Lake Austin is an ephemeral

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 ...

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 ...

, approximately south of Cue and north of

Mount Magnet Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

. It is named after Robert Austin, who explored the area around the lake in 1854. The abandoned town of

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

is located on an island in the lake. 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 ...

passes through this island as it crosses the lake. Lake Austin is also the name of the locality surrounding it. Lake Austin is an evaporation basin for an arheic internal drainage system covering an area of . The lake itself lies in a basin covering , or excluding the many islands. It is about long and wide. The lake usually fills in response to heavy rainfall in the summer and autumn; anecdotally, this occurs twice about every ten years. Water

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

varies according to lake levels: recorded values have ranged from 44.8 mS/cm during a flooding event in 2000, to 164 mS/cm in the late 1970s. The lake bed is flat, variably crusted with salt, and devoid of vegetation. It is surrounded by a

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

dominated by the

samphire Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies. * Rock samphire ('' Crithmum maritimum'') is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Uni ...

species '' Tecticornia fimbrata'', '' Tecticornia halocnemoides'' and '' Tecticornia pruinosa''. The catchment area is composed of gently undulating saline stony plains with associated internal drainage lines and several scattered drainage foci. The lake is situated on major ancient drainage lines and has massive supplies of saline water from sand aquifers at the base of the paleochannels from depths of . Annually the catchment receives rainfall of and has an evaporation rate . The main land uses around Lake Austin are mining and pastoralism. A large deposit of

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

sand is located on the edge of the lake. From 1999 to 2002, hypersaline groundwater from the Cuddingwarra gold mine was discharged into Lake Austin. The

Austin Downs Austin Downs Station or Austin Downs is a pastoral lease in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Description The property covers an area of and has traditionally farmed sheep for the production of wool. The station is located in the Murc ...

pastoral station covers part of the lake. Sheep are grazed in the area and feral goats and donkeys are abundant.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Lake Lakes of the Mid West (Western Australia) Saline lakes of Western Australia

See also

References