates. A total of 3 infiltration experiments with different flow, temperature and isotopic conditions were also conducted. The data were analysed and showed that drip water temperature is controlled by multiple heat transport mechanisms acting at the same time and affecting the water between infiltration and cave discharge. Two main heat sources/sinks for drip water were identified: 1) the cave air and 2) the surrounding rock. Both mechanisms were further found to be influenced by factors such as subsurface heat conduction, cave venting and evaporative cooling on speleothem surfaces. To facilitate better interpretations of temperature dependent climate proxies by the paleoclimate community, the newly discovered temperature processes were conceptualised and summarised in a figure. The findings will inform the targeted sampling of speleothems for different climatic signatures and improve their interpre<24> CONNECTED WATERS INITIATIVE - ANNUAL REPORT 2015

tations. The paper was published in a special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews on ‘Novel approaches to and new insights from speleothem-based climate reconstructions’.

References Rau, G. C., M. O. Cuthbert, M. S. Andersen, A. Baker, H. Rutlidge, M. Markowska, H. Roshan, C. Marjo, P. Graham and R. I. Acworth (2015).“Controls on cave drip water temperature and implications for speleothem-based paleoclimate reconstructions.” Quaternary Science Reviews 127: 19-36. Cuthbert M.O., G. C. Rau, M. S. Andersen, H. Roshan, H. Rutlidge, C. E. Marjo, M. Markowska, C. Jex, P. W. Graham, G. Mariethoz, R. I. Acworth, A. Baker (2014) “Evaporative cooling of speleothem drip water.” Scientific Report: 4, 5162.


Low recovery of hydraulic fracturing fluid in unconventional shale reservoirs Hydrocarbon production from unconventional shales is increasingly important for securing the energy supply to society. The past and recent explorations of the organic rich shale reservoirs in Australian Sedimentary Basins such as Copper, Perth, Beetaloo, Georgina and Marybroug, with huge estimate of gas and oil in place, prove the Australian share in unconventional hydrocarbon resources. The near future development of such resources, however, demands a comprehensive investigation of technical and environmental concerns associated with these activities, in particular the fracturing operations. The technical, economical and, more importantly, environmental concerns associated with low recovery of hydraulic fracturing fluid have been investigated in shale gas developments in the USA in the last decade. Despite various research projects, the mechanisms involved in low recovery of hydraulic fracturing fluid are poorly understood. It is therefore essential to address any possible environmental risks before gas exploitation, especially in Australia with its limited groundwater resources. The physico-chemical processes such as hydration of clay minerals, capillary forces, creation of micro-fractures, storage of the fluid within the fracture network and osmotic flow have been hypothesized as the reasons for low recovery of fracturing fluid. However, neither of the proposed techniques can fully describe the observed physical phenomena in shale, which is partly due to the presence of reactive clay minerals in these rocks with nano-scale porosity. Our recent paper titled “Mechanisms of water adsorption into partially saturated fractured shales: An experimental study” examined the uptake of different ionic solutions into shale samples at high pressure and controlled temperature showed the complexity in water uptake into shale rocks. We argued that the higher ionic concentration does not necessarily lead to lower solution uptake and the uptake is a function of ionic concentration and ion type, pressure and temperature, and chemical composition of the shale sample. We have also recently found that the contact angle between liquid and shale rocks is a strong function of pressure, temperature, ion type and ionic concentration indicating a significant fundamental shortcoming in the previous works. We have now focused on the micro-structural evolution of shale samples when exposed to different ionic solutions which will eventually be linked to hydraulic fracturing fluid exposure to shale rocks.

Micro-structural evolution of shale samples. a) and b) Registered dry to saturated images, c) fracture segmentation in the dry image and d) fracture segmentation in the saturated image.

...Despite various research projects, the mechanisms involved in low recovery of hydraulic fracturing fluid are poorly understood...

References Roshan, H., M. S. Andersen, H. Rutlidge, C. E. Marjo, R. I. Acworth (2015) “Investigation of the kinetics of water uptake into partially saturated shales”. Water Resources Research 52: 2420-2438

