Murchison River (Indian Ocean)

	Murchison River
	Location of the river in Western Australia
	Data
location	Western Australia , Australia
River system	Murchison River
source	Robinson Ranges ; 25 ° 52 ′ 4 ″ S , 118 ° 52 ′ 2 ″ E
Source height	521 m
muzzle	in the Indian Ocean at Kalbarri Coordinates: 27 ° 42 ′ 27 ″ S , 114 ° 9 ′ 36 ″ E 27 ° 42 ′ 27 ″ S , 114 ° 9 ′ 36 ″ E;
Mouth height	0 m
Height difference	521 m
Bottom slope	0.46 ‰
length	1131 km
Catchment area	82,000 km²
Left tributaries	Ord River , Whela Creek, Impey River , Roderick River , Sanford River , Coollarburloo Brook, Yalgamine Creek, Shenton Gully, Croton Creek
Right tributaries	Millidie Creek, Mount Fraser Creek, Bedaburra Creek, Gould Creek, Murrum Creek, Melia Creek, Mary Springs Creek, Bungabandi Creek, Second Gully
Flowing lakes	Oliba Pool , Colyeda Pool , Beringarra Pool , Chyrila Pool , Moolarah Pool , Indegardegarda Pool , Birrin Pool , Ten Mile Pool , Four Mile Pool , Mooliabatanya Pool , Wilgiamia Pool , Woonana Pool , Bully Pool
Small towns	Kalbarri
Communities	Mount Padbury, Moorarie, Manfred, Billabalong, Yallalong, Coolcalalya, Murchison House
	Z Bend in Murchison Gorge

The Murchison River is a river in the west of the Australian state of Western Australia .

geography

It is the second longest river in Western Australia. The Murchison River rises on the south side of the Robinson Ranges near Peak Hill and around 80 km north of the city of Meekatharra in the dry interior. In the Kalbarri National Park on the lower reaches of the river, it passes an 80 km long winding gorge called Murchison Gorge , in which it has water almost all year round. In Kalbarri Murchison River empties into the Indian Ocean .

Its average annual runoff is 193.5 million cubic meters, a little more than six cubic meters per second. After rainfall or hurricanes, the water level can rise up to seven meters. Then a dirty brown flood pours into the Indian Ocean, visible for miles.

Murchison Gorge

At the lower reaches of the river, in the area of the Kalbarri National Park , lies the Murchison Gorge, a narrow gorge that is still in an almost natural state. A number of vantage points provide views of the Z Bend and The Loop rivers . This gorge is not only an attraction for tourists, but also geologically interesting. There the Tamblagooda sandstone comes to light , which is rich in Ordovician fossils .

Estuary and estuary

The last 18 km of the lower reaches are subject to the influence of the tides, so they are an estuary . This section is characterized by long sandbars and many pools. The pools are often less than a meter deep. When the outflow is low, seawater penetrates the estuary and brings with it sediment, which is deposited in the bank areas and makes the river channel narrower. Because of the high sediment load and the churning up by wind and currents, the water there is very cloudy.

The river mouth is a small delta that is almost completely closed by a sandbank, except for a small canal. This canal is open all year round, but very shallow and narrow. Therefore, it is regularly dredged to allow the fishing boats to pass through.

Tributaries with mouth heights

Millidie Creek - 472 m
Mount Fraser Creek - 465 m
Ord River - 391 m
Bedaburra Creek - 379 m
Gould Creek - 372 m
Whela Creek - 319 m
Murrum Creek - 300 m
Impey River - 291 m
Roderick River - 283 m
Sanford River - 257 m
Coollarburloo Brook - 250 m
Melia Creek - 247 m
Yalgamine Creek - 215 m
Shenton Gully - 177 m
Mary Springs Creek - 177 m
Croton Creek - 171 m
Bungabandi Creek - 21 m
Second Gully - 9 m

Flowing lakes

Oliba Pool - 392 m
Colyeda Pool - 362 m
Beringarra Pool - 354 m
Chyrila Pool - 336 m
Moolarah Pool - 316 m
Indegardegarda pool - 304 m
Birrin Pool - 274 m
Ten Mile Pool - 184 m
Four Mile Pool - 180 m
Mooliabatanya pool - 30 m
Wilgiamia Pool - 22 m
Woonana pool - 17 m
Bully pool - 12 m

history

The river got its name in 1839 from the British explorer George Edward Gray , who named it after the Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison .

The estuary and estuary served as a recreational area for the families of miners in the galena mines in the 1920s and 1930s , and there was a summer camp for soldiers there during the Second World War . In 1951, the small town of Kalbarri was founded at the mouth of the river, which in 1990 had a population of 2000. In 1963 the Kalbarri National Park was designated. The North West Coastal Highway has been crossing the river on the Galena Bridge since 1994 .

Web links

Commons : Murchison River - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Information about the river on Westaustralia.com (English)

literature

PJ Curry u. a., An inventory and condition survey of the Murchison River catchment and surrounds, Western Australia . Department of Agriculture, Western Australia: Technical Bulletin Number 84. (1994) ISBN 0-7309-5998-8 (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Map of Murchison River, WA (521 m - 17 m) . Bonzle.com

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Map of Murchison River, WA (17 m - 0 m) . Bonzle.com

^ Department of Water - Water Resources Data - Murchison River, WA . 2008. Archived from the original on August 23, 2008. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 26, 2008. @1@ 2

^ ^A ^b ^c Anne Brearley: Ernest Hodgkin's Swanland: Estuaries and Coastal Lagoons od Southwestern Australia . University of Western Australia Press. Nedlands WA (2005). ISBN 1-920694-38-2 . Pp. 262-271

↑ Leigh Edmonds. The Vital Link: A History of Main Roads Western Australia 1926-1996 . University of Western Australia Press. Nedlands WA (1997). ISBN 1876268069 . P. 452

[bonzle1-1] Map of Murchison River, WA (521 m - 17 m) . Bonzle.com

[bonzle2-2] Map of Murchison River, WA (17 m - 0 m) . Bonzle.com