Applying airborne time domain electromagnetic induction to groundwater exploration in Chittering, Western Australia

The future agricultural and urban development of the Shire of Chittering is in part limited by the availability of known water resources. Traditional groundwater exploration methods in the past have produced relatively poor success rates in the deeply weathered laterite terrain in terms of low yields and/or brackish water quality.

Due to the importance of adequate water supplies to the prosperity and sustainability of the Shire, the Chittering Shire Council invited Worley GPX to conduct a trial HoistEM survey over a 75 hectare area of the Lower Chittering Valley to determine whether the advanced airborne time-domain electromagnetic system could offer an advantage to groundwater exploration in the Shire.

The survey proved highly successful at delineating potentially favourable groundwater resources to depths of up to 300 m, including inferred sedimentary palaeodrainages and deep fractured rock aquifers.