Townley, L.R. (1998), Shallow groundwater systems, In: Shallow Groundwater Systems, IAH International Contributions to Hydrogeology 18, Heise Verlag, 3-12.

Shallow groundwater systems are those that occur nearest the earth's surface, bounded by a water table and an unsaturated zone above, and by bedrock or deeper aquifers below. Shallow groundwatrer systems are more likley than deeper systems to be in contact with surface water bodies, thus the interaction between surface water and groundwater, from both physical and biogeochemical points of view, can significantly influence shallow groundwaters. This paper provides an outline of a selection of papers presented at the Water Down Under conference held in Adelaide, Australia, in November 1994. The papers are presented in the context of surface water - groundwater interaction, this being either direct contact between aquifers and surface water bodies or indirect interaction through the unsaturated zone. Many of the papers focus on modelling of flow and contaminant transport in aquifers and the unsaturated zone, with consideration of the effects of heterogeneity, and in one case, the effects of density.