Lake Macleod

This article is about the lake in Australia. For the similarly spelled lake and settlement in Canada, see McLeod Lake, British Columbia.

Lake Macleod
Satellite photo of Lake Macleod
Lake Macleod satellite image, 1989
Location of Lake Macleod in Western Australia
Location of Lake Macleod in Western Australia
Lake Macleod
LocationGascoyne, Western Australia
Coordinates24°07′04″S 113°39′27″E / 24.11778°S 113.65750°E / -24.11778; 113.65750
TypeSalt lake
Primary inflowsLyndon River, Minilya River
Primary outflowsnone
Basin countriesAustralia
Surface area2,000 km2 (770 sq mi)
Average depth1.5 m (4.9 ft)
Max. depth2.1 m (6.9 ft)
References[1]
Map

Lake Macleod is a marine salt lake in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of the port and regional centre of Carnarvon.[2]

History

Dirk Hartog, a Dutchman, made the first authenticated landing by a European along this coastline in 1616. Early explorers recorded phenomenal tidal ranges along this coast.

Description

Most of Lake Macleod is normally dry, covering an area of 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi), 60 km2 (23 sq mi) of which is covered by perennial bodies of brine.[3]

Climatically, this part of Western Australia is greatly influenced by the north-flowing Western Australian Current that brings cool water northward from Antarctica, which is not conducive to producing inland precipitation. This cool offshore current, coupled with a very flat coastal plain, contributes to the near-desert-like conditions along the coastal region as evidenced by the brown landscape around the lake and the highly reflective salt beds within the lake. The low point in the lake appears to be near the northern end where the light blues indicate some standing water. Close inspection of the image discloses very faint lines at the southernmost end of Lake Macleod where large evaporation beds are used for the production of high-quality salt and gypsum.[4]

Environment

The lake is recognised as a DIWA wetland as it is an outstanding example of a major lake situated on the coast that is periodically inundated by freshwater[5]

Birds

Some 382 square kilometres (147 sq mi) of the permanent ponds in the north-western part of the lake have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support fairy terns, over 1% of the world populations of red-necked stints, curlew sandpipers, banded stilts, red-necked avocets and red-capped plovers, as well as a population of dusky gerygones.[6] The northern ponds consist of intermittently flooded, brackish to hypersaline mudflats surrounding saline springs and permanent saline channels and lagoons. Large numbers of red knots, Australian pelicans, little black cormorants, black-tailed godwits and black-winged stilts have been recorded. A substantial population of canary white-eyes is present.[7] A review of the importance of the lake for shorebirds showed that it hosted significant populations of 10 species of which red knot, red-necked stint and curlew sandpiper occurred in internationally significant numbers.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lake Macleod". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  2. ^ Johnson, Kaz (November 2011). "Lake MacLeod and the Northern Ponds" (PDF). Nedlands, WA: Rangelands Natural Resource Management. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  3. ^ Kavazos, Christopher (2016). Small-scale biogeographic patterns of benthic bacterial and ciliate communities in the saline ponds of Lake MacLeod, North-Western Australia (Thesis). doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.18785.10088.
  4. ^ For current operations see - http://www.dampiersalt.com.au/ENG/sales/1148_lake_macleod.asp , for historical photographs and earlier operator see http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2452404~S2 for photographs of the 1970s
  5. ^ "DIWA information Sheet". 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  6. ^ "IBA: Lake MacLeod". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  7. ^ BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake MacLeod. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29 July 2011
  8. ^ Bertzeletos, D; Davis, R A; Horwitz, P (July 2012). "Importance of Lake MacLeod, northwestern Australia, to shorebirds: a review and update" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. 95 (2): 115–124. ProQuest 1112225903.