The Use of Bauxite residue as a soil amendment in the Peel -Harvey Coastal Plain Catchment - Environmental monitoring report August 1999

Authors

Mark Rivers, Agriculture Western Australia

Publication Date

1999

Series Number

Miscellaneous Publication 39/99

Publisher

Agriculture Western Australia

City

Perth

ISSN

1326-4168

Abstract

The Peel-Harvey Coastal Plain Catchment is located immediately south of Perth in Western Australia and covers approximately 190,000 ha. It extends from Forrestdale in the north to Harvey in the south, and west from the Darling Scarp to Mandurah on the coast. The boundary of the catchment, as illustrated in Figure 1, represents the area which has been approved by the DEP for the broadscale application of Alkaloam as a soil amendment. (This figure also indicates features and regions of importance in this project).

The region experiences a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters with most of the rainfall occurring between the months of May and October. The average annual rainfall! for much of the area is between 800 and 900mm. During the study period covered in this report, local rainfalls were recorded between 846mm and 1173mm per annum. Water falling on the catchment travels in a generally westerly direction and feeds into the Peel Inlet and the Harvey Estuary via an extensive drainage network of streams, rivers, wetlands and agricultural drains.

Soils of the region consist of a sequence of alluvial (water borne) deposits to the east and aeolian (wind borne) deposits further west with the majority of these soils being sandy in nature or consisting of sand over clay.

A large proportion of the catchment has been extensively cleared of its native vegetation and is now used for agricultural and horticultural land uses. Consequently, and as a result of the poor ability of the majority of the sandy soils to retain phosphorus applied as fertiliser, the Peel-Harvey Estuarine system has experienced eutrophication problems in the recent past. These have been due in part to the runoff of fertilisers from rural land.

Number of Pages

53

Keywords

Bauxite, Bauxite residue, Soil, Soil amendment, Peel - Harvey, Western Australia

Disciplines

Agricultural Science | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Monitoring | Hydrology | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Plant Sciences | Soil Science | Water Resource Management

Recommended Citation

Rivers, M. (1999), The Use of Bauxite residue as a soil amendment in the Peel -Harvey Coastal Plain Catchment - Environmental monitoring report August 1999. Agriculture Western Australia, Perth. Report Miscellaneous Publication 39/99.
https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/lr_publishedrpts/88

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