Aeolian influences on the soils and landforms of the southern Yilgarn Craton of semi-arid, southwestern Australia

Harper, R.J.; Gilkes, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.07.018

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Atriplex species are reputed to have much greater salt tolerance that Eucalyptus, and indeed, this is the observation under natural conditions in south-western Australia, where Atriplex species occur on the beds of relict playas with fringing salt-tolerant eucalypts (Harper & Gilkes, 2004). It may thus be possible to design land treatments for salinized sites that take such gradients into account and replicate the ecological successions that occur in wetland ecosystems.…”

Section: Future Plantingsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…There are many reports of different growth rates for different species along salinity gradients (van der Moezel et al, 1988;Niknam & McComb, 2000) and these are commonly associated with ecological successions such as in local saline wetlands. Atriplex species are reputed to have much greater salt tolerance that Eucalyptus, and indeed, this is the observation under natural conditions in south-western Australia, where Atriplex species occur on the beds of relict playas with fringing salt-tolerant eucalypts (Harper & Gilkes, 2004). It may thus be possible to design land treatments for salinized sites that take such gradients into account and replicate the ecological successions that occur in wetland ecosystems.…”

Section: Future Plantingsmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Bio‐mitigation of carbon following afforestation of abandoned salinized farmland

2011

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As the global demand for food continues to increase, the displacement of food production by using agricultural land for carbon mitigation, via either carbon sequestration, bioenergy or biofuel is a concern. An alternative approach is to target abandoned salinized farmland for mitigation purposes. Australia, for example, has 17 million ha of farmland that is already or could become saline. At a representative, salinized, low rainfall (350 mm yr À1 ) site at Wickepin, Western Australia, we demonstrate that afforestation can mitigate carbon emissions through either providing a feedstock for bioenergy or second generation biofuel production and produce salt-tolerant fodder for livestock. A range of factors markedly affect this mitigation. These include hydrological conditions such as salinity, site factors such as slope position and soil properties and a range of silvicultural factors such as species, planting density and age of the planting. High density (2000 stems ha À1 ) plantings of Eucalyptus occidentalis Endl. produced a mean total biomass of 4.6 t ha À1 yr À1 (8.5 t CO 2 -e ha À1 yr À1 ) averaged over 8 years. Atriplex nummularia Lindl. produced a mean total biomass of 3.8 t ha À1 yr À1 (6.9 t CO 2 -e ha À1 yr À1 ) averaged over 4 years and approximately 1.9 t ha À1 yr À1 of edible dry matter annually to 8 years of age. With differences in salt tolerance between E. occidentalis and A. nummularia, we propose an integrated approach to treating salinized sites that takes salinity gradients into account, replicates natural wetland ecosystems and produces both fodder and biomass. Continued mitigation is expected as the stands mature, assuming that growth is not affected by the accumulation of salt in the soil profile. Such carbon mitigation could potentially be applied to salinized farmland globally, and this could thus represent a major contribution to global carbon mitigation without competing with food production.

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Section: Future Plantingsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Future Plantingsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Bio‐mitigation of carbon following afforestation of abandoned salinized farmland

2011

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“…4) predicted erodible land as having a spatial association with Australia's dune systems, coordinated drainage channels in internally draining river basins, and perennial lakes and playas that experience periodic sediment recharge. Aeolian processes over desert dunes, perennial lakes and playas, and aeolian-fluvial interactions are well documented in Australia's arid and semiarid zones, which AUSLEM predicts as being prone to wind erosion (Chen and Barton, 1991;Nanson et al, 1995;Harper and Gilkes, 2004).…”

Section: Modelling Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

AUSLEM (AUStralian Land Erodibility Model): A tool for identifying wind erosion hazard in Australia

et al. 2006

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“…Consequently, many valleys are occupied by mobile playa lakes with bordering fields of lunate and elongated dunes [9]. Halite, gypsum, calcite, dolomite, sepiolite, palygorskite, smectite, authigenic illite and other less common authigenic minerals (e.g., carnotite) are constituents of playa sediments and downwind valley side soils [7]. However this surface expression of salinity provided by the playa lakes and associated sediments represents only a few percent of the total salt load of the landscape.…”

Section: Setting the Scenementioning

confidence: 99%

The imprinting of aridity upon a lateritic landscape: an illustration from southwestern Australia

Gilkes

Lee

Singh

2003

Comptes Rendus. Géoscience

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The southwestern region of Australia contains the Yilgarn Craton that has been exposed to subaerial weathering since mid-Proterozoic. The gently undulating landscape experienced lateritic weathering so that today variably dissected, deep in situ isovolumetrically weathered regolith is widespread. Imposition of a more arid climate since the Miocene with the cessation of effective external drainage has resulted in substantial geochemical modification of the highly porous regolith. This vast pore volume acts as a reservoir for complex solutions that may be highly saline, extremely acid to alkaline and reducing. Diverse precipitates have formed in the regolith including widespread occurrence of silcrete, calcrete, dolocrete, ferricrete and gypcrete together with localised occurrences of pyrite, alunite, jarosite, barite, halite and other salts. Clearing of bush land for agriculture in the 20th century increased recharge so that rising chemically active groundwaters are damaging farmland and infrastructure throughout the region.

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Aeolian influences on the soils and landforms of the southern Yilgarn Craton of semi-arid, southwestern Australia

Cited by 16 publications

References 51 publications

Bio‐mitigation of carbon following afforestation of abandoned salinized farmland

Bio‐mitigation of carbon following afforestation of abandoned salinized farmland

AUSLEM (AUStralian Land Erodibility Model): A tool for identifying wind erosion hazard in Australia

The imprinting of aridity upon a lateritic landscape: an illustration from southwestern Australia

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