The Great Artesian Basin

Early European settlers in Australia faced the problem of finding reliable water supplies. In the 1880s an apparently limitless water source was found in inland areas. They had discovered aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin which lies under one fifth of the continent, west of the Great Dividing Range. They could dig bore holes, and tap the aquifer, which is pressurised water under the ground.

At first a lot of water was tapped and allowed to run around and be wasted, but now we know that it is limited, and we must not waste any of it. The water from the Great Artesian basin comes from rainfall in the great dividing range, flowing under gravity at only one metre a year. It can take 2 million years for the water to move to the springs on the other side of the Great Artesian Basin in the centre of Australia.

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Across

2. To get to the Great Artesian Basin go to the Great Dividing Range and travel _________.

6. The water stored in the porous rocks is known as an ____________.

9. Water trickles out of the ground in __________.

11. ___________ Dividing Range.

13. Great _________ Range.

15. The Great Artesian Basin is in Central ______________.

18. The Basin is not coastal, it is ___________.

19. Rocks which contain water are ______________.

20. It takes 2 million of these for the water to flow from one side of the Artesian Basin to the other.

21. A man made spring is called a _______ hole.

Down

1. Water which falls out of the sky is called _______.

3. The settlers in Australia who dug bore holes were _______________ farmers.

4. The Great Artesian Basin is made of water and _________.

5. Great Dividing ________.

7. Australia is one of these.

8. To find the water in the basin you need to ____.

10. The aquifer west of the Great Dividing Range is an _________ basin.

12. The early European settlers thought that the water from the Artesian Basin was ___________ but they were wrong.

14. This causes the water to flow downwards.

16. Porous rocks contain ______________.

17. Bores are _________ in the ground.

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