Groundwater flows & groundwater - surface water interactions in the Corangamite CMA region
- Authors: Dahlhaus, Peter , Barton, Andrew , Cox, Jim , Herczeg, Annette
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Regolith 2006: Consolidation and Dispersion of Ideas Chapter p. 377-384
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- Description: The Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CMA) region occupies an area of 13,340 km2 in southwestern Victoria, and consists of four major river basins, namely Moorrabool River, Barwon River, Lake Corangamite and Otway Coast. The region is of high economic value to the State with much of the land supporting agricultural and forestry industries.
- Description: B1
- Description: 2003002067
Beyond hydrogeologic evidence : Challenging the current assumptions about salinity processes in the Corangamite region, Australia
- Authors: Dahlhaus, Peter , Cox, Jim , Simmons, Craig , Smitt, C. M.
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Hydrogeology Journal Vol. 16, no. 7 (2008), p. 1283-1298
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- Description: In keeping with the standard scientific methods, investigations of salinity processes focus on the collection and interpretation of contemporary scientific data. However, using multiple lines of evidence from non-hydrogeologic sources such as geomorphic, archaeological and historical records can substantially add value to the scientific investigations. By using such evidence, the validity of the assumptions about salinity processes in Australian landscapes is challenged, especially the assumption that the clearing of native vegetation has resulted in rising saline groundwater in all landscapes. In the Corangamite region of south-west Victoria, salinity has been an episodic feature of the landscapes throughout the Quaternary and was present at the time of the Aboriginal inhabitants and the first pastoral settlement by Europeans. Although surface-water salinity has increased in some waterways and the area of salinised land has expanded in some landscapes, there is no recorded evidence found which supports significant rises in groundwater following widespread land-use change. In many areas, salinity is an inherent component of the region's landscapes, and sustains world-class environmental assets that require appropriate salinity levels for their ecological health. Managing salinity requires understanding the specific salinity processes in each landscape. © Springer-Verlag 2008.
Groundwater-level response to land-use change and the implications for salinity management in the West Moorabool River catchment, Victoria, Australia
- Authors: Dahlhaus, Peter , Evans, Timothy , Nathan, Erica , Cox, Jim , Simmons, Craig
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Hydrogeology Journal Vol. 18, no. 7 (2010), p. 1611-1623
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- Description: The connection between the removal of native vegetation, rising water tables and increasing stream salinity has been established for many catchments across Australia. However, the West Moorabool River in south west Victoria is an example of a catchment where there has been little discernable effect on groundwater levels following land clearing. Over the past 150 years, a significant portion of the catchment has been cleared of dense forest for agricultural development. Historic standing water-level records from 1870-1871 and 1881 are compared with contemporary measurements (1970s to 2007) recorded in the government bore databases. The data show that the earliest recorded groundwater levels are well within the seasonal range of values observed today. By integrating geology and hydrogeology with historical observations of groundwater levels, climate data and land use, the contemporary field observations of stream salinity are linked to the changed water use and shift in rainfall. In contrast to the normally accepted axiom, reafforestation as a management strategy to mitigate the rising salinity in the West Moorabool River catchment would seem inappropriate. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.
- Description: The connection between the removal of native vegetation, rising water tables and increasing stream salinity has been established for many catchments across Australia. However, the West Moorabool River in south west Victoria is an example of a catchment where there has been little discernable effect on groundwater levels following land clearing. Over the past 150 years, a significant portion of the catchment has been cleared of dense forest for agricultural development. Historic standing water-level records from 1870-1871 and 1881 are compared with contemporary measurements (1970s to 2007) recorded in the government bore databases. The data show that the earliest recorded groundwater levels are well within the seasonal range of values observed today. By integrating geology and hydrogeology with historical observations of groundwater levels, climate data and land use, the contemporary field observations of stream salinity are linked to the changed water use and shift in rainfall. In contrast to the normally accepted axiom, reafforestation as a management strategy to mitigate the rising salinity in the West Moorabool River catchment would seem inappropriate. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.
A geochemical approach to determining the hydrological regime of wetlands in a volcanic plain, south-eastern Australia
- Authors: Cox, Jim , Barton, Annette , Herczeg, Andrew , Dahlhaus, Peter
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Groundwater and Ecosystems : IAH Selected papers on Hydrogeology p. 69-79
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The Corangamite region in south-eastern Australia contains a large number of lakes and wetlands within an extensive, basaltic plain. To assess the impact of land-use change and groundwater pumping on wetland ecosystems, there is a need to develop a better understanding of their hydrology. This paper describes an approach using groundwater and surface water chemistry and stable isotopes to determine the extent that they are surface or groundwater dominant, and whether they are through-flow or terminal in nature. The ionic ratio HCO3-/Cl- is higher in surface waters than groundwater, and lakes plot on a continuum between these two water types. Deuterium “excess” (