Salinity Province 51, Inverloch

The Inverloch Salinity Province is a small province located on Victoria’s southern coastline, about 110km southeast of Melbourne. Most of the salinity in the province is located on or near the coast in coastal flats, floodplains and narrow alluvial plains, consisting of unconsolidated Quaternary marine and non-marine sediments. Some smaller areas of salinity are found slightly further inland on the gently undulating rises associated with Tertiary sediments of the Haunted Hills Gravel Formation that rises towards the Strezlecki Hills to the northwest.

The Groundwater Flow Systems (GFSs) of most relevance to salinity are the local to intermediate scale ones located in the younger coastal sediments, where a naturally saline shallow watertable is present. The few occurrences mapped further inland are associated with groundwater discharge from the intermediate scale GFSs in the Haunted Hills Gravels.

Some management of the coastal salinity could be achieved through, ‘living-with-salt’ options such as planting salt tolerant pastures with careful grazing management to maximise production whilst minimising soil damage when wet.