Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection

Recent-past subsidence of parts of the Perth Basin has most probably been caused by increased groundwater extraction for domestic and agricultural use. However, no dedicated geodetic monitoring programs were established when the increased extraction began in around 2000, thus setting a challenge to...

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Main Authors: Featherstone, Will, Filmer, Michael, Penna, N., Morgan, L., Schenk, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Royal Society of Western Australia 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14837
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author Featherstone, Will
Filmer, Michael
Penna, N.
Morgan, L.
Schenk, A.
author_facet Featherstone, Will
Filmer, Michael
Penna, N.
Morgan, L.
Schenk, A.
author_sort Featherstone, Will
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Recent-past subsidence of parts of the Perth Basin has most probably been caused by increased groundwater extraction for domestic and agricultural use. However, no dedicated geodetic monitoring programs were established when the increased extraction began in around 2000, thus setting a challenge to retrospectively quantify and map the subsidence. Differential levelling is likely to be less effective as only a few repeat traverses cover the areas thought to be subsiding. Repeat gravimetry is totally ineffective because of microseismic vibrations propagating through the Perth Basin. Repeat episodic GPS (Global Positioning System) is also likely to be less effective because of the few station occupations over several days or weeks and the inherent weakness of GPS for height determination. However, from a continuously operating GPS receiver at Gnangara and nearby artesian monitoring boreholes, we show that the rate of land subsidence has slowed from about -6 mm/yr to about -2 mm/yr since the reduction of groundwater extraction from the Yarragadee Aquifer in around 2005. A promising technique is InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar) because it can map large areas, but the lack of historical radar imagery over the period of increased subsidence is a hindrance.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-148372017-01-30T11:46:14Z Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection Featherstone, Will Filmer, Michael Penna, N. Morgan, L. Schenk, A. Recent-past subsidence of parts of the Perth Basin has most probably been caused by increased groundwater extraction for domestic and agricultural use. However, no dedicated geodetic monitoring programs were established when the increased extraction began in around 2000, thus setting a challenge to retrospectively quantify and map the subsidence. Differential levelling is likely to be less effective as only a few repeat traverses cover the areas thought to be subsiding. Repeat gravimetry is totally ineffective because of microseismic vibrations propagating through the Perth Basin. Repeat episodic GPS (Global Positioning System) is also likely to be less effective because of the few station occupations over several days or weeks and the inherent weakness of GPS for height determination. However, from a continuously operating GPS receiver at Gnangara and nearby artesian monitoring boreholes, we show that the rate of land subsidence has slowed from about -6 mm/yr to about -2 mm/yr since the reduction of groundwater extraction from the Yarragadee Aquifer in around 2005. A promising technique is InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar) because it can map large areas, but the lack of historical radar imagery over the period of increased subsidence is a hindrance. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14837 Royal Society of Western Australia fulltext
spellingShingle Featherstone, Will
Filmer, Michael
Penna, N.
Morgan, L.
Schenk, A.
Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
title Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
title_full Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
title_fullStr Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
title_full_unstemmed Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
title_short Anthropogenic land subsidence in the Perth Basin: Challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
title_sort anthropogenic land subsidence in the perth basin: challenges for its retrospective geodetic detection
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14837