Lake Corangamite
| Lake Corangamite | ||
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| View from Red Rock , the coastline of Lake Corangamite can be seen in the background | ||
| Geographical location | Victoria ( Australia ) | |
| Islands | Vaughan Island | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 38 ° 10 ′ 0 ″ S , 143 ° 23 ′ 0 ″ E | |
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| surface | 234 km² | |
| length | 150 km | |
| Maximum depth | 7 m (if filled) | |
| Middle deep | 5 m | |
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particularities |
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The Lake Corangamite is the largest natural lake in the state of Victoria , the near Colac in the region Lakes and Craters located in the southwest Victoria. The lake was created because lava flows blocked off a low-lying area through which rivers crossed.
The endorheic salt lake has four times the salinity of the sea and is threatened with drying out.
The Colijon Aborigines call the lake Korjaiyn , which means bitter or salty. They also used this word for the alcohol that Europeans brought with them.
location
Lake Corangamite is a salt lake, the salinity of which has developed dramatically during the dry spells of recent years. It is Australia's largest permanent salt lake, which covers an area of 234 km² and is 150 km long. The lake is part of the Western District Lakes wetlands , which are protected by the Ramsar Convention .
The lake was formed in the south and east by volcanic lava flows of the geological Newer Volcanics Province from Mount Porndon in the southwest and Mount Warrion in the east. The leaked and solidified lava is locally called Stony Rises because of its special shape , which act as natural water barriers.
The highest peaks in the region of Corangamite are in the northern Central Highlands or Midlands with the volcanic craters Mount Buninyong (745 m), Mount Warrenheip (741 m) and Tipperary Hill (743 m). This area forms the southern slopes of the Great Dividing Range , which forms a watershed between the South East Coast Division and the Murray Darling Division of the Australian Drainage Divisions . The Otway Ranges in the south rise with Mount Cowley to 686 m.
The maars of the Red Rock maar complex rise on the southwestern coast and solidified basalt prevents the outflow of the salt lake in the east.
Typical of the lakes in this area is the eastern flank of the lake, which was arched by sediments carried by the wind during the dry periods.
To the west of Lake Corangamite is Lake Colongulac , to the north of Lake Gnarpurt , to the east of Lake Beeac , Lake Murdeduke and Lake Modewarre and to the southeast of Lake Colac.
geology
The oldest rocks in the Corangamite region are the sediments and sedimentary rocks and the low-metamorphic rocks of the Central Highlands from the Ordovician (formed 400 to 500 million years ago) and the rocks in the Otway Ranges from the Cretaceous (5 to 136 million years ago originated). The central basalt plain was formed in the Quaternary and was the result of the volcanic region that was centered near Camperdown. The volcanoes there were active up to 7,000 years ago, this is also passed on in oral traditions of the local Aborigines . Older near-surface deposits from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary are found on the eastern, northern and western slopes of the Otway Ranges and on the Bellarine Peninsula . This geological diversity is a responsible factor for the different landscapes in this region.
Hydrology
The water inputs into the lake are extremely variable and insignificant in the dry years. Nowadays it is an endorheic lake. It has no drain, but during the rainy times of the 1950s the lake was flooded and connected to a number of wetlands and lakes up to Lake Murdeduke and Barwon River . It has never dried up since European colonization, and there is evidence that it was an open lake for centuries before the rains in the 1840s, overflowing, as it did in the 1950s.
The main water input is through the Pirron Yaloak Creek , which flows in from the Otway Plain in the south, the Woady Yaloak River flows in from the flanks of the Victorian Midlands in the north, and the Salt Creek from the plains in the northwest. The Pirron Yaloak transports nutrients produced by the dairy industry into the water catchment area and into the lake.
In response to the lake's flooding in the 1950s, the Woady Yalloak River was diverted to the Barwon River . This diversion was decided on the basis of water levels that have not occurred in previous years. The water levels in the lake have been falling steadily and it is possible that it will dry up completely. In 1980 the salinity of the lake reached roughly the level of salinity in seawater and has since increased fourfold.
fauna
fishes
Be in the lake fish such as the Australian Kurzflassenaal ( Anguilla australis ), which Spitzkopfgrundel ( Butis butis ) and one each type of galaxies (Galaxias maculatus) and the Old World silverside (Atherinosoma microstoma) . These are likely to still live in areas of Pirron Yaloak Creek and in the vicinity of various fresh water sources that flow into the southwest side of the lake. The springs on the southeast side have dried up, possibly due to intensive use by the Warrion irrigation system. Recently, brine shrimp and a woodlouse species have also appeared in the lake.
Birds
In the past there were internationally significant numbers of Cladorhynchus leucocephalus at the lake. The lake used to be an important breeding ground for water birds. Most of the African Pelican colonies were on the Wool Wool Rocks and on Vaughan Island . When the water levels fell, they became the prey of foxes, who reached the colonies, which then became orphaned. Following substantial assurances from the government, security work was undertaken and the owners of Vaugn Island restored the bird habitat with rocks and remains of vegetation. The lake forms part of the Lake Corangamite Complex of the Important Bird Area , which BirdLife International has recognized because a large number of waterfowl rest there at times.
Plane crash
A crashed RAAF training aircraft , a Wirraway , was discovered in Lake Corangamite at low tide in early June 2005 . Victoria Monument Protection is responsible for all crashed aircraft that are over 50 years old and the RAAF has promised to secure the aircraft. The aircraft was probably discovered with the serial number No. A20-405 about 400 meters from the beach. From 1939 to 1946 755 copies of this type of aircraft were produced, which were mainly used as training aircraft. This type of aircraft was Australia's first mass-produced aircraft. There are only eight restored examples of this type of aircraft left.
Web links
- Location map of Lake Corangamite (PDF; 3.5 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ audit.ea.gov.au : An audit of the Ecological Condition of Australian Rivers , in English, accessed 29 January 2012
- ↑ Bruce Pacoe: Convincing Ground. Learning to fall in love with your country. Aboriginals Studies Press, Canberra 2007, ISBN 9780855756949 , p. 73, limited preview in Google Book Search.
- ↑ a b Australian Nature Conservation Agency. (1996). Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia pp. 728-729 '. 2nd edition ANCA Canberra. ISBN 0-642-21378-X
- ↑ nga.gov.au : Oil painting by Eugene Guérard Stony Rises also called Australian Sunset , accessed on January 29, 2012
- ↑ flinders.edu.au (PDF; 3.5 MB): Salinity Risk in the Corangamite Region, Australia , in English, accessed on January 29, 2012
- ↑ ccma.vic.gov.au : The Region , in English, accessed January 29, 2012
- ^ Water Research Foundation of Australia; 1975 symposium: the 1973-4 floods in rural and urban communities ; ed. 1975, in English, accessed January 29, 2012
- ^ WD Williams (1995): Lake Corangamite, Australia, a permanent saline lake: Conservation and management issues . Pp. 55–64, Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management 1 (1)
- ↑ theage.com.au : Age Newspaper article - Saltwater haven turns to dust as big dry bites hard , in English, accessed on January 29, 2012
- ↑ birdlife.org : BirdLife International (2011): Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake Corangamite Complex, June 19, 2011, in English, accessed on January 29, 2012
- ↑ standard.net.au : Alex Johnson: Continuing drought exposes long-forgotten drama , March 24, 2008, in English, accessed on January 29, 2012
- ↑ aima.iinet.net.au ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 858 kB): Australasian Institute for Maritime Archeology: Aircraft Discoveries in NSW . Newsletter, Volume 24, Number 2, June 2005, in English, accessed on January 29, 2012
