This dataset maps the geomorphic habitat environments (facies) for 36 South Australian coastal waterways. The classification system contains 12 easily identifiable and representative environments: Barrier/back-barrier, Bedrock, Central Basin, Channel, Coral, Flood- and Ebb-tide Delta, Fluvial (bay-head) Delta, Intertidal Flats, Mangrove, Rocky Reef, Saltmarsh/Saltflat, Tidal Sand Banks (and Unassigned). These types represent habitats found across all coastal systems in Australia. Most of the 36 coastal waterways have a "Modified" environmental condition (as opposed to "Near Pristine"), according to the National Land and Water Resources Audit definition.

This dataset maps the geomorphic habitat environments (facies) for 103 Western Australia coastal waterways. The classification system contains 11 easily identifiable and representative environments: Barrier/back-barrier, Central basin, Channel, Coral, Flood- and Ebb-tide Delta, Fluvial (bay-head) Delta, Intertidal Flats, Mangrove, Rocky Reef, Saltmarsh/Saltflat, Tidal Sand Banks (and Unassigned). These types represent habitats found across all coastal systems in Australia. Western Australia has a diverse range of Estuaries due to different climates. Ranging from mostly "near pristine" and tide influenced estuaries in the north to "near pristine" wave dominated estuaries in the southwest region.

In early autumn 2006 (14th March to 4th April), Geoscience Australia conducted a field survey to investigate the major processes controlling water quality in Wellstead Estuary, Gordon Inlet and Beaufort Inlet. This project aimed to address critical knowledge gaps in understanding the impact of sediment-water interactions on water quality in each estuary, in particular, to identify the major controls on nutrient abundance and availability. The impacts of sediment-water interactions on overall water quality took into account: 1. shallowness of the estuaries and long water residence time; 2. productivity of microbenthic algae; and 3. the type of aquatic plant growth. Recommendations for the future management of these estuaries included: 1. Reducing nitrogen loads from the catchments of Wellstead Estuary and Gordon Inlet, and reducing the phosphorus loads from the catchment of Beaufort inlet; 2. Monitoring the abundance of macroalgae in Wellstead Estuary, the abundance of macrophytes in Gordon Inlet and the water column Chl-a concentrations in Beaufort Inlet.

This dataset maps the geomorphic habitat environments (facies) for 54 Victorian coastal waterways. The classification system contains 11 easily identifiable and representative environments: Barrier/back-barrier, Central Basin, Channel, Coral, Flood- and Ebb-tide Delta, Fluvial (bay-head) Delta, Intertidal Flats, Mangrove, Rocky Reef, Saltmarsh/Saltflat, Tidal Sand Banks (and Unassigned). These types represent habitats found across all coastal systems in Australia. Most of the 54 coastal waterways have a "Modified" environmental condition (as opposed to "Near Pristine"), according to the National Land and Water Resources Audit definition.

On 10th November, 1952 a brief visit was made to Channel Island with Mr. F. Vidgen, Director of Works, to investigate the possibilities of developing an underground water supply for the leprosarium. It appears unlikely that a good supply of underground water will be obtained on the island, and this is probably due to the fact that it offers too small a catchment area and the beds are not particularly favourable to allow for the accumulation of good supplies of underground water.

Geoscience Australia conducted a survey of lakebed (benthic) nutrient fluxes in St Georges Basin, November 2003. The objectives were to: 1. determine the nature of nutrient cycling between the sediment and overlying water; and 2. determine the implications of benthic nutrient fluxes for water quality in the estuary. The relevance to management of this work is that it gives an indication of the susceptibility of the estuary to eutrophication from increased nutrient loads from the catchment. The key findings of the study were: - St Georges Basin was mesotrophic to eutrophic at the time of the survey (spring) based on relatively high respiration rates and O2 demand in the sediments measured by in situ benthic chambers. - Respiration rates were linked to phytoplankton biomass (mainly diatoms) where local fluvial discharge of dissolved nutrients created enhanced primary productivity in the water column, which in turn enhanced mineralisation rates. - St Georges Basin had comparatively low denitrification efficiencies (less than 60%). - St Georges Basin is likely to be prone to eutrophication and may have little tolerance for increases in nutrient and organic matter from the catchment due to the low denitrification efficiencies.

The Great Artesian Basin Research Priorities Workshop, organised by Geoscience Australia (GA), was held in Canberra on 27 and 28 April 2016. Workshop attendees represented a spectrum of stakeholders including government, policy, management, scientific and technical representatives interested in GAB-related water management. This workshop was aimed at identifying and documenting key science issues and strategies to fill hydrogeological knowledge gaps that will assist federal and state/territory governments in addressing groundwater management issues within the GAB, such as influencing the development of the next Strategic Management Plan for the GAB. This report summarises the findings out of the workshop.

We examine surface sediment and water column total nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations for 12 estuaries with average water depths <4 m, and calculated sediment loads ranging from 0.2 to 10.8 kg m-2 year-1. Sediment total nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon concentrations vary inversely with sediment loads due to: (i) the influx of more mineral-rich sediment into the estuaries; and (ii) increasing sediment sulfidation. Sediment total organic carbon (TOC) : total sulfur (TS) and TS : Fe(II) ratios correlated to sediment loads because enhanced sedimentation increases burial, hence the importance of sulfate reduction in organic matter degradation. Curvilinear relationships were found between a weathering index and organic matter 13C in sediment, and sediment load. The rising phase of the curve (increasing weathering, lighter isotopic values) at low to intermediate loads relates to soil erosion, whereas regolith or bedrock erosion probably explains the declining phase of the curve (decreasing weathering, heavier isotopic values) at higher sediment loads. The pattern of change for water column total nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) with sediment loads is similar to that of the weathering index. Most water quality problems occur in association with soil erosion, and at sediment loads that are intermediate for the estuaries studied. Limited evidence is presented that flushing can moderate the impact of sediment loads upon the estuaries.

This dataset maps the geomorphic habitat environments (facies) for 131 New South Wales coastal waterways. The classification system contains 12 easily identifiable and representative environments: Barrier/back-barrier, Bedrock, Central Basin, Channel, Coral, Flood- and Ebb-tide Delta, Fluvial (bay-head) Delta, Intertidal Flats, Mangrove, Rocky Reef, Saltmarsh/Saltflat, Tidal Sand Banks (and Unassigned). These types represent habitats found across all coastal systems in Australia. Most of the estuaries of New South Wales are under intense land use pressure with approximately 80% of the State's population living near an estuary (NSW Dept of Land and Water Conservation) .

The 9 second DEM derived streams are a a fully connected and directed stream network produced in rastor and vector fomats by Australian National University. This product is the raster format, for the the vector product please refer to the Bureau of Meterology's Geofabric Website (http://www.bom.gov.au/water/geofabric/index.shtml). It is built upon the representation of surface drainage patterns provided by the GEODATA national 9 second Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Version 3 (ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society and Geoscience Australia, 2008).