Mr Chris Turnadge

Mr Chris Turnadge is an Adelaide-based hydrogeologist in the Risks to Groundwater Resources team.

His research primarily involves the characterisation of various aspects of regional-scale groundwater flow systems. Recent locations of research have included the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and the Roper River catchment in the Northern Territory. Chris uses a wide range of analytical and numerical tools for groundwater flow system characterisation. These include the interpretation of hydraulic, hydrochemical, and isotopic data, including pumping test reinterpretation. Chris is also involved in the quantification of sensitivity and uncertainty of predictions generated by groundwater flow models.

As part of the Deep Earth Imaging Future Science Platform, Chris is collaborating with researchers at Flinders University and the University of Georgia, USA, to develop novel methods of subsurface hydraulic property estimation using periodic signals. These include both direct (i.e. slug-based) and indirect (pump-based) methods of inducing groundwater level displacements.

In collaboration with research partners at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany and the University of Georgia, USA, Chris is developing methods for the estimation of subsurface hydraulic and poroelastic properties from groundwater responses to background forcing signals. These include Earth tides, ocean tides, barometric loading, and mechanical loading.

Chris is undertaking a doctorate at Flinders University, in partnership with CSIRO and the University of Colorado Boulder (USA). This research is focused on the use of adjoint state methods for the calculation of state sensitivities of saturated groundwater flow problems. The use of adjoint sensitivities provides opportunities for considerable efficiency gains for ill-posed inversion problems, while also often providing valuable insights into dynamic processes.