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The ancient Murray River system

Created 08/01/2026

Updated 08/01/2026

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It has previously been suggested that an ancient Murray River once extended across the present line of the Mt Lofty Ranges, and emptied into Spencer Gulf. Evidence available from a comprehensive study of the Murray Basin shows that this is unlikely, at least during the Cainozoic. Sedimentation patterns reconstructed from several thousand borelogs suggest that a precursor to the modern river existed at least from the Eocene, but that this river emptied into the Murravian Gulf of the Southern Ocean at sites within the Murray Basin during periods of marine flooding, and at sites close to that of the modern mouth at times of lowered sea level. Precursor streams to most major tributaries of the Murray River have also existed since at least the Eocene, and drainage patterns reflect the combined influences of subtle tectonic movement of underlying shallow basement and eustatic overprinting.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title The ancient Murray River system
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/8c270596-aebd-4f15-82f7-63f172f6531d
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        133.41,
        -37.05
      ],
      [
        141.54,
        -37.05
      ],
      [
        141.54,
        -31.39
      ],
      [
        133.41,
        -31.39
      ],
      [
        133.41,
        -37.05
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The ancient Murray River system". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-ancient-murray-river-system2