Rivers in Australia

doi:10.1007/s11707-010-0129-y

Front Earth Sci Chin

0, Vol.

Issue () : 375-385 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-010-0129-y

FEATURE ARTICLE

Rivers in Australia

Brian FINLAYSON(

)

Department of Resource Management and Geography, the University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

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Abstract

As a continent, Australia is unusual. It has a long history of habitation by a relatively small population of Aboriginals with a low technology culture. Just over 200 years ago, in 1788, it was invaded by a technological society from the UK, and the settlers brought with them an understanding of rivers and the landscapes in which they were situated which was quite at odds with the reality of the Australian continent. Australia is a piece of old continental crust derived from the break-up of Gondwana that, unlike other Gondwana continents, has experienced little tectonic modification since the break-up. It is a low relief continent dominated by arid and semi arid climates. Australian river systems have poor slope-channel coupling and poor hydrological connectivity and are characterized by low rates of sediment delivery. The flow of Australian rivers has high interannual variability, two to three times that of comparable rivers elsewhere, and highly variable flood behavior. In this paper, examples are given of particular Australian rivers to illustrate the manner in which the morphological and climatic characteristics of the continent combine to produce some distinctive river systems.

Keywords Australia rivers hydrological variability sediment delivery hydrological connectivity river channels

Corresponding Author(s): FINLAYSON Brian,Email:brianlf@unimelb.edu.au

Issue Date: 05 December 2010

Cite this article:

Brian FINLAYSON. Rivers in Australia[J]. Front Earth Sci Chin, 0, (): 375-385.

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https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-010-0129-y
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y0/V/I/375

Fig.1 Hypsometric curves for Australia, Southern Africa, South America, and Peninsula India (based on DEM data downloaded from http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org)

Fig.2 K?ppen-Geiger climate zones of Australia ()

Fig.3 Diagrammatic representation of the consequences of combinations of climatic aridity and topography (as expressed by the hypsometric integral) for connectivity between valley side slopes and stream channels and the internal connectivity of stream channel networks

Tab.1 Comparison of the variability of annual river flows for Australia and South Africa (ASAF) and the rest of the world (ROW) stratified by K?ppen-Geiger climate type and catchment area () ( is calculated as the standard deviation divided by the mean)

Fig.4 Drought dominated regimes (DDR) and flood dominated regimes (FDR) in the east Australian climate record, as illustrated by the water depth in Lake George, a groundwater fed lake in southern New South Wales ()

Fig.5 Annual Flood Peaks of the Nepean River at Windsor in 1855 and 1990. Only Flood Peaks>2000 m·s are shown. (Based on data supplied by Professor George Kuzcera, University of Newcastle, Australia)

Tab.2 Ratios of the 100 a recurrence interval flood to the mean annual flood (Q/Q) for major continental areas stratified by catchment size ()

Fig.6 Cycle of catastrophic stripping and vertical accretion for rivers in coastal New South Wales ()

Fig.7 Channel Country of the Lake Eyre Basin, Australia ()

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