Wellstead Estuary

Wellstead Estuary is an estuarine inlet in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.

The estuary has length of 13 kilometres (8 mi) and holds a volume of 2,400,000 cubic metres (85,000,000 cu ft).^[1] The inlet covers a total surface area of 4.7 square kilometres (2 sq mi) with the central basin and barriers covering 2.7 square kilometres (1 sq mi) and salt marshes and tidal flats covering the remainder of the area.^[2]

The inlet is shallow, less than 1 metre (3 ft) in depth, and the salinity varies depending on the rate of evaporation and the amount of discharge from the Bremer River which flows into the inlet and on to the Southern Ocean. The estuary is wave dominated and functions primarily as a result of wave energy, both the estuary and the catchment are in a modified condition.^[3]

The sandbar across the mouth of the inlet only opens after heavy rain events and was once closed for over 20 years. The estuary is not eutrophic as a result of the prolific population of the seagrass Ruppia megacarpa and the low levels of nutrients that flow into the estuary.^[4]

The town of Bremer Bay is located along the shoreline of the estuary.^[5]

References

^ "South Coast Rivercare - Wellstead Estuary". 2002. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
^ "Estuary Assessment Framework for Non-Pristine Estuaries - Estuary 639 Wellstead Estuary". 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
^ Anne Brearley (2006), Ernest Hodgkin's Swanland Estuaries And Coastal Lagoons of South-western AustraliaHardcover, University of Western Australia Press, ISBN 978-1-920694-38-8, pages 454-458 for overview from Hodgkin's material of the 1970s to the 1990s
^ "No title". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 1519. Western Australia. 20 February 1927. p. 8. Retrieved 12 October 2024 – via National Library of Australia. - photo from 1927 looking towards the mouth of the eastuary
^ Capalutti, Johanna; Western Australia. Water and Rivers Commission; Natural Heritage Trust (Australia) (2000), Stories of the Bremer River and Wellstead Estuary, Waters and Rivers Commission, ISBN 978-0-7309-7531-1

External links

Media related to Wellstead Estuary at Wikimedia Commons

34°23′0″S 119°22′52″E / 34.38333°S 119.38111°E / -34.38333; 119.38111

[1] "South Coast Rivercare - Wellstead Estuary". 2002. Retrieved 14 October 2010.

[2] "Estuary Assessment Framework for Non-Pristine Estuaries - Estuary 639 Wellstead Estuary". 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2009.

[3] Anne Brearley (2006), Ernest Hodgkin's Swanland Estuaries And Coastal Lagoons of South-western AustraliaHardcover, University of Western Australia Press, ISBN 978-1-920694-38-8, pages 454-458 for overview from Hodgkin's material of the 1970s to the 1990s

[4] "No title". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 1519. Western Australia. 20 February 1927. p. 8. Retrieved 12 October 2024 – via National Library of Australia. - photo from 1927 looking towards the mouth of the eastuary

[5] Capalutti, Johanna; Western Australia. Water and Rivers Commission; Natural Heritage Trust (Australia) (2000), Stories of the Bremer River and Wellstead Estuary, Waters and Rivers Commission, ISBN 978-0-7309-7531-1

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