Lake Annean, sometimes referred to as Annean Lake or incorrectly as Nannine Lake, is a
DIWA-listed
salt lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...
system located in the
Mid West
The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...
region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. The lake is situated about southwest of
Meekatharra.
Description
The lake is roughly in area, and consists of a main waterbody with two elongate arms. The main waterbody is roughly rectangular, with its long side oriented along a north-westerly axis. A narrow arm, essentially a network of
anastomosing
An anastomosis (, : anastomoses) is a connection or opening between two things (especially cavities or passages) that are normally diverging or branching, such as between blood vessels, leaf veins, or streams. Such a connection may be normal (suc ...
creeks, arises from near the eastern edge, stretching north almost to Meekatharra; the lake receives inflow from this arm and also some smaller creeks on the west and north side. Drainage is via the other arm, which arises from near the western edge and reaches almost to headwaters of the
Hope River, into which Lake Anneen flows following heavy rains. A low ridge nearly divides the lake roughly in two, and the
Great Northern Highway
Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...
now runs along this ridge.
Lake Annean is shallow, with a great many islands and peninsulas. Some parts of the lake almost always hold water, but the entire lake fills only after flooding caused by tropical summer and autumn rains. This occurs only every five to ten years.
It is one of the most important breeding sites in Western Australia for ''
Gelochelidon nilotica
The gull-billed tern (''Gelochelidon nilotica''), formerly ''Sterna nilotica'', is a tern in the family Laridae. It is widely distributed and breeds in scattered localities in Europe, Asia, northwest Africa, and the Americas. The Australian gull ...
'' (gull-billed tern) and ''
Chlidonias hybridus'' (whiskered tern). It is also an important refuge for other waterbirds, the nearest adjacent wetland,
Wooleen Lake, being nearly away.
The
ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
of
Nannine is located on the northern banks of Lake Annean. The lake is no longer currently subject to any human use, except for some recreational
sailboarding
Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...
by residents of the area. Potential degrading processes include
pastoral
The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
grazing, grazing and predation by feral and introduced animals, the illicit picking of wildflowers, and pollution by the highway or nearby gold mines.
See also
*
List of lakes of Western Australia
The following lists of lakes of Western Australia are arranged alphabetically:
* List of lakes of Western Australia, A–C (plus numerals)
* List of lakes of Western Australia, D–K
* List of lakes of Western Australia, L–P
*List of lakes of ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anneen, Lake
Lakes of the Mid West (Western Australia)
DIWA-listed wetlands
Protected areas of Western Australia
Saline lakes of Western Australia