THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF EXTRA- 

 AUSTRALLIN ARTESIAN BASINS. 



(Plates I. and II.) 



By A. GIBB MAITLAND, C.E., F.G.S., 



Assistant Geologist, Geological Survey of Queensland. 



[Bead be/ore the Royal Society of Queensland, April 17, 1896 J\ 



PART I. 

 Among the multifarious duties of an official geologist in a 

 country like Queensland, not the least important are those which 

 affect the question of water supply. In the years 1889 and 

 1891, and still more in 1894, my attention was directed to the 

 geological structure of the artesian water area of Western 

 Queensland. A summary of the mass of evidence accumulated 

 by Mr. Jack and myself in this region has already been given by 

 him in a paper read before the Brisbane Meeting of the Austral- 

 asian Association for the Advancement of Science.* In order 

 adequately to explain what may be called the permanence of the 

 water supply, it was shown that the water-carrying beds must 

 have an outlet to the sea. 



With the view of ascertaining whether in other parts of the 

 world the artesian water-bearing strata have a like connection 

 witii the sea, or present facilities for the escape of water at a 

 lower level than that at which it is received, I have been led to 

 study the structure of artesian basins in general, so far as is 

 possible from a careful perusal of the literature and maps avail- 

 able. In the hope that these notes, which are essentially a 



'Artesian Water in the Western Interior of Queensland ; R. L. Jack, Bulletin No. 1, 

 Geoloeical Survey of Queensland. Brisbane. By authority : 1895. 

 B 