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Ten years of monitoring Golgotha Cave to constrain stalagmite paleoenvironmental archives from southwest Australia Golgotha Cave in southwest Australia is one of the world’s longest and most intensively studied cave environments. Infiltration and drip water chemistry have been continuously monitored since 2005, clocking up ten years worth of data in 2015. A second paper from this dataset was published in 2015, investigating the key processes impacting the dripwater carbonate chemistry (Treble et al., 2015). Cave air ventilation was found to promote stalactite deposition at slower versus faster dripping sites. This has implications for interpreting the trace metals in the underlying stalagmites, which was explored quantitatively using hydrochemical mass balances techniques. The less-evolved carbonate chemistry at our faster dripping sites (minimal stalactite growth) were shown to be more likely to preserve trends in the original drip water solutes. Our modelling also shows enhanced CO2 source production in the unsaturated zone that is attributed to deeply-rooted vegetation and increasing bioproductivity which we linked to forest recovery after fires impacted our site during 2006 CE. A further paper from this monitoring site was also published in 2015 by Mahmud et al. (2015). This study utilised a LiDAR survey to carry out a morphological analysis of the ceiling stalactites. Statistical methods were employed to characterise the flow-types of each stalactite (e.g. diffuse versus fracture flow). This information was used to build up a model of water movement through the cave ceiling to understand the impact of karst hydrology on flow paths to individual drip sites. This information assists in constraining the influence of the karst system on potential climate signals preserved in the underlying speleothem records. These research findings and other emerging science from the Golgotha Cave monitoring site (Fairchild et al., 2015; Mariethoz et al., 2015; Treble et al., 2015), as well as results from another companion site in WA (Nagra et al., 2015), were presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall meeting in December 2015 at a session chaired by Pauline Treble and Andy Baker. The session was titled ‘The karst record in water-limited environments’ and was an excellent opportunity to showcase this work as well as complimentary cave monitoring studies from southeast Australia. Mr Gurinder Nagra received the David E. Lumley Young Scientist award for his poster presentation.

Conceptual figure of processes impacting the carbonate chemistry in the Golgotha Cave system (Treble et al 2015)

References Mahmud, K., G. Mariethoz, P. C. Treble and A. Baker (2015). “Terrestrial LiDAR Survey and Morphological Analysis to Identify Infiltration Properties in the Tamala Limestone, Western Australia.” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 8(10): 4871-4881. Treble, P. C., I. J. Fairchild, A. Griffiths, A. Baker, K. T. Meredith, A. Wood and E. McGuire (2015). “Impacts of cave air ventilation and in-cave prior calcite precipitation on Golgotha Cave dripwater chemistry, southwest Australia.” Quaternary Science Reviews 127: 61-72. Fairchild, I. J., A. B. Baker, M. S. Andersen and P. C. Treble (2015). Mass balance approaches to understanding evolution of dripwater chemistry. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

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Measuring Resitivity over the karst at Wellington, NSW (Reza K)

Honours student Afrida Salma sampling the hyporheic zone

Visiting Academic Beth Neilson and PhD Student Landon Halloran observing optical tracer test

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04 PUBLICATIONS CONNECTED WATERS INITIATIVE - ANNUAL REPORT 2015 <29>


Book Chapters Scheiber, L., Ayora, C., VázquezSuñé, E., Cendón, D. I., Soler, A., and Baquero, J. C. (2015). Origen de las altas concentraciones de amonio, arsénico y boro en el acuífero Niebla-Posadas en la proximidad de la actividad minera de Cobre Las Cruces (Gerena-Sevilla). Publicaciones del Instituto Geológico y minero de España. Serie Hidrogeológica y aguas subterráneas Nº 12(2), 1-8. Holley, C. and A. Lawson (2015). Implementing environmental law and collaborative governance. Implementing Environmental Law: Implementing Environmental Law, Edward Elgar Publishing: 238-259. Gray, J. S. (2015). Unconventional Gas: What a fracking story! Ecological Systems Integrity Governance, law and human rights, Routledge.

Journal articles Acworth, R. I., W. A. Timms, B. F. J. Kelly,

D. E. McGeeney, T. J. Ralph, Z. T. Larkin and G. C. Rau (2015). “Late Cenozoic paleovalley fill sequence from the Southern Liverpool Plains, New South Wales - implications for groundwater resource evaluation.” Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 62(6): 657-680. Baker, A., J. C Hellstrom, B. F. J. Kelly, G. Mariethoz and V. Trouet (2015). “A composite annual-resolution stalagmite record of North Atlantic climate over the last three millennia.” Scientific Reports 5:10307 Baker, A., S. A. Cumberland, C. Bradley, C. Buckley and J. Bridgeman (2015). “To what extent can portable fluorescence spectroscopy be used in the real-time assessment of microbial water quality?” Science of the Total Environment 532: 14-19. Castilla-Rho, J. C., G. Mariethoz, R. Rojas, M. S. Andersen and B. F. J. Kelly (2015). “An agent-based platform for simulating complex human-aquifer interactions in managed groundwater systems.” Environmental Modelling and Software 73: 305-323. Cendón D.I., C.E. Hughes, J.J. Harrison, S.I Hankin, M.P. Johansen, T.E. Payne, H. Wong, B. Rowling , M. Vine, K. Wilsher, A. Guinea and S. Thiruvoth

