Murray River
The Murray River is a 2,375-kilometer-long river in southeastern Australia .
It has the most water and is the second longest river in the country after its largest tributary , the Darling River . The Murray shares a common lower course of 828 kilometers with the Darling River, together they form a river system of 3672 kilometers (according to other sources 3750 kilometers) from the sources to the confluence with the sea.
geography
River course
The Murray River has its source in the southern part of the Australian Alps in the state of Victoria and initially flows northwestward. In this section it forms the border between Victoria and New South Wales . At Wentworth it flows together with its longest tributary, the Darling River. Both rivers together drain large parts of Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland , an area of 1,058,549 km², the Murray-Darling Basin .
At the border with South Australia the direction of flow changes to the southwest. Before the river flows southwest of Murray Bridge through the Murray Mouth into the South Australian Sea , it passes Lake Alexandrina . The main tributary besides the Darling River is the Murrumbidgee River .
The Murray is navigable from its mouth in 1986 kilometers upstream to the Yarrawonga Weir ( Victoria ). There are 13 locks or weirs on this stretch. Houseboats are popular.
Major towns along the Murray River include Albury , Swan Hill , Echuca , Mildura and Murray Bridge .
Tributaries
In the following the tributaries of the Murray River with mouth height.
Victoria - New South Wales border
- Mac Creek - 900 m
- Dead Horse Creek - 898 m
- Limestone Creek - 898 m
- Greenwood Creek - 867 m
- Bulley Creek - 865 m
- Crows Stick Creek - 827 m
- Charlie Creek - 827 m
- Rough Creek - 772 m
- Tom Groggin Creek - 679 m
- Cascade Creek - 633 m
- Dan Creek - 616 m
- Dead Horse Creek - 608 m
- Buckwong Creek - 552 m
- Serpentine Creek - 547 m
- Snowy Creek - 522 m
- Stony Creek - 507 m
- Omeo Creek - 505 m
- Hermit Creek - 439 m
- Surveyors Creek - 428 m
- Barlow Creek - 409 m
- Bunroy Creek - 351 m
- Biggara Creek - 295 m
- Swampy Plain River - 269 m
- Spring Flat Creek - 263 m
- Corryong Creek - 243 m
- Tooma River - 238 m
- Horse Creek - 236 m
- Cudgewa Creek - 234 m
- Pine Mountain Creek - 222 m
- Ournie Creek - 221 m
- Horse Creek - 212 m
- Jingellic Creek - 211 m
- Seven Mile Creek - 196 m
- Basin Creek - 195 m
- Home Flat Creek - 188 m
- Flaggy Creek - 184 m
- Koetong Creek - 182 m
- Mullengandra Creek - 180 m
- Johnston Creek - 180 m
- Tallangatta Creek - 180 m
- Cottontree Creek - 180 m
- Wises Creek - 180 m
- Mitta Mitta River - 180 m
- Kiewa River - 156 m
- Black Dog Creek - 142 m
- Ovens River - 128 m
- Mulwala Canal - 124 m
- Yarrawonga Channel - 123 m
- Bullanginya Lagoon - 118 m
- Ulupna Creek - 116 m
- Bullatale Creek - 112 m
- Edward River - 105 m
- Barmah Creek - 105 m
- Gulpa Creek - 104 m
- Broken Creek - 103 m
- Goulburn River - 101 m
- Campaspe River - 99 m
- Deep Creek - 98 m
- Cohuna Channel Left Branch - 95 m
- Deniboota Channel - 94 m
- Gunbower Creek - 93 m
- Little Murray River - 81 m
- Little Murray River - 76 m
- Loddon River - 71 m
- Bingara Creek - 70 m
- Wee Wee Creek - 64 m
- Peacock Creek - 63 m
- Bridge Creek - 62 m
- Tualka Creek - 62 m
- Mania Creek - 61 m
- Jack Creek - 60 m
- Wakool River - 59 m
- Murrumbidgee River - 57 m
- Taila Creek - 56 m
- Outlet Creek - 46 m
- Chalka Creek - 45 m
- Inlet Creek - 45 m
- Towrie Creek - 41 m
- Main Channel - 40 m
- Darling River - 37 m
- Great Darling Anabranch - 33 m
- Wallapolla Creek - 32 m
South Australia
- Potterwallkagee Creek - 27 m
- Punkah Creek - 27 m
- Hunchee Creek - 26 m
- Toupnein Creek - 25 m
- Monoman Creek - 24 m
- Ral Ral Creek - 20 m
- Pike River - 17 m
- Burra Creek - 7 m
- Marne River - 5 m
- Saunders Creek - 2 m
- Reedy Creek - 1 m
- Shepherd Creek - 1 m
- Bremer River - 0 m
- Angas River - 0 m
- Finniss River - 0 m
- Currency Creek - 0 m
Lakes and reservoirs
In the following the lakes and reservoirs along the course of the Murray River with altitude information.
- Lake Hume - 180 m
- Lake Mulwala - 124 m
- Euston Lakes - 56 m
- Coorong - 0 m
- Lake Albert - 0 m
- Lake Alexandrina - 0 m
ecology
The city of Adelaide is largely dependent on the Murray for its water supply. Water from the river is also essential for agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Murray River is dammed in four places. Before the reservoirs were built, the Murray River rarely dried up in extreme drought . Lake Hume , named after the first European explorers of the Murray, is one of the largest reservoirs in Australia with an area of 202 km² and a volume of 3,038,000,000 m³ . The lake and swamp system around Lake Alexandrina and the Coorong also withdraw a lot of water from the river. All of these factors mean that little water reaches the sea. The Murray Estuary is threatened with sand. Only thanks to the use of dredgers around the clock can it be ensured that salt water continues to get through the Murray estuary into the lagoon system of the Coorong. On the other hand, in periods of drought, salt water threatens to penetrate the interior of the estuary system as far as Lake Alexandrina. A system of five barrages, the Goolwa Barrages , was built to prevent the freshwater zones from being impaired during high tide or extremely low water levels in the Murray River.
28 endemic fish species are found in the catchment area of the Murray River and its tributaries . One of them is Maccullochella peelii (English Murray cod, "Murray cod"). From the family of temperate perch belonging fish specimens have been caught up to 1.8 meters in length and 113 kilograms in weight.
Introduced European carp have almost completely displaced the native fish in some tributaries and now make up up to 90 percent of the fish population.
See also
- List of the longest rivers on earth
- Murray Sunset National Park
- List of rivers in Victoria
- List of rivers in New South Wales
- List of rivers in South Australia
- List of rivers in Australia
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Map of Murray River (902 m - 125 m) . Bonzle.com
- ^ A b Map of Goolwa or Lower Murray River, SA . Bonzle.com
- ^ A b Australian Government: Geoscience Australia, data from Sept. 2008
- ^ A b Longest Rivers - Geoscience Australia
- ↑ a b Overview of sub-catchment areas and drains
- ↑ Tributaries of Murray River (902 m - 125 m) . Bonzle.com
- ↑ Tributaries of Murray River (125 m - 24.8 m) . Bonzle.com
- ↑ Tributaries of River Murray (24.8 m - 0 m) . Bonzle.com
- ↑ Map of Murray River (125 m - 24.8 m) . Bonzle.com
- ↑ Map of River Murray (24.8 m - 0 m), Bonzle.com
- ↑ The Cod's Revenge - Chronology of a Homemade Drought . Deutschlandradio, September 20, 2009.
- ↑ Discover Murray: Goolwa Barrages (Engl.)