Projects per year
Abstract
Palaeochannels of lowland rivers provide a means of investigating the sensitivity of river response to climate-driven hydrologic change. About 80 palaeochannels of the lower Macquarie River of southeastern Australia record the evolution of this distributive fluvial system. Six Macquarie palaeochannels were dated by single-grain optically stimulated luminescence. The largest of the palaeochannels (Quombothoo, median age 54 ka) was on average 284 m wide, 12 times wider than the modern river (24 m) and with 21 times greater meander wavelength. Palaeo-discharge then declined, resulting in a younger, narrower, group of palaeochannels, Bibbijibbery (125 m wide, 34 ka), Billybingbone (92 m, 20 ka), Milmiland (112 m, 22 ka), and Mundadoo (86 m, 5.6 ka). Yet these channels were still much larger than the modern river and were continuous downstream to the confluence with the Barwon-Darling River. At 5.5 ka, a further decrease in river discharge led to the formation of the narrow modern river, the ecologically important Macquarie Marshes, and Marra Creek palaeochannel (31 m, 2.1 ka) and diminished sediment delivery to the Barwon-Darling River as palaeo-discharge fell further. The hydrologic changes suggest precipitation was a driving forcing on catchment discharge in addition to a temperature-driven runoff response.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 360-379 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Quaternary Research (United States) |
Volume | 90 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2018 |
Keywords
- Floodplain wetlands
- Fluvial geomorphology
- Holocene
- Macquarie Marshes
- Murray-Darling basin
- Palaeohydrology
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Dramatic reduction in size of the lowland Macquarie River in response to Late Quaternary climate-driven hydrologic change'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Single-grain optically-stimulated luminescence and dosimetry instruments to service the Sydney metropolitan and greater New South Wales region
Westaway, K., Hesse, P., Gore, D., Fanning, P., Fryirs, K., Choat, M., Goodwin, I., Goff, J., Skilbeck, C. & Morwood, M.
30/10/10 → 31/05/12
Project: Research
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Sonic drilling to provide contamination-free core sampling of rock and unconsolidated sediment
Fryirs, K., Nanson, G. & Dodson, J.
10/06/10 → 30/09/12
Project: Research
Impacts
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Wetlands in Drylands: conservation through environmental research, citizen science and global engagement
Tim Ralph (Participant)
Impact: Science impacts, Environment impacts, Policy impacts, Society impacts