(2015). “Hydrogeochemical and isotopic characterisation of a low level radioactive waste site adjacent to landfills.” Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 62: 123-141. Chowdhury, A. I. A., M. M. Krol, C. M. Kocur, H. K. Boparai, K. P. Weber, B. E. Sleep and D. M. O’Carroll (2015). “NZVI injection into variably saturated soils: Field and modeling study.” Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 183: 16-28. Crane, R. A., M. O. Cuthbert and W. Timms (2015). “Technical Note: The use of an interrupted-flow centrifugation method to characterise preferential flow in low permeability media.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 12(1): 67-92. Crane, R. A., W. A. Timms and M. O. Cuthbert (2015). “The use of an interrupted-flow centrifugation method to characterise preferential flow in low permeability media.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 19: 3991-4000. David, K., W. Timms and A. Baker (2015). “Direct stable isotope porewater equilibration and identification of groundwater processes in heterogeneous sedimentary rock.” Science of the Total Environment 538: 1010-1023. Duvert, C., D. I. Cendón, M. Raiber, J. L. Seidel and M. E. Cox (2015). “Seasonal and spatial variations in rare earth elements to identify inter-aquifer linkages and recharge processes in an Australian catchment.” Chemical Geology 396: 8397. Duvert, C., M. Raiber, D. D. R. Owen, D. I. Cendón, C. Batiot-Guilhe and M. E. Cox (2015). “Hydrochemical processes in a shallow coal seam gas aquifer and its overlying stream-alluvial system: implications for recharge and inter-aquifer connectivity.” Applied Geochemistry 61: 146-159. Garcia-Veigas, J., L. Rosell, D. I. Cendón, L. Gibert, J. M. Martin, J. Torres-Ruiz and F. Orti (2015). “Large celestine orebodies formed by early-diagenetic replacement of gypsified stromatolites (Upper Miocene, Montevive-Escuzar deposit, Granada Basin, Spain).” Ore Geology Reviews 64: 187-199. Graham, P. W., A. Baker and M. S. Andersen (2015). “Dissolved Organic Carbon Mobilisation in a Groundwater

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System Stressed by Pumping.” Scientific Reports 5:18487 Graham, P. W., A. Baker, M. S. Andersen and I. Acworth (2015). “Field Measurement of Fluorescent Dissolved Organic Material as a Means of Early Detection of Leachate Plumes.” Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 226(7):211 Hartland, A., M. S. Andersen and D. P. Hamilton (2015). “Phosphorus and arsenic distributions in a seasonally stratified, iron- and manganese-rich lake: microbiological and geochemical controls.” Environmental Chemistry 12(6): 708-722. Hartland, A., J. R. Larsen, M. S. Andersen, M. Baalousha and D. O’Carroll (2015). “Association of Arsenic and Phosphorus with Iron Nanoparticles between Streams and Aquifers: Implications for Arsenic Mobility.” Environmental Science Technology 49(24): 14101-14109. Harun, S., A. Baker, C. Bradley, G. Pinay, I. Boomer and R. L. Hamilton (2015). “Characterisation of dissolved organic matter in the lower Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysia.” Hydrology Research 46(3): 411-428. Holley, C. (2015). “Crafting Collaborative Governance: Water Resources, California’s Delta Plan and Audited Self Management in New Zealand.” Environmental Law Reporter: news and analysis 45: 10324-10337. Iverach, C. P., D. I. Cendón, S. I. Hankin, D. Lowry, R. E. Fisher, J. L. France, E. G. Nisbet, A. Baker and B. F. J. Kelly (2015). “Assessing Connectivity Between an Overlying Aquifer and a Coal Seam Gas Resource Using Methane Isotopes, Dissolved Organic Carbon and Tritium.” Scientific Reports 5: 15996-15996. Jasechko, S., A. Lechler, F. S. R. Pausata, P. J. Fawcett, T. Gleeson, D. I. Cendón, J. Galewsky, A. N. LeGrande, C. Risi, Z. D. Sharp, J. M. Welker, M. Werner and K. Yoshimura (2015). “Late-glacial to lateHolocene shifts in global precipitation delta O-18.” Climate Of The Past 11(10): 1375-1393. Jha, S. K., G. Mariethoz, G. Mathews, J. Vial and B. F. J. Kelly (2015). “Influence of Alluvial Morphology on Upscaled Hydraulic Conductivity.” Groundwater:384-393


