The purpose of this project is to develop a pilot groundwater management system to help address the planning, management and communication issues surrounding water. It is believed that this will be the first attempt to develop such a model for Queensland and as such it represents and important step for the State.
Groundwater is not only an important resource for water supply, it is a vital component of wider, interlinked ecosystems. Factors such as rapid population growth and drought, are producing significant impacts on groundwater resources, however, in most areas these natural systems and their links, are not well understood (e.g. Cox et al., 1996). The objective of this project is to develop a tool which incorporates advanced visualisation and high performance computing within a 3-dimensional framework for integrating, displaying, and analysing large regional groundwater data sets. The basic concept is to construct a regional hydrogeological model within which geological and groundwater information can be incorporated. This information will be linked to an e-library or database, and will have the potential to be updated over time.
The project will build upon outcomes of our recent successful QCIF Pilot project
for the Bundaberg
Gooburrum aquifer system, and QCIF Technology Diffusion Project for
Immersive Visualisation.
This project will combine immersive data visualisation techniques for conceptual
models and
post-processing of data sets; an important feature of the model will be the
ability to interrogate it spatially.
The project will have three basic components: (a) the hydrogeological framework,
(b) groundwater
occurring within the framework, and (c) a database of bore geological logs,
water levels over time,
groundwater salinity, and other water quality parameters.
This project will establish the structure for a “groundwater resource framework”
that will provide scientists
and managers an interactive system within which new (and existing) field data
can be stored and accessed.
The concept is to make the framework accessible to management, governmental bodies and associated local community groups. The project is a collaborative initiative within the Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR) at QUT, and implemented by Schools of Natural Resources Sciences, and Mathematical Sciences, and Information Technology Services (ITS). There is collaboration with Queensland Dept Natural Resources & Water (NRW). The southeast of the state has been chosen as a priority area to develop the framework, due to the wide range of impacts on water resources. It is conceived that the framework and format developed will be transportable to other regions.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED APPROACH
Features of the 3-D framework
The concept of the project is to produce a virtual “block of ground” that will incorporate its water-bearing properties. This is not a groundwater flow model, but a visual data framework. We refer to this as a “Groundwater Resource Framework” (GRF). The framework will therefore require 3-D functionality, and the capability of being interrogated spatially. It is therefore essential an efficient and rigorous model format is established initially. A substantial amount of data exists in digital format, and is available from various government agencies (e.g. geology, topography, rainfall). Such data can be integrated into the GRF (Figure 1). A feature of the framework is to continue to enhance/improve the 3-D information, including vertical (subsurface) data. This project will use modern visualisation tools to produce 3D, immersive visualisations of the geology and the changing nature of the groundwater. These tools include the latest 2D and 3D scientific data visualisation techniques to represent the data in a 3D environment that will enable viewing of selected cross sections, or virtual drillholes. Volumetric visualisation and volumetric mesh creation using implicit modelling originating from the spatially interpolating sampled borehole data will also be carried out.
Groundwater information and e-library
The number and size of data sets associated with groundwater, and linked surface water systems are considerable. These data can include information such as digital elevation maps, drainage systems, soil type, agricultural irrigation practices, seismic reflection data, various downhole logs. Important will be the incorporation of discrete data in the form of groundwater bores, or other drillholes. Data from government and research institutions (including QUT) will be stored in an e-library and linked to the framework, and will support GRF interrogation. Such information will be spatially and temporally referenced and include geological logs, water levels, water chemistry and salinity and rainfall distribution. The GRF will have the capability to be interrogated using selected layers, cross sections and even "virtual" boreholes.
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Figure 1. Concept of the groundwater resource framework showing examples of data layers that can be readily incorporated to enable integration |
Figure 2. Schematic of groundwater resource framework capability |
Participants
Assoc. Prof. Malcolm Cox
School of Natural Resource Sciences QUT
Dr Joseph Young
HPC and School of Mathematical Sciences, QUT
Prof. Ian Turner
School of Mathematical Sciences, QUT
Prof. Peter Grace
Institute for Sustainable Resources, QUT
Industry Participants
Mr Robert Ellis
Senior Hydrologist Department of Natural Resources & Water
Reports
Final Report - March 2008
(454 KB PDF)
Progress Report - November 2007
(378 KB PDF)
Project Proposal (352KB
PDF)