Hydrogeology of the Mercosul aquifer system in the Parana and Chaco-Parana Basins, South America, and comparison with the Navajo-Nugget aquifer system, USA

The giant Mercosul aquifer system consists of Triassic-Jurassic eolian-fluvio-lacustrine sandstones confined by Cretaceous basalt flows, and it covers about 1,195,500 km(2) (461,583 miles(2)) In South America. The aquifer system encompasses all of the Parana Basin and part of the Chaco-Parana Basin and is one of the world's largest. The eolian Botucatu Sandstone and its equivalents form an important part of this system. Maps of structure, thickness of overlying rocks, and water temperature, and a potentiometric map, all based on 322 wells, define hydrogeologic characteristics and provide the basis for establishing guidelines for the long-term equilibrium use of this important multinational aquifer system. The Mercosul aquifer system is divided into two domains - the larger and better understood Parana Basin and the smaller and less well understood Chaco-Parana Basin. Most of the northern part of the Parana Basin has axially-directed groundwater flow, whereas the southern part of the aquifer discharges mostly to the southwest into the Corrientes Province of Argentina, with negligible discharge into the Atlantic Ocean. The Mercosul aquifer system is conservatively estimated to have been flushed at least 180 times since deposition. Various factors are responsible for this flushing, including appreciable rainfall since the end of the Cretaceous Period, probable uplift of the basins' borders in Late Cretaceous time, simple basin geometry, long-term riverine and groundwater flow to the southwest (ancestral and present Parana River Systems), and stable cratonic setting. Key hydraulic properties of the Mercosul aquifer system are compared to those of the eolian Jurassic Navajo-Nugget System of the western United States. The results demonstrate the importance of tectonics and climate on the evolution of sub-continental aquifer systems.