Publication Date

2023

DPIRD Collections

Animal production and livestock, Natural resources

Series Number

99

Publisher

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

City

Perth

ISBN

978-1-921845-45-1 (Online)

ISSN

0083-8675 (Print)

Abstract

This technical bulletin defines and maps the land resources of the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA). The southern Goldfields region, as featured in this bulletin, covers 151,753 km2. The western and eastern borders are variable because they align with various cadastral boundaries. The western survey border, which in part follows the WA State Barrier Fence, demarcates cleared agricultural land from the intact, western extent of the Great Western Woodlands. The eastern border abuts the westernmost Nullarbor pastoral lease boundaries, except for the north-easternmost and south-easternmost edges which continue into Crown land. Major towns are Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie and Boulder in the central north, Kambalda in the centre and Norseman in the central south.

The southern Goldfields survey area is closely aligned with the world’s largest and most intact area of Mediterranean-climate woodland, known as the Great Western Woodlands. These eucalypt-dominated woodlands, which include mosaics of mallee, shrubland and grassland, cover nearly 160,000 km2. This survey and adjacent rangeland surveys in the Sandstone, Yalgoo and Paynes Find, north-eastern Goldfields, and WA Nullarbor regions complete mapping to a scale of 1:250,000, and describe biophysical features over most of the Great Western Woodlands, except for the southernmost extremities.

This survey combines and augments previous studies that mapped vegetation, physiography and soil distribution in a hierarchical framework that adheres to state and national standards. The purpose of this survey was to provide a comprehensive description of the biophysical resources of the southern Goldfields region and an accompanying land system map.

This bulletin provides information on survey methods, climate and landscape evolution. The characteristics and distribution of soils, vegetation and habitat type ecology, and land systems are described. This information will assist individuals, agencies and companies who have interests in land-use planning and development of sustainable systems, monitoring, rehabilitation and conservation of the rangeland habitats and landscapes within the southern Goldfields region. Within the survey area, there are 69 WA soil groups, belonging to 12 soil supergroups; 88 habitat types split between 13 groups; and 101 land systems grouped into 41 broad land types.

Number of Pages

338

Keywords

pastoral rangelands, vegetation, ecology, geology, geomorphology, soils, landscape evolution, climate, paleoclimate, topography, Great Western Woodlands, southern Goldfields, Western Australia

Disciplines

Agricultural Science | Agriculture | Biodiversity | Biology | Desert Ecology | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Monitoring | Environmental Sciences | Geology | Geomorphology | Natural Resources and Conservation | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Soil Science | Sustainability | Systems Biology

Comments

Technical bulletin 99 has 2 volumes:

  • volume 1 describes the survey methods, climate, landscape evolution, soils, and vegetation and habitat type ecology
  • volume 2 describes the land systems and contains the appendixes.

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