According to a study published in Nature Communications: Earth and Environment, groundwater sources still meet 75% of the water needs of Western Australia’s south-west.
Current level of rainfall recharging groundwater in southwest Australia at its lowest for the last 800 years: Study phys.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from phys.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Speleothem oxygen isotopic (δ18O) records are used to reconstruct past hydroclimate yet records from the same cave do not always replicate. We use a global database of speleothem δ18O to quantify the replicability of records to show that disagreement is common worldwide, occurs across timescales and is unrelated to climate, depth or lithology. Our global analysis demonstrates that within-cave differences in mean speleothem δ18O values are consistent with those of dripwater, supporting a ubiquitous influence of flowpaths. We present a case study of four new stalagmite records from Golgotha Cave, southwest Australia, where the isotopic differences between them are informed by cave monitoring. It is demonstrated that karst hydrology is a major driver of within-cave speleothem and dripwater δ18O variability, primarily due to the influence of fractures on flowpaths. Applying our understanding of water movement through fractures assists in quantitative reconstruction of past climate vari