Land Degradation

Report on Sand Drift Problems in Mallee Areas | Mallee Soil Erosion and Land Management Survey

The tunnel and gully erosion maps for the Mallee region are subsets from the original data presented in the statewide articles on tunnel erosion and gully erosion, so that the accuracy of information has not been improved. Only a small number of sites of tunnel erosion have been recorded in the region. However, some examples may have been destroyed, whilst new tunnels may have formed elsewhere and are not marked.

Mallee Tunnel Erosion

Similarly, the spatial distribution of gully erosion in the region may have altered since the time that the map was constructed. The highest density of gullying was > 0.5 km/km² on lunettes, with the rating classed as ‘low’ for the rest of the region. There was no apparent link between tunnel and gully erosion on these maps.

Summary of Land Degradation in North-Western Victoria as reported by Rowan and Downes (1963)

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 (Rowan and Downes, 1963). A general discussion of the incidence and processes involved the land systems is located in the section on ‘Soil Conservation’ (pp. 106-109).

Salinity discharge at base of sand dunes near Hopetoun.

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

A Summary of Land Degradation in North-Western Victoria as reported by Rowan and Downes (1963).

Land System	Main Forms of Land Degradation Listed
Central Mallee	Wind erosion, salt seepage, channel salting, drift, nutrient decline
Big Desert	Wind erosion, drift
Berrook	Wind erosion
Tempy	Wind erosion, salt seepage, channel salting, nutrient decline
Culgoa	Wind erosion, drift, nutrient decline
Hopetoun	Wind erosion, salt seepage, channel salting, dryland salting, scalding, surface sealing, nutrient decline
Tyrrell Creek	Wind erosion, drift, gully erosion on lunettes, scalding, flooding, surface sealing
Wycheproof	Soil structure decline
Boigbeat	Wind erosion
Raak	Wind and water erosion, seepage, saltpans
Millewa	Wind erosion, scalding, nutrient decline
Ned's Corner	Wind, rill and gully erosion, scalding, flooding, surface sealing, salting
Lindsay Island	Wind and water erosion, flooding

Reference

Rowan, J.N. and Downes, R.G. (1963) ‘A study of the land in North-Western Victoria’. Soil Conservation Authority of Victoria Technical Communication No.2. (Government Printer, Melbourne)

Page top