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Swan Coastal Plain from Darling Scarp
Swan Coastal Plain from Darling Scarp
The IBRA regions, with Swan Coastal Plain in red
The IBRA regions, with Swan Coastal Plain in red

The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature that lies directly west of the Darling Scarp, and which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. A coastal plain is an area of flat low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. The Darling Scarp (previously known as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges) is a low Escarpment running north-south to the east of the The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface It is one of Western Australia's Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) regions. The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia ( IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian Government's Department [1][2] It is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger West Australian Shield division. Australian Shield, also called the Western Australian Shield or Western Plateau, occupies more than half of the continent of Australia.

Traditionally this area was under the care and control of the Yued, Whadjuk, Binjareb and Wardandi Noongar peoples, whose hunter-gathering firestick farming practices maintained the climax vegetations old growth forests observed at the time of first contact. Whadjuk, also called Wadjuk, Whajook and Wadjug, is the name according to Norman Tindale for the Aboriginal group inhabiting The Binjareb, Pindjarup or Pinjareb is the name of the Indigenous Australian group of Noongar speakers living in the region of South West The Noongar (alternate spellings Nyungar / Nyoongar / Nyoongah / Nyungah / Nyugah) are an Indigenous Australian people who live Fire-stick farming is a term coined by Australian archaeologist Rhys Jones in 1969 to describe the practice of Indigenous Australians where fire Climax vegetation is the Vegetation which establishes itself on a given site for given climatic conditions in the absence of Ancient Woodland Old growth forest, (also termed primary forest, ancient forest, virgin forest, primeval forest, frontier

The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone.

Contents

Wetlands

The coastal plain has an extensive belt of wetlands that occurs within series of lakes and swamps - which have been important ecologically, supporting wildlife, and most exist within reserves that have protection for birdlife

European settlement led to many of the wetlands areas being drained for land reclamation to take advantage of the fertile soil for farming enterprises, and for expansion of parks and recreation areas. Lake Monger and Herdsman Lake are the last two major wetlands remaining within close proximity to the city. The City of Perth itself sits on an area of reclaimed wetlands. It is thought that between 49% (Riggert, 1966) and 80% (Godfrey, 1989) of the wetlands on the coastal plain have been drained, filled or cleared since 1832.

The Great Lakes District

The Lake Monger was originally part of a series of freshwater wetlands running north from the Swan River along the coastal plain for approximately 50 km. Lake Monger was grouped with the Georgiana Lake and Lake Sutherland (both near Mitchell Freeway, near Sutherland and Newcastle streets) and Herdsman Lake and together the area made up what was known as "The Great Lakes District". Kwinana Freeway Mitchell Freeway is a long major arterial road in Perth, Western Australia linking Perth with the northern suburbs Herdsman Lake (also known as Herdsmans Lake) is a Groundwater lake located 6 km north-west of Perth in the suburb of Herdsman.

Other lakes and swamps in the immediate northern vicinity of the early Perth township were Lake Kingsford (site of the current Perth railway station), Lake Irwin (Perth Entertainment Centre) and further north were Stone's Lake (Perth Oval), Lake Poullet (First Swamp, part of what is now Birdwood Square), Lake Thomson (Mews Swamp, between Lake, Brisbane and Beaufort streets) and Lake Henderson (parts of what is now Robertson Park and Dorrien Gardens). Perth Station including Perth Underground is the largest railway station in Perth Western Australia, and functions as an interchange between the Transperth The Perth Entertainment Centre (or PEC) is a disused indoor arena and cinema complex located in Wellington Street in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia Further north still lay Second Swamp (Bulwer Street, east of Lake Street), Third Swamp (Hyde Park) and Three Island Lake and Smith's Lake (now Charles Veryard Reserve). Many of these lakes formed a natural interconnected drainage system which found its way into the Swan River at East Perth through Claise Brook.

In 1833, water draining from Lakes Kingsford, Irwin, Sutherland and Henderson was used to drive a water-driven mill located in Mill Street.

North of the Swan River

South of the Swan River

Geology

The sediments of the Perth Basin are Tertiary and Quaternary in age immediately below Perth and include coquina, travertine and sandy limestones with abundant shelly material. Lake Joondalup is a medium sized lake in Perth, Western Australia. Herdsman Lake (also known as Herdsmans Lake) is a Groundwater lake located 6 km north-west of Perth in the suburb of Herdsman. This article is about Lake Monger in suburban Perth. It should not be confused with Mongers Lake in east Perenjori in the Mid West region of Western Australia The Perth Basin is a thick Sedimentary basin in Western Australia. For the variety of clam see Donax. Coquina ( Spanish, "cockle" koʊˈkiːnə is an incompletely consolidated Travertine is a Sedimentary rock. It is a natural chemical precipitate of Carbonate minerals; typically Aragonite, but often recrystallized to Perth is sited on a set of sand dunes formed during the Pliocene-Pleistocene during the last Ice Age. An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets

Offshore, the sand dune system and surficial deposits transition into a system of partly eroded limestones and sandy limestones. These form a series of drowned cuestas which today form submerged reefs. In Structural geology and Geomorphology, a cuesta (from Spanish: "slope" is a Ridge formed by gently tilted Sedimentary rock

Biological Zone

The Swan Coastal Plain is a specific botanical province as delineated by Thackway and Cresswell. As a consequence the Descriptive Catalogue of Paczkowska and Chapman utilise this framework.

References

  1. ^ Environment Australia. The Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA formerly the Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEWR is a department of the Australian "Revision of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) and Development of Version 5.1 - Summary Report". . Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Australian Government Retrieved on 2007-01-31. The Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA formerly the Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEWR is a department of the Australian This article describes the federal government of Australia See Australian governments for other jurisdictions Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon. 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes
  2. ^ IBRA Version 6.1 data

Further reading

External links

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