Modelling basin level allocation of water in the Murray-Darling Basin in a world of uncertainty, Murray-Darling Program Working Papers WPM05-1, Risk and Sustainable Management Group, 8 February 2005

Abstract: The Murray-Darling Basin comprises over 1 million km2; it lies within four states and one territory; and over 12, 800 GL of irrigation water is used to produce over 40% of the nation's gross value of agricultural production. This production is used by a diverse collection of some-times mutually exclusive commodities (e.g. pasture; stone fruit; grapes; cotton and field crops). The supply of water for irrigation is subject to climatic and policy uncertainty. Variable inflows mean that water property rights do not provide a guaranteed supply. With increasing public scrutiny and environmental issues facing irrigators, greater pressure is being placed on this finite resource. The uncertainty of the water supply, water quality (salinity), combined with where water is utilised, while attempting to maximising return for investment makes for an interesting research field. The utilisation and comparison of a GAMS and Excel based modelling approach has been used to ask: where should we allocate water?; amongst what commodities?; and how does this affect both the quantity of water and the quality of water along the Murray-Darling river system?

Effects of incubation temperature on the energetics of embryonic development and hatchling morphology in the Brisbane river turtle Emydura signata

Incubation temperature and the amount of water taken up by eggs from the substrate during incubation affects hatchling size and morphology in many oviparous reptiles. The Brisbane river turtle Emydura signata lays hard-shelled eggs and hatchling mass was unaffected by the amount of water gained or lost during incubation. Constant temperature incubation of eggs at 24 degrees C, 26 degrees C, 28 degrees C and 31 degrees C had no effect on hatchling mass, yolk-free hatchling mass, residual yolk mass, carapace length, carapace width, plastron length or plastron width. However, hatchlings incubated at 26 degrees C and 28 degrees C had wider heads than hatchlings incubated at 24 degrees C and 31 degrees C. Incubation period varied inversely with incubation temperature, while the rate of increase in oxygen consumption during the first part of incubation and the peak rate of oxygen consumption varied directly with incubation temperature. The total amount of oxygen consumed during development and hatchling production cost was significantly greater at 24 degrees C than at 26 degrees C, 28 degrees C and 31 degrees C. Hatchling mass and dimensions and total embryonic energy expenditure was directly proportional to initial egg mass.

A method of analysing stream channel response to environmental change: gauge data for the Tully River

Gauging data are available from numerous streams throughout Australia, and these data provide a basis for historical analysis of geomorphic change in stream channels in response to both natural phenomena and human activities. We present a simple method for analysis of these data, and a briefcase study of an application to channel change in the Tully River, in the humid tropics of north Queensland. The analysis suggests that this channel has narrowed and deepened, rather than aggraded: channel aggradation was expected, given the intensification of land use in the catchment, upstream of the gauging station. Limitations of the method relate to the time periods over which stream gauging occurred; the spatial patterns of stream gauging sites; the quality and consistency of data collection; and the availability of concurrent land-use histories on which to base the interpretation of the channel changes.

A strategy to fill gaps in soil survey over large spatial extents: an example from the Murray-Darling basin of Australia

We re-mapped the soils of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in 1995-1998 with a minimum of new fieldwork, making the most out of existing data. We collated existing digital soil maps and used inductive spatial modelling to predict soil types from those maps combined with environmental predictor variables. Lithology, Landsat Multi Spectral Scanner (Landsat MSS), the 9-s digital elevation model (DEM) of Australia and derived terrain attributes, all gridded to 250-m pixels, were the predictor variables. Because the basin-wide datasets were very large data mining software was used for modelling. Rule induction by data mining was also used to define the spatial domain of extrapolation for the extension of soil-landscape models from existing soil maps. Procedures to estimate the uncertainty associated with the predictions and quality of information for the new soil-landforms map of the MDB are described. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of river sections for domestic water supply along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China

This paper presents major findings from a recent study aiming to systematically determine suitable river sections for local domestic water supply along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China. On the basis of analysis on the current riverbank utilization and bank stability, accessible and stable river sections in the region were selected. The water quality in these river sections was then studied using a two-dimensional unsteady flow and pollutant transport/transformation model, RBFVM-2D. The model was calibrated and verified against the hydrodynamic data, water quality data and remote sensing data collected from the river. The investigation on the pollution sources along the river identified 56 main pollution point sources. The pollution zones downstream of these point sources are the main threat for the water quality in the river. The model was used to compute the pollution zones. In particular, simulations were conducted to establish the relationship between the extent of the pollution zone and the wastewater discharge rate of the associated point source. These water quality simulation results were combined with the riverbank stability analysis to determine suitable river sections for local domestic water supply.

