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Australian Estuaries and Coastal Waterways : A Geoscience Perspective for Improved and Integrated Resource Management : A Report to the National Land & Water Resources Audit Theme 7 : Ecosystem Health

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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Australian estuaries and coastal waterways were classified into six subclasses according to the wave-, tide- and river-energies that shape them, and also according to their overall geomorphology. The geomorphic classification confirmed the energy classification. Within this framework: - 17% were classified as wave-dominated estuaries; - 11% were classified as tide-dominated estuaries; - 10% were classified as wave-dominated deltas; and - 9% were classified as tide-dominated deltas Therefore, only ~28% of Australian coastal waterways are actually estuaries. The remainder are delta's (19%), strandplains (~5%), or tidal creeks (~35%). A seventh subclass others (13%) includes: Drowned River Valleys, Embayments and Coastal Lakes/Lagoons/Creeks. Strandplains and Tidal Creeks are indicative of very low river-energy, and their joint dominance in the data set (~40%) reflects the fact that Australia is a dry continent, with relatively little river runoff by world standards.

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Field Value
Title Australian Estuaries and Coastal Waterways : A Geoscience Perspective for Improved and Integrated Resource Management : A Report to the National Land & Water Resources Audit Theme 7 : Ecosystem Health
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/04b4d4e2-1f56-439c-9371-1a7072e0d960
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        112.66667,
        -45.533333
      ],
      [
        153.533333,
        -45.533333
      ],
      [
        153.533333,
        -10.75
      ],
      [
        112.66667,
        -10.75
      ],
      [
        112.66667,
        -45.533333
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Australian Estuaries and Coastal Waterways : A Geoscience Perspective for Improved and Integrated Resource Management : A Report to the National Land & Water Resources Audit Theme 7 : Ecosystem Health". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/australian-estuaries-and-coastal-waterways-a-geoscience-perspective-for-improved-and-integrated1