largest aquifer
- Who
- Unknown
- What
- 1711000 square kilometre(s)
- Where
- Australia (Eastern Australia,)
- When
- 1878
The world's largest aquifer is the Great Artesian Basin, which underlies around one fifth of Australia. This huge underground water resource extends over 1,711,000 km² (660,000 miles²) and has an estimated water storage volume of 64,900 million million litres (14,200 million million gallons (UK)). The basin, consisting of alternating layers of water-bearing sandstone and non water-bearing siltstones and mudstones, was formed between 100 and 250 million years ago.
The groundwater of the basin was first discovered in 1878.