Managing the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay: an integrated research/management program to reduce impacts on an Australian estuary

The Brisbane River and Moreton Bay Study, an interdisciplinary study of Moreton Bay and its major tributaries, was initiated to address water quality issues which link sewage and diffuse loading with environmental degradation. Runoff and deposition of fine-grained sediments into Moreton Bay, followed by resuspension, have been linked with increased turbidity and significant loss of seagrass habitat. Sewage-derived nutrient enrichment, particularly nitrogen (N), has been linked to algal blooms by sewage plume maps. Blooms of a marine cyanobacterium, Lyngbya majuscula, in Moreton Bay have resulted in significant impacts on human health (e.g., contact dermatitis) and ecological health (e.g., seagrass loss), and the availability of dissolved iron from acid sulfate soil runoff has been hypothesised. The impacts of catchment activities resulting in runoff of sediments, nutrients and dissolved iron on the health of the Moreton Bay waterways are addressed. The Study, established by 6 local councils in association with two state departments in 1994, forms a regional component of a national and state program to achieve ecologically sustainable use of the waterways by protecting and enhancing their health, while maintaining economic and social development. The Study framework illustrates a unique integrated approach to water quality management whereby scientific research, community participation and the strategy development were done in parallel with each other. This collaborative effort resulted in a water quality management strategy which focuses on the integration of socioeconomic and ecological values of the waterways. This work has led to significant cost savings in infrastructure by providing a clear focus on initiatives towards achieving healthy waterways. The Study's Stage 2 initiatives form the basis for this paper.

Stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental significance of a Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) palynoflora from the PiauFormation, Parnaba Basin, northeastern Brazil

A well-preserved palynoflora is reported from within a cored interval of a coal-exploratory borehole (1-UN-23-PI of the Geological Survey of Brazil) in the southern part of the Parnaiba Basin, northeastern Brazil. The sample studied is from the lower portion of the Piaui Formation. Its palynoflora is characterized by particular abundance of the trilete cavate/pseudosaccate miospores Spelaeotriletes triangulus Neves and Owens, 1966 and S. arenaceus Neves and Owens, 1966, together with cingulizonate forms mainly attributable to Vallatisporites Hacquebard, 1957 and Cristatisporites R. Potonie and Kremp emend. Butterworth et al., 1964. Radially and bilaterally symmetrical monosaccate pollen grains are also well-represented, chiefly by Plicatipollenites Lele, 1964 and Potonieisporites Bhardwaj, 1954, respectively. Taeniate grains (i.e., monosaccates and bisaccates) are relatively minor constituents of the palynoflora; no marine microplankton were encountered. Several species are described in detail : the trilete apiculate spores Brevitriletes levis (Balme and Hennelly) Bharadwaj and Srivastava, 1969 and Horriditriletes uruguaiensis (Marques-Toigo) Archangelsky and Gamerro, 1979; and the taeniate pollen grains Meristocorpus ostentus sp. nov. and Lahirites segmentatus sp. nov. A Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous : late Westphalian) age is adduced for the palynoflora via its correlation with part of the Tapajos Group (specifically, the upper Itaituba Formation) of the Amazonas Basin in northern Brazil. The entirely land-derived palynomorphs, associated with abundant plant debris, corroborate previous suggestions that the lower part of the Piaui Formation accumulated in a nonmarine setting under conditions of aridity.

Permian Palynofloral Assemblages of the Chaco-Paraná Basin (Argentina): Systematics and Stratigraphic Significance

Core samples from an upper Palaeozoic, partly glaciogene borehole section (Ordóñez: YPF Cd O es-1) in the southern Chaco-Paraná Basin (Córdoba Province, northeastern Argentina) have produced variable palynological results. Samples from the lower part of the section (i.e., from the diamictite-bearing upper Ordóñez Formation) proved non-palyniferous. Those from the overlying, essentially post-glacial Victoriano Rodríguez Formation yielded spore-pollen assemblages in varying concentrations and in good to excellent states of preservation, thus providing the material basis for the present account. The palynomorph taxa represented in the assemblages comprise 20 species of spores (distributed among 14 genera) and 25 species of pollen grains (14 genera). The majority of the species are described in systematic detail. One trilete spore species -Convolutispora archangelskyi- is newly proposed. Several other, possibly new species (three of trilete spores, one of monosaccate pollen) are represented insufficiently for other than informal naming. The following new combinations, also of trilete spore species, are instituted: Converrucosisporites confluens (Archangelsky & Gamerro, 1979), C. micronodosus (Balme & Hennelly, 1956), and Anapiculatisporites tereteangulatus (Balme & Hennelly, 1956). Sculptural intergradation (granulate through verrucate) among three species -Granulatisporites austroamericanus Archangelsky & Gamerro, 1979, C. confluens, and C. micronodosus- prompts their informal grouping, proposed herein, as the Converrucosisporites confluens Morphon, which is also recognizable elsewhere in the Gondwanan Permian. The possibility, if not the likelihood, that G. austroamericanus is conspecific with Microbaculispora tentula Tiwari, 1965 is canvassed. The palynologically productive borehole section of the Victoriano Rodríguez Formation studied here is assignable to the middle to upper Cristatisporites Zone and to the succeeding Striatites Zone, thus signifying an Early Permian age for this section and facilitating correlation with strata of the Paraná and Paganzo Basins. From this and prior work, the Ordóñez well sequence embracing the Ordóñez and Victoriano Rodríguez Formations includes, in addition to the latter two zones, the preceding (late Pennsylvanian) Potonieisporites-Lundbladispora Zone which is known from the lower to mid-upper part of the Ordóñez Formation. Thus, the Carboniferous-Permian boundary can be inferred to lie within the upper part of the latter formation