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Focused groundwater recharge is controlled by landscape and climate

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Abstract

Focused groundwater recharge, the concentrated infiltration of water through surface features including streams, depressions, or fractures to the water table, is accepted as the dominant recharge mechanism in arid climates. As climates become increasingly arid, groundwater recharge is expected to shift towards focused mechanisms. Yet the magnitude of focused recharge, its spatial distribution and controls across climate zones remain poorly characterised at the continental scale. Here, we compare historical rainfall tritium with >1700 groundwater tritium measurements to assess the likelihood of focused recharge across the Australian continent, providing important context for water resources management, with global implications. 46% of bores assessed show evidence of focused recharge, suggesting that conventional recharge estimates based on diffuse mechanisms may substantially underestimate total recharge. We show that fractured rock and perennial watercourses are the main landscape features that strongly influence the likelihood of focused recharge. While focused recharge is most common in arid regions, it also occurs in wetter climates where fractured rock enhances subsurface connectivity. As aridity and climate variability intensify, understanding the landscape-climate interactions that enable focused recharge, and how shifts in energy and water availability alter the role of groundwater in the water cycle, will be critical to sustaining groundwater resources.

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Data availability

The output data produced in this study are available as supporting information at the following Hydroshare link: http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/a9da2e2a766f403793bca6dc379715af93. Data used to support the findings in this study were obtained from different sources. Groundwater tritium data sources are listed in Table S1. Rainfall tritium data was provided by ANSTO52. The surface geology of Australia shapefile can be accessed at: https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/c8856c41-0d5b-2b1d-e044-00144fdd4fa685. The hydrogeology map of Australia shapefile can be accessed at: https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/2da7c234-63e9-10b2-e053-12a3070a174b86. The national surface hydrology lines dataset can be accessed at: https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/8313087. The gridded predicted rainfall tritium map can be accessed at: https://isotopehydrologynetwork.iaea.org/57. The NGIS bore logs from the Australian Groundwater Explorer provided by the Bureau of Meteorology are available at: http://www.bom.gov.au/water/groundwater/explorer/83. Some data presented in this paper has been visualised using scientific colour maps created by Crameri94.

Code availability

The Python script used for data analysis is available at the following Hydroshare link:

http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/a9da2e2a766f403793bca6dc379715af93.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands related to any aspects of this study. We would like to acknowledge the institutions and individuals that collected the data used in this study originally. We are grateful to the three anonymous peer reviewers for their detailed reviews and valuable suggestions. Stephen Lee was supported by a Research Training Programme scholarship (doi.org/10.82133/C42F-K220) through Charles Darwin University and by the Australian Geoscience Council Lee Parkin Australian Geoscience Information Association Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Technology and Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Brinkin, NT, Australia

    Stephen Lee, Dylan J. Irvine & Clément Duvert

  2. National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Bedford Park, SA, Australia

    Stephen Lee, Dylan J. Irvine, Gabriel C. Rau, Matthew Currell & Clément Duvert

  3. School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

    Gabriel C. Rau

  4. Centre for Integrated Resilience: Coasts, Water and Climate, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

    Gabriel C. Rau

  5. School of Engineering and Built Environment, and Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Matthew Currell

  6. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia

    Carol V. Tadros

  7. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Carol V. Tadros

  8. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    Clément Duvert

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Contributions

S.L. contributed to research design, collated data, conducted all data analyses and wrote the original manuscript. D.I. conceptualised the idea for the study, providing primary supervision and supported the writing and review of the manuscript. G.R. supported the writing and review of the manuscript. M.C. supported the writing and review of the manuscript. C.T. supported the writing and review of the manuscript. C.D. conceptualised the idea for the study, providing secondary supervision, and supported the writing and review of the manuscript.

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Stephen Lee.

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Communications Earth & Environment thanks Nadim K. Copty and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Nicola Colombo. A peer review file is available.

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Lee, S., Irvine, D.J., Rau, G.C. et al. Focused groundwater recharge is controlled by landscape and climate.
Commun Earth Environ (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03063-w

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