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Land Degradation in South West Victoria

A Study of the Land in South-Western Victoria was prepared by Frank Gibbons and Geoff Downes of the Soil Conservation Authority in 1964.

Different types of land degradation were found to have occurred in various land system components and these can be viewed in the original scanned document together with an outline of environmental characteristics (Gibbons and Downes, 1964). A general discussion of the incidence and processes involved the land systems is located in the section on `Present Condition of the Land` (pp. 95-98).

A summary of these types of degradation for each land system is presented in the following table.

Summary of Land Degradation in south-western Victoria as reported by Gibbons and Downes (1964).

Land System
Main Forms of Land Degradation
Wind erosion
Wind erosion
Nelson
Bridgewater sub-system
Kentbruck sub-system
William sub-system
Follet/Nelson
Moleside sub-system
Wind erosion
Wind erosion
Wind erosion
Wind erosion
None to very low
Heywood
Heywood sub-system
Dunmore sub-system
Fitzroy sub-system
Margaret Rose sub-system
Codrington sub-system
None to slight
Follett
Tooloy sub-system
Malanganee sub-system
Wanwin sub-system
Kanawinka
Richmond sub-system
Kentbruck Heath sub-system
Kanawinka sub-system
None to low



None to low, slight water erosion
Dundas
Brim Brim sub-system
Dundas sub-system
Winyayung sub-system
Sheet and gully erosion, salting
Sheet erosion, salting
Sheet and gully erosion
Glenelg
Stapylton sub-system
Dergholm sub-system
Sheet, rill, gully and streambank erosion, siltation, earthflows, salting
Sheet, gully and streambank erosion, sand deposition, siltation, earthflows, slumping, solifluction
Hamilton
Hamilton sub-system
Monivae sub-system
Loss of surface soil structure, surface sealing, sheet and gully erosion, salting
Sheet and gully erosion, slumping, siltation, salting
Sheet erosion, salting
Sheet erosion
None
Flooding, possible siltation, loss by humification and burning after drainage, possible incipient salting eventually
Cobbobboonee
Cobbobboonee sub-system
Gorae sub-system
Portland sub-system
Roadside erosion of krasnozems on steeper slopes
Greenwald
Crawford sub-system
Springbourne sub-system
Sheet, roadside and gully erosion, siltation, salting, earthflows
Sheet erosion, gully erosion especially along roadsides
Gully erosion
Gully erosion


Reference

Gibbons, F.R. and Downes, R.G. (1964) `A study of the land in south-western Victoria'. Soil Conservation Authority of Victoria Technical Communication No. 3. (Government Printer: Melbourne).

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