Jiang, Z., G. Mariethoz, M. Raiber, W. A. Timms and M. Cox (2015). “Application of 1D paleo-fluvial process modeling at a basin-scale to augment sparse borehole data: example of a Permian formation in the Galilee Basin, Australia.” Hydrological Processes 30(4):1624-1636 Jones, M. D., M. O. Cuthbert, M. J. Leng, S. McGowan, G. Mariethoz, C. Arrowsmith, H. J. Sloane, K. K. Humphrey and I. Cross (2015). “Comparisons of observed and modelled lake δ18O variability.” Quaternary Science Reviews. 131B: 329–340 King, A. C., M. Raiber, D. I. Cendón, M. E. Cox and S. E. Hollins (2015). “Identifying flood recharge and inter-aquifer connectivity using multiple isotopes in subtropical Australia.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 19(5): 2315-2335. Kocur, C. M. D., L. Lomheim, H. K. Boparai, A. I. A. Chowdhury, K. P. Weber, L. M. Austrins, E. A. Edwards, B. E. Sleep and D. M. O’Carroll (2015). “Contributions of Abiotic and Biotic Dechlorination Following Carboxymethyl Cellulose Stabilized Nanoscale Zero Valent Iron Injection.” Environmental Science and Technology 49(14): 8648-8656. Koenig, J. C., H. K. Boparai, M. J. Lee, D. M. O’Carroll, R. J. Barnes and M. J. Manefield (2016). “Particles and enzymes: Combining nanoscale zero valent iron and organochlorine respiring bacteria for the detoxification of chloroethane mixtures.” Journal of Hazardous Materials 308: 106-112. Mahmud, K., G. Mariethoz, A. Baker, P. C. Treble, M. Markowska and E. McGuire (2015). “Estimation of deep infiltration in unsaturated limestone environments using cave LiDAR and drip count data.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 12(9): 8891-8925. Mahmud, K., G. Mariethoz, P. C. Treble and A. Baker (2015). “Terrestrial LiDAR Survey and Morphological Analysis to Identify Infiltration Properties in the Tamala Limestone, Western Australia.” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 8(10): 4871-4881. Malli, H., W. Timms and S. Bouzalakos (2015). “Integration of ultramafic mine tailings and acid mine drainage for carbon sequestration and mine waste management.” Journal of Research Projects Review 4(1): 11-20.

Markowska, M., A. Baker, P. C. Treble, M. S. Andersen, S. Hankin, C. N. Jex, C. V. Tadros and R. Roach (2015). “Unsaturated zone hydrology and cave drip discharge water response: Implications for speleothem paleoclimate record variability.” Journal of Hydrology 529: 662-675. Meredith, K. T., S. E. Hollins, C. E. Hughes, D. I. Cendón, R. Chisari, A. Griffiths and J. Crawford (2015). “Evaporation and concentration gradients created by episodic river recharge in a semi-arid zone aquifer: Insights from Cl-, delta O-18 delta H-2, and H-3.” Journal Of Hydrology 529: 1070-1078. Molnar, I. L., J. I. Gerhard, C. S. Willson and D. M. O’Carroll (2015). “The impact of immobile zones on the transport and retention of nanoparticles in porous media.” Water Resources Research 51(11): 8973-8994.

Roshan, H., M.S. Andersen, R.I Acworth (2015). “Effect of solid-fluid thermal expansion on thermo-osmotic tests: An experimental and analytical study.” Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 126: 222-230. Roshan, H., S. Ehsani, C. E. Marjo, M. S. Andersen and R. I. Acworth (2015). “Mechanisms of water adsorption into partially saturated fractured shales: An experimental study.” Fuel 159: 628-637. Rutlidge, H., M. S. Andersen, A. Baker, K. J. Chinu, M. O. Cuthbert, C. N. Jex, C. E. Marjo, M. Markowska and G. C. Rau (2015). “Organic characterisation of cave drip water by LC-OCD and fluorescence analysis.” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 166(C): 15-28. Salmon, S.U., H. Prommer, J. Park, K. T. Meredith, J. V. Turner, J.L. McCallum (2015). “A general reactive transport modeling framework for simulating and interpreting groundwater 14C age and δ13C.” Water Resources Research 51: 359-376.

Molnar, I. L., W. P. Johnson, J. I. Gerhard, C. S. Willson and D. M. O’Carroll (2015). “Predicting colloid transport through saturated porous media: A critical review.” Water Resources Research 51(9): 6804-6845. Muller, C. L., A. Baker, I. J. Fairchild, C. Kidd and I. Boomer (2015). “Intra-event trends in stable isotopes: Exploring midlatitude precipitation using a vertically pointing micro rain radar.” Journal of Hydrometeorology 16(1): 194-213. Raiber, M., J. A. Webb, D. I. Cendón, P. A. White and G. E. Jacobsen (2015). “Environmental isotopes meet 3D geological modelling: Conceptualising recharge and structurally-controlled aquifer connectivity in the basalt plains of south-western Victoria, Australia.” Journal of Hydrology 527: 262-280.

