The
Burdekin River in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
rises on the western slope of the Seaview Range and flows into the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
at
Upstart BayUpstart Bay is a bay in Queensland, Australia. It serves as the mouth of the Burdekin River.-External links:*...
over 200 km to the southeast of the source. The river was first encountered by Europeans during the expedition led by
Ludwig LeichhardtFriedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, known as Ludwig Leichhardt, was a Prussian explorer and naturalist, most famous his exploration of northern and central Australia.-Early life:...
in 1845 and named for Mrs. Thomas Burdekin, who had provided assistance to the expedition.
Apart from the
Murray RiverThe Murray River, or River Murray and sometimes informally referred to as the "Mighty Murray", is Australia's largest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's...
, it is economically the most important river in Australia, and has the fourth-largest watershed of any exorheic drainage system in Australia.
The
Burdekin River in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
rises on the western slope of the Seaview Range and flows into the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
at
Upstart BayUpstart Bay is a bay in Queensland, Australia. It serves as the mouth of the Burdekin River.-External links:*...
over 200 km to the southeast of the source. The river was first encountered by Europeans during the expedition led by
Ludwig LeichhardtFriedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, known as Ludwig Leichhardt, was a Prussian explorer and naturalist, most famous his exploration of northern and central Australia.-Early life:...
in 1845 and named for Mrs. Thomas Burdekin, who had provided assistance to the expedition.
Apart from the
Murray RiverThe Murray River, or River Murray and sometimes informally referred to as the "Mighty Murray", is Australia's largest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's...
, it is economically the most important river in Australia, and has the fourth-largest watershed of any exorheic drainage system in Australia. It is also the fourth-largest river in Australia by volume of flow, but is so erratic that its discharge can reach the mean discharge of the
YangtzeThe Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang , Tibetan: Bri-chu, is the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon....
(after two severe
cyclonesA tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones feed on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air...
in 1958) or have as many as seven months with
no flow whatsoever (as in 1923). This exceedingly erratic flow is due to the extreme variability of
precipitationIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the Earth's surface. The main forms of precipitation include rain, snow, ice pellets, and graupel...
throughout the entire basin. Annual rainfall at most gauges within the basin can range from 200mm (8 inches) to over 1,600mm (64 inches) depending on the monsoon and the number of cyclones that cross the coast. On the coast itself, the variability is even higher: at
BowenBowen is a town on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bowen had a population of 7,484.-Geography:Bowen is located on the north-east coast of Australia, at exactly twenty degrees south of the equator. In fact, the twentieth parallel crosses the main street...
not far from the river's mouth, the annual rainfall has ranged from 216mm in 1915 to over 2,200m in 1950.
Major
tributariesA tributary is a stream or river which flows into a main stem river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body...
feeding the Burdekin River include the
ClarkeThere are several rivers in New Zealand called the Clarke River.-Clarke River, Tasman Region:The Tasman Region's Clarke River flows northeast from its source in Kahurangi National Park, joining the Baton River 10 kilometres northwest of the township of Tapawera.-Clarke River, Northern West...
,
SuttorThe Suttor River is a river in Central Queensland, Australia. It is a tributary of the Belyando River. The river has its origins in the Leichhardt Range, north west of Glenden.A stone causeway built across the Suttor River in 1876 remains mostly intact today...
,
BasaltThe Basalt River in North Queensland, Australia rises on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range and flows into the Burdekin River about 60 km north of Charters Towers. The river has a length of 160 km and a catchment size of 2900 km2.-References:...
,
Bowen-References:* - Search for Place Names...
,
BelyandoThe Belyando River is a river in Central Queensland, Australia. The river flows in a northerly direction, is joined by the Suttor River, before flowing into the Burdekin Dam and becoming a tributary of the Burdekin River...
and
CapeThe Cape River is a river of New Zealand. A tributary of the Opouawe River, it is located in the Wairarapa in the southern North Island.-References:* - Search for Place Names...
rivers. The
sourceThe source or headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates.-Definition:More specifically, a source is defined as the most distant point in the drainage basin from which water runs year-around, or, alternatively, the furthest point from which...
of the Belyando river in central western
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
is almost 500 km from the
mouthA delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
of the Burdekin River, and extends into the typical
black-soilIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
grassland of Central Queensland. The Burdekin itself almost reaches the Wet Tropics in its upper reaches.
The
Burdekin falls damBurdekin Dam is located on the Burdekin River in Queensland, Australia south west of Ayr, and Home Hill. The body of water held by the dam is also known as Lake Dalrymple....
, the largest
damA dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions...
in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
was constructed west of
AyrAyr is a town in Queensland, Australia near the delta of the Burdekin River. It is within the Burdekin Shire, which produces the most sugar cane per square kilometre in Australia utilising underground water supplies and water from the Burdekin Dam to irrigate crops when rains fail.Ayr is located 88...
and
Home HillHome Hill, Queensland is a town in Queensland, Australia at the delta of the Burdekin River. It is a sugarcane growing area with underground water supplies to irrigate crops.- Geography :...
and completed in 1987 to form what is also known as Lake Dalrymple. In the
deltaA delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
around Ayr and Home Hill,
groundwaterGroundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of lithologic formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in...
is used extensively to
irrigateIrrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil. It is usually used to assist in growing crops in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
crops of sugar cane, which produce the highest quality
sugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many...
from anywhere in Australia. This groundwater is recharged artificially during the extreme flood events that occasionally occur, usually due to a
La NiñaLa Niña is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon similar to El Niño. During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 0.5 °C. In the United States, an episode of La Niña is defined as a period of at least 5...
event.
Although on paper most of the basin of the Burdekin appears perfect for rainfed crops like
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
and
maizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
, in fact the rainfall is so erratic that in almost every year a would-be farmer will experience either too little or too much rain for the crop to mature properly. Thus, most of the basin of the Burdekin can be used only for low-density grazing of sheep and cattle which is less likely to be damaged economically and ecologically by the extreme risks of an extraordinarily erratic climate. The natural vegetation away from the coast is a grassland dominated by perennial Mitchell and annual Flinders grasses, whilst near the coast there are patches of dry
eucalyptEucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
forest on the typically infertile
laterisedLaterite is a surface formation in hot and wet tropical areas which is rich in iron and aluminium and develops by intensive and long lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock. Nearly all kinds of rocks can be deeply decomposed by the action of high rainfall and elevated temperatures...
soils characteristic of most of Australia.
External links