Morphological change at the Snowy River ocean entrance, Victoria, Australia (1851-2008)

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
Analysis of data, including historical documentation, survey and navigation charts, and aerial imagery, representing a time series of 1851-2008 for the Snowy River ocean entrance area (located in East Gippsland) shows that much morphological change has occurred, including entrance channel migration along 8000 m of Holocene sandy barrier formation. Increasingly frequent episodes of Snowy River entrance channel closure to Bass Strait is apparent from reference to the 1981-2008 record. The GIS technology allows such long-term coastal zone change to be visualised and documented, and, to some extent, quantified. Explanations for this change relate primarily to altered stream flow regimes : after the development of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electricity Scheme (SMHS) from 1951, which currently appropriates the vast majority of annual discharge from the high rainfall and snowfall areas of the upper Snowy River catchment. Whilst ebb-flow augmentation via stream flow discharge is essential to the maintenance of the Snowy River entrance, the Snowy River entrance is likely to remain ephemeral in the future as a direct consequence of inter-regional water transfer and climate change.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Australian Geographer, issn : 0004-9182, 2009, vol. 40, n°. 1, p. 1-28, nombre de pages : 28, Références bibliographiques : 3,5 p.

Date :
2009

Editeur :
Pays édition : Australie, Sydney, Geographical Society of New South Wales