Authors / CoAuthors
English, P.M. | Magee, J.W.
Abstract
The role of palaeovalley evolution in the manifestation of salinity across the Australian continent P.M. English1 & J.W. Magee1, 2 1Geospatial & Earth Monitoring Division, Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601 Pauline.English@ga.gov.au 2Department of Earth & Marine Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 jwmagee@ems.anu.edu.au Networks of palaeovalleys characterise much of arid, semi-arid and sub-humid Australia, including widespread rangelands and agriculturally important regions. These ancient river valley systems are very commonly the focus of salinity across our landscape, both primary salinity (Quaternary salt lakes and associated saline landforms), and secondary salinity in regions that have been cleared for agricultural development in the last 150 years. The preservation of palaeovalleys is a legacy of the continents tectonic stability, low relief and slow erosion and sedimentation rates. Palaeovalleys drain all the cratonic blocks and extend from Precambrian basement uplands across Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cainozoic sedimentary basins. They are now largely filled with Tertiary, or older, sediments and are commonly blanketed with Quaternary lacustrine, alluvial or aeolian sediments, including saline sediments and salts. While the palaeovalleys and their sedimentary infill are relatively ancient (early to mid Tertiary) the groundwater systems they host have evolved during latest Tertiary and Quaternary times. Salt began to concentrate in these palaeovalley networks and surrounding hinterlands from as long as 350 000 years ago, in response to glacial-interglacial cyclicity driven by global climate regimes. More recent salt accumulation in the historic period is the consequence of hydrologic disequilibrium wrought by land clearing which has caused broad-scale mobilisation of ancient salt stores into topographic lower areas and waterways in agricultural regions. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is the dominant salt in the Australian terrestrial environment, in both the arrays of ancient salt lakes and in secondary salinised agricultural regions. This reflects the dominance of marine aerosol source of salts in our rainfall and the longevity of salt accumulation in the near-surface environment. The marine signature is further pronounced in the case of primary salinity occurrences, where calcium sulphate, or gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O), is prevalent across the inland landscape. The ubiquity and solubility of NaCl and its mobility in shallow groundwater systems accounts for the recurrence and concentration of salinity in palaeovalley systems in particular. The persistence of ancient palaeovalley networks and of marine-derived salts in the salinised Australian landscape forms the basis of comparisons with southern Africa, for example, where tectonism and a significantly higher proportion of terrestrially-derived salts predispose contrasting manifestations of salinity. Such comparisons provide some insight and a broad perspective relevant to Australias contemporary salinity issues.
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
65654
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Custodian
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Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- External PublicationConference Paper
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- palaeogeography
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- salinity
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- groundwater
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- hydrogeology
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- geophysics
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- AU-NTAU-SAAU-WA
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_Internal
Publication Date
2008-01-01T00:00:00
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