What is Groundwater?
The groundwater environment is largely hidden from view. A common misconception is that it occurs in underground lakes and rivers. In some areas underground streams are found in limestone caves but these are comparatively rare.
Groundwater is stored in the myriad of minute openings that exist along cracks in rocks or between grains of sand and silt. They act like a big sponge forming a groundwater reservoir which is termed an "Aquifer" There are three common types of aquifers:
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| Fractures | Pores | Cavities |
Fractured rock aquifers are the most common in the Northern Territory. Aquifers come in all sizes. They may be small, only a few hectares in area, or very large, underlying thousands of square kilometres. Aquifers may be only a few metres thick, or could measure hundreds of metres from top to bottom.
Click here to see where the main types of aquifers are across the Northern Territory.
