Murray Mouth
The Murray - mouth ( Coordinates: 35 ° 33'29 "S, 138 ° 52'50 " E ) is the point at which the Murray River, the longest river meets Australian of the Indian Ocean. This point is shifted, however. Historical records show that the channel out to sea moves with time along the sand dunes. Does the flow more water and the sea is rough, the two waters erode the sand dunes and create a new channel, the old slowly filled with silt and disappears.
The mouth is located between two sandy peninsulas. The Sir Richard Peninsula to the northwest separates the Goolwa Channel ( the main branch of the Murray River) from the ocean. The much longer Younghusband Peninsula to the southeast separates the Coorong from the sea.
The Murray estuary is separated by a series of flat islands of Lake Alexandrina. The largest of these, Hindmarsh Iceland, situated directly opposite the mouth. A number of flood barriers connecting the islands and separates the salty sea water from fresh water in Lake Alexandrina and its tributaries. At high water level in the river flood barriers can be opened.
Early History
Originally led the Murray River at today's Port Pirie (north of Adelaide ) in the Spencer Gulf. There you can see his large delta today. A land uplift but blocked the river at the southern end of the Flinders Ranges and the Murray River so found his new bed for today's mouth at Lake Alexandrina.
Water management
The water of the Murray River is used by the farmers in four Australian states for land irrigation and also for the drinking water supply of most of the settlements on the river and further away, the water is then transported through pipelines. Today we see one that takes too much water to the river, but economic and political reasons to make a problem-solving difficult. A visible result of too much water is drawn from the closing of the mouth.
Since October 2002, two river excavator working on the Murray estuary and sand away from the channel in order to ensure at least a minimum flow of water from the sea in the Coorong Lagoon. Without this continuous dredging the mouth would be sealed with mud and stop the influx of cold sea water into the Coorong. This would lead to a warming of the water in the lagoon and the overturning of the water.
Mid-2006 were the dredging operations will be reduced because conditions had improved at the mouth. Now, only one excavator and a private shipowners works must pass the channel between Goolwa and the Coorong at the Murray mouth busy.
Swell
John C. Tolley: South Coast Story. Rowett print. Mt Compass SA ( 1968). ISBN 0-9587964-3-2
- River Murray River system