Salinity Province 111, Stawell

Thumbnail image showing the location of the Stawell Salinity Province in Victoria The small Stawell Salinity Province encompasses the area between the rural townships of Ararat and Stawell.

Landuse is mainly dryland grazing on annual pasture with minor dryland cropping and irrigated vineyards. Mapped salinity is confined to at-risk zones mainly in low-lying drainage basins and drainage lines. The Groundwater Flow Systems (GFSs) in the area consist of local to intermediate scale systems in weathered, fractured Palaeozoic rocks and local to intermediate scale GFSs in weathered granite and colluvium. Many creeks and streams are deeply eroded and incised and sheet erosion is common. It is possible that land stripped bare of soil by erosion following land clearing last century may have been mistakenly mapped as saline, but the relationship between eroded and saline areas is unclear in many areas.

Tree planting has been attempted to mitigate salinity, particularly at Landsbourgh and works to alleviate erosion have also been employed.

Province Attributes

Catchment Management Region:	WIMMERA
Priority Status:	High
Province Area:	60,940 ha
Recorded Soil Salinity Area ¹:	208 ha
Dominant Surface Geology Type:	Sedimentary
Influence of Geological Structure on Salinity Occurrence/s:	None
Relevant Geomorphological Mapping Units (GMUs):	2.1.2, 2.1.X
Predominant Groundwater Flow Systems (GFSs):	Local/Intermediate
Relevant Irrigation Areas:	N/A

Stawell Salinity Province Map

A detailed map showing the Stawell Salinity Province

Links to further reading and material related to the Wimmera Salinity Province
For further information relating to groundwater levels and salinities in this Province please see: Visualising Victoria's Groundwater (VVG)

¹ Please Note: The ‘Recorded Soil Salinity Area’ indicated in the Salinity Province Attribute Table, comprises the total geographic area that has been mapped as having, or showing symptoms of, dryland soil salinity at some time (past or present). As dryland salinity occurrence in the Victorian landscape exhibits many different levels of severity and can change due to climate, landuse and vegetation, previously mapped areas may no longer be showing symptoms. In addition, as not all parts of the State have been mapped, or mapped in the same way, the mapping may not have captured some occurrences.

The soil salinity mapping used to calculate this ‘area’ does not cover irrigation regions. In irrigation regions, depth to watertable and watertable salinity mapping has been used to convey the threat of high watertables on soil waterlogging and/or soil salinisation and these areas are not included in this ‘area‘ calculation.

Please contact the Department, your Catchment Management Authority or your rural water provider for more information about salinity in your location.

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