Scheiber, L., C. Ayora, E. Vázquez-Suñé, D. I. Cendón, A. Soler, E. Custodio and J. C. Baquero (2015). “Recent and old groundwater in the Niebla-Posadas regional aquifer (southern Spain): Implications for its management.” Journal of Hydrology 523: 624-635. Timms, W. A., R. Crane, D. J. Anderson, S. Bouzalakos, M. Whelan, D. McGeeney, P. F. Rahman, A. Guinea and R. I. Acworth (2015). “Accelerated gravity testing of aquitard core permeability and implications at formation and regional scale.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 12: 2799-2841.

Rau, G. C., M. O. Cuthbert, M. S. Andersen, A. Baker, H. Rutlidge, M. Markowska, H. Roshan, C. Marjo, P. Graham and R. I. Acworth (2015). “Controls on cave drip water temperature and implications for speleothembased paleoclimate reconstructions.” Quaternary Science Reviews 127: 19-36. Rau, G. C., M. O. Cuthbert, A. M. McCallum, L. J. S. Halloran and M. S. Andersen (2015). “Assessing the accuracy of 1-D analytical heat tracing for estimating near-surface sediment thermal diffusivity and water flux under transient conditions.” Journal of

Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface 120(8): 1551-1573.

Tonkin, C. and W. Timms (2015). “Geological structures and fault-infill in the Southern Coalfields and implications for groundwater flow.” Journal of Research Projects Review 4: 49-58. Treble, P. C., I. J. Fairchild, A. Griffiths, A. Baker, K. T. Meredith, A. Wood and E. McGuire (2015). “Impacts of cave air ventilation and in-cave prior calcite precipitation on Golgotha Cave dripwater chemistry, southwest Australia.” Quaternary Science Reviews 127: 61-72.

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Zoorabadi, M., S. Saydam, W. A. Timms and B. Hebblewhite (2015). “Non-linear flow behaviour of rough fractures having standard JRC profiles.” International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences.

A snapshot of groundwater residence times and water stable isotope results across the Australian continent (2015 update). 4th Annual Meeting of G@GPS Paleogroundwater from past and present glaciated areas, Estonia.

Conference Publications – Conference Papers and Abstracts

Coleborn, K., A. Lupingna, I. Flemons, G. Nagra, P. C. Treble, M. S. Andersen, A. Baker, M. Tozer, I. J. Fairchild, A. B. Baker and S. Meehan (2015) Wildfire on Karst: an Overview. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting,

Andersen, M. S., H. Rutlidge, S. Eberhard, L. Halloran, B. Neilson, G. Rau, C. Li, A. Salma, J. Chen, C. Moll, C. Murphy, M. Cuthbert and A. Baker (2015). Mapping groundwater discharge and water chemistry in a perennial stream in northern New South Wales. Australian Groundwater Conference. Canberra. Baker, A. B., M. S. Andersen, P. C. Treble, M. Markowska, K. Coleborn and I. Flemons (2015). Caves as observatories of diffuse groundwater recharge. Australian Groundwater Conference. Canberra. Baker, A. B. and I. Flemons (2015) The fire distinguisher: a baseline study of semi-arid karst drip waters in Wildman’s cave at Wombeyan, NSW, Australia. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco. Baker, A. B., P. C. Treble, K. Coleborn, K. Mahmud, M. Markowska and I. Flemons (2015) Hundreds of automatic drip counters reveal infiltration water discharge characteristics in Australian caves. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco. Blyth, A.J. A. Baker, C. Jex, M. Woltering, S.J. Khan, H Rutlidge, C. E. Marjo, M. Markowska, G. Rau, M.O. Cuthbert, M.S. Andersen, S. Schouten (2015). Identifying the source of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers preserved in speleothems, IMOG conference, Prague. Cendón, D., B. F. Kelly, J. Larsen, S. Hankin, C. Hughes, K. Meredith, S. Hollins and C. P. Iverach (2015) Shallow groundwater recharge and residence in two separate flood plains along an aridity gradient in south Queensland, Australia. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Cendón D.I., S. Jasechko, K. Meredith, C. Hughes, M. Markowska, S. Hollins (2015).

