Identifying fluvial recharge and artesian upwards leakage contributions to arid zone shallow, unconfined groundwater

► Provenance of unconfined groundwater is required for water balance studies. ► Under evaporative conditions Na-HCO3-Cl artesian contribution can be identified. ► Under evaporative conditions Na-Cl-SO4 artesian contribution more difficult to identify. ► Unconfined and artesian groundwater have similar stable isotope signatures. ► Forward evaporative modelling effective in water balance studies of Na-HCO3 systems.