Salinity Management in the Corangamite CMA

Salinity Monitoring | Salinity Processes | Groundwater Flow Systems | Salinity Indicator Plants | Salinity Discharge Mapping | Salinity Provinces in the Corangamite CMA

This section has been developed in association with Peter Dahlhaus, University of Ballarat.

Salinity has been a feature of the Corangamite region for at least 20 000 years. The development of the large clay lunettes at Lake Corangamite and Lake Murdeduke testify to the salinity of these lakes. Clay lunettes form during arid periods when the lake beds are dry salt pans, where salt accumulates by evaporation of groundwater discharge. Historical evidence for primary salinity is documented in accounts of the early exploration and ‘salt’ is often used as a descriptive adjective for lakes and creeks in the region.

At present 20 538 hectares of salinity have been mapped in the Corangamite region by the former DPI's Centre for Land Protection Research (CLPR). About half of the mapped salinity is primary, although this distinction has little meaning anyway in situations where the rate of naturally occurring salinity is modified by human changes to the environment, especially when the changes have occurred over centuries. The mapping does not include all large lakes, such as Lake Corangamite, or all estuarine areas, such as the Aire River estuary. In fact, the salinity mapping is regarded as incomplete and it is believed that many hectares of salt affected land remain unmapped.

Corangamite Salinity & Simplified Geology