Cook, S. B., W. Timms, B. Kelly and R. Brodie (2015) Statistical assessment of chemical and hydraulic trends in groundwater of the Mooki River alluvium. Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, Canberra, 03 Nov 2015 - 05 Nov 2015, Canberra. Crawford, J., S. Hollins, K. Meredith, C. Hughes, (2015). Stable Isotopes in Precipitation at the Macquarie Marshes. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney. David, K., V. David and W. Timms (2015) Refinement of conceptual groundwater model for fractured aquifer system, Kempfield, SA Australia. 20th International Conference of the International Association of Hydrogeologists , French Chapter, La Roche-sur-Yon. David, K., W. Timms and A. Baker (2015). Important role of porewater stable isotope analysis in investigations of low permeability strata, Sydney Basin. Australian Groundwater Conference 2015. Canberra. David, K., W. Timms and A. Baker (2015). Off-Axis ICOS Pore Water Stable Isotope Analysis of Pore Water in Drill Core - Characterisation of Groundwater Processes, Sydney Basin. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney. David, K., W. Timms, R. Mitra and P. Cai (2015) Groundwater vulnerability assessment using comparison of premining and post mining conditions in the coal mining environment. Groundwater vulnerability-From Scientific Concepts to Practical Applications, Ustron. Fairchild, I. J., A. B. Baker, M. S. Andersen and P. C. Treble (2015). Mass

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balance approaches to understanding evolution of dripwater chemistry. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. Halloran, L. J., G. C. Rau, M. S. Andersen, H. Roshan and I. Acworth (2015). Natural temperature variations and soil moisture content in the vadose zone. Australian Groundwater Conference. Canberra. Halloran, L. J. S., H. Roshan, G. C. Rau, M. O. Cuthbert, M. S. Andersen and I. Acworth (2015) Soil moisture content estimation from passive temperature measurements. EGU General Assembly, Vienna. Hocking, M., C. Beverly and B. F. Kelly (2015) Quantify the impact of leaky wells using AEM in the Condamine Catchment. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Hocking, M., C. Beverly and B. F. J. Kelly (2015) Quantifying the Potential Impact of Abandoned Exploration Wells on Groundwater. Australian Cotton Scientists Research Conference, Toowoomba. Hocking, M. and B. F. Kelly (2015) Proportioning Groundwater Hydrography Fluctuations to Rainfall Recharge and Quantifying Recharge Lag-Time Using Impulse Response Function Modelling. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Holley, C. (2015). ‘Water Markets: A Failed Experiment? National Environmental Law Association National Conference 2015, Sydney. Holley, C. (2015). Groundwater and Planning: Sustainable Allocation, Monitoring and Community Engagement. Australian Groundwater Conference. Canberra. Holley, C. & D. Sinclair (2015). Water Metering and Monitoring in Australia. Advanced Monitoring, Remote Sensing, and Data Gathering, Analysis and Disclosure in Compliance and Enforcement (2015 J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium), Washington DC. Holley, C. & D. Sinclair (2015). Real Time Monitoring and Audited Self Management. Advanced Monitoring, Remote Sensing, and Data Gathering,


Analysis and Disclosure in Compliance and Enforcement (2015 J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium), Washington DC.

Kelly, B. F. (2015). CSG Impacts on Water in the Namoi and Condamine Catchments. Cotton Collective industry forum, Narrabri.

Holley, C. & D Sinclair. (2015). Water Enforcement and Compliance: Views and Experiences in NSW. NGWA Groundwater Summit, San Antonio.

Kelly, B. F., C. P. Iverach, D. Lowry, R. E. Fisher, J. L. France and E. G. Nisbet (2015). Fugitive methane emissions from natural, urban, agricultural, and energyproduction landscapes of eastern Australia. EGU General Assembly, Vienna.

Hofmann H., Newborn D., Cartwright I., Cendón D.I., Raiber M. (2015). Understanding groundwater dynamics on barrier islands using geochronological data: An example from North Stradbroke Island, Southeast Queensland. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Hughes, C.E., K. Meredith, R.S. Brodie, S.E. Hollins, D.I. Cendón (2015). δ2H and δ18O used to link flooding to groundwater recharge along the Darling River. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney. Iverach, C. P., D. I. Cendón, S. I. Hankin, D. Lowry, R. E. Fisher, J. L. France, E. G. Nisbet, A. Baker and B. F. J. Kelly (2015). Assessing Connectivity between an aquifer and coal seam gas production using water geochemistry and methane isotopes. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Iverach, C. P., D. I. Cendón, S. I. Hankin, D. Lowry, R. E. Fisher, J. L. France, E. G. Nisbet, A. Baker and B. F. J. Kelly (2015). Assessing the hydraulic connection between fresh water aquifers and unconventional gas production using methane and stable isotopes. European Geophysical Union General Assembly, Vienna. Iverach, C. P., D. I. Cendón, S. I. Hankin, D. Lowry, R. E. Fisher, J. L. France, E. G. Nisbet, A. Baker and B. F. J. Kelly (2015). Detecting hydraulic connection between fresh water aquifers and coal seam gas production using the isotopes of carbon in methane. Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference. Sydney. Iverach, C. P., B. F. J. Kelly, D. I. Cendón, S. I. Hankin, D. Lowry, R. E. Fisher, J. L. France, E. G. Nisbet and A. Baker (2015) Detecting Hydraulic Connection between Freshwater Aquifers and Coal Seam Gas Production using the Isotopes of Carbon in Methane. Association of Australian Cotton Scientists. Toowoomba.

