Chemical composition of some inland surface waters in South, Western and northeren Australia

Abstract

Numerous analyses of the major ions in surface waters of South Australia, south-western Western Australia, and northern Australia are presented and discussed. In South Australia three regions were investigated: the Yorke Peninsula, the Snowtown area, and the extreme south-east including the Coorong. In all three areas salinities were high, except for Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert at the mouth of the River Murray, and sodium and chloride were the dominant ions. In rivers and standing waters in the south-west of Western Australia sodium and chloride were likewise the dominant ions. Almost all standing waters sampled in this region were saline and salinity was also high in some rivers investigated; there are, nevertheless, freshwater lakes and rivers of low salinity in this region. In running and standing waters of northern Australia, salinities were low and there was no consistent pattern of ionic dominance.