Keshavarzi, M., B. F. Kelly and A. Baker (2015). Mapping karst features and recharge pathways using resistivity imaging: A case study Wellington Caves, NSW, Australia. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Li, C. P., M. S. Andersen, B. Kelly, G. C. Rau, A. McCallum and A. Baker (2015) Aquifer recovery during the transition from drought to a wet period: the mechanisms and pathways to recovery. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Li, C. P., M. S. Andersen, B. F. J. Kelly, G. C. Rau and A. M. McCallum (2015) The decline and rise of groundwater levels in the Maules Creek Catchment (Upper Namoi): Implications for groundwater resource management. 2nd Australian Cotton Research Conference, Toowoomba. Mah, M. and B. Kelly (2015) Impulse Response Groundwater Model of the Western Border Rivers Catchment. 2nd Australian Cotton Research Conference, Toowoomba.

Markowska, M., A. Baker, M. Andersen, M. Cuthbert, G. Rau, C. Jex, P. Graham, H. Rutlidge, Q. Hua, G. Mariethoz, C. Marjo, P. C. Treble and L. Adler (2015) Cave stalagmites as recorders of past recharge frequency and changes in aridity. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Markowska, M., A. B. Baker, M. S. Andersen, C. Jex, M. O. Cuthbert, G. Rau, P. W. Graham, H. Rutlidge, C. Marjo and P. C. Treble (2015). Cave Monitoring to Determine the Controls on δ18O From a Modern Speleothem Record in Semiarid SE Australia. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. Markowska, M., A. Baker, M.S Andersen, H. Rutlidge, C. Jex, M.O. Cuthbert, G. Rau, P. Graham, G. Mariethoz, C.E. Marjo, L. Adler, Q. Hua and P.C. Treble (2015). Paleo-aridity recorded in semi-arid climate speleothem. XIX INQUA 2015, Nagoya. Markowska, M., A. Baker, M.S Andersen, H. Rutlidge, C. Jex, M.O. Cuthbert, G. Rau, P. Graham, G. Mariethoz, C.E. Marjo, L. Adler, Q. Hua and P.C. Treble (2015). Paleo-aridity recorded in semi-arid climate speleothem. Summer School on Speleothem Science, Oxford. Markowska, M., A. Baker, M. Andersen, C. Jex, M. Cuthbert, G. Rau, P. Graham, H. Rutlidge, G. Mariethoz, C.E. Marjo, P.C. Treble and N. Edwards (2015). Cave monitoring to constrain the paleoclimate interpretation of δ18O proxy in speleothems from semi-arid areas. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney. Meredith,, K., S. Hollins, D. Cendón, G. Jacobsen, R. Chisari and V. Levchenko (2015). Tracing Carbon Dynamics Of Groundwater In An Evaporative Environment. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney.

Mahmud, K., G. Mariethoz, A. Baker, P. Treble and M. Markowska (2015) Characterising Groundwater Recharge from Cave Terrestrial LiDAR and Drip Water Analysis. Australian Groundwater Conference (AGC), Canberra. Malli, H., S. Bouzalakos and W. Timms (2015) Ultramafic mine tailings to treat acidic mine water and lock away carbon through mineral carbonation. Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century, Sydney.

Meredith K., S. Hollins, C. Hughes, D. I. Cendón and A. Griffiths (2015). Solute and evaporation gradients formed by episodic river recharge over-time in a dryland aquifer. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra.

Mariethoz, G., K. Mahmud, A. B. Baker and P. C. Treble (2015) Flow Classification and Cave Discharge Characteristics in Unsaturated Karst Formation. American Geophysica Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco.

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Nagra, G., P.C Treble, A. Baker, M.S. Andersen, K. Coleborn and I.J. Fairchild (2015). Igniting the Secret Wildfires of the Past: Searching for Wildfire Records in Caves to Unravel Hidden Paleo-fire Records. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. Raiber, M., A. Feitz, D.I Cendón and A. Suckow (2015). Multi-tracer approach to investigate groundwater recharge and aquifer connectivity in the ClarenceMoreton and eastern Surat basins in southeast Queensland. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Rau, G. C., M. O. Cuthbert, M. S. Andersen, A. Baker, H. Rutlidge, M. Markowska, H. Roshan, C. Marjo, P. Graham and I. Acworth (2015) What controls the cave drip water temperature? Analysis and implications for paleoclimate reconstruction from speleothems. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Rau, G. C., H. Rutlidge, M. S. Andersen, N. P. Unland, H. Hofmann, B. S. Gilfedder, A. Atkinson, I. Cartwright, A. Baker and R. I. Acworth (2015). 222-Rn and hydrochemical parameters reveal natural and induced surface groundwater exchange pathways. International Symposium on Isotope Hydrology, Vienna. Roshan, H., M. Sarmadivaleh and S. Iglauer (2015). Architecture of the fracture network of shale reservoirs by tracking exchangeable cations. Society of Petroleum Engineers - SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane. Rutlidge, H. T., M. S. Andersen, S. Eberhard, L. Halloran, B. Neilson, G. Rau, C. Li, A. Salma, J. Chen, C. Moll, C. Murphy and A. Baker (2015) Organic matter content and redox chemistry in upwelling and down-welling hyporheic zones of a groundwater fed stream in northern New South Wales. Australian Groundwater Conference. Canberra. Timms, W. (2015). Water use productivity and dewatering of underground coal mines in relation to extraction panel design and hydrogeological factors, Hunter Valley, Australia. International Association of Hydrogeologists, 42nd Annual Congress, Rome. Timms, W., J. Fletcher and D. Laurence (2015). Nuclear Engineering and Uranium Mining Fundamentals:

Postgraduate Training and Research Initiatives. Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Uranium Conference, Adelaide. Timms, W., A. Hartland, G. Jacobsen, D. Cendón, R. Crane and D. McGeeney (2015). 14C Activity of DIC and DOC within a clayey-silt aquitard. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney. Timms, W. A. (2015) Barriers to flow: advancing aquitard assessments for energy and mineral resource projects. Invited Plenary at Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Timms, W. A. (2015). New uranium mine plans and current operations down-under (Australia). Invited guest lecture at Centre for Nuclear Engineering, Imperial College London. Timms, W. A. and D. Anderson (2015) Geotechnical centrifuge technology for characterising the interaction of tailings and pore water over decadal time periods. AusIMM Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century, Sydney. Timms, W. A., R. Crane and D. McGeeney (2015) Reactive solute transport through a clayey aquitard – years of flow tested within weeks by accelerated gravity technology. International Association of Hydrogeologists, 42nd Annual Congress, Rome. Treble, P.C., A. B. Baker, I. J. Fairchild, C. Bradley, K. Mahmud, M. S. Andersen, K. Meredith and Mariethoz (2015) Roles of Transpiration, Forest Bioproductivity and Fire on a Long-Term Dripwater Hydrochemistry Dataset from Golgotha Cave, SW Australia. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. Wells, E., A. Baker, M. Andersen, K. Meredith and V. Post (2015). Hydrochemical assessment of a freshwater resource on Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Australian Groundwater Conference, Canberra. Wells, E., K. Meredith, A. Baker, M.S. Andersen, V. Post (2015). Seasonal change in the groundwater isotopic composition of a freshwater lens, Rottnest Island, Western Australia. 13th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, Sydney.

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Yan, J., P. G. Lennox, B. Kelly and R. Offler (2015). Kinematic reconstruction of the Hastings Block, Southern New England Orogen, Australia. ASEG-PESA 2015, 24th International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Perth. Zainuddin, N. S., M.S. Andersen, A. Baker, R. Crane, D. O’Carroll, C. Marjo and H. Rutlidge (2015). The role of groundwater dissolved organic matter on arsenic mobilisation in a shallow alluvial aquifer in the Namoi Valley, NSW, Australia. Australian Groundwater Conference 2015, Canberra. Zainuddin, N. S., M.S. Andersen, A. Baker, E. Howley, D. O’Carroll, C. Jex, K. Meredith and E. Wells (2015). Arsenic Released and Mobility in a Coastal Aquifer. Contaminated Land Conference, Auckland. Zainuddin, N. S., M.S. Andersen, A. Baker, E. Howley, D. O’Carroll, C. Jex, K. Meredith and E. Wells (2015). Dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentration and quality in a coastal aquifer. European Geosciences Union 2015, Vienna.

Other Hankin, S. and D.I Cendón (2015) Measurement and preliminary interpretation of isotopes in groundwater at Talwood, QLD. ANSTO/C-1434. Prepared for Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mining, QLD. Commercial In Confidence, 17 pp and Appendices. Holley, C. and D. Sinclair (2015). Water extraction in NSW: Stakeholder views and experience of compliance and enforcement. A report of a survey of water users. Prepared for DPI Water, February 2015. Melkoumian, N., W. A. Timms, P. Cai, B. David, D. McGeeney, M. Whelan, B. Driver, J. Heo, P. Nguyen, M. Woods, R. Gabb and S. Asa (2015). Quantifying fracture continuity and water seepage within a stratified rock mass – as a function of strength and degree of saturation of rocks. Sydney, Research Report, Mining Education Australia, University of Adelaide and UNSW Australia.


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