Geography Yearly Notes

Land and Water Management

Land management has focused on meeting the needs of people

through industries, such as agriculture, urban development,
transport, industry and recreation
Based off traditional European approach to land management
Nowadays, there is a growing appreciation of the important
contribution ecosystems play in providing clean water, clean air and
healthy soils, as well as maintain biodiversity.
Many current management practices still place enormous pressure
on the land.

Aboriginal Approaches

Evidence is mounting to show that early Aboriginal people hunted

many species to extinction, including many mega fauna. Also when
they used fire as a management tool, the fire-tolerant species
replaced those that werent
After these changes, the Aboriginal people settled into a pattern of
life that was in harmony with the changed environment.
They moved from place to place to take advantage of changing
environmental populations and regulated their population sizes so
that they exceed the lands capacity to support them. This was a
sustainable lifestyle.

Early European Approaches

The land management practices of early settlers, did not take into account
the fragility of Australian soils and the unreliable rainfall.
They used agricultural approaches that were suited to the fertile soils of
Europe. They planted European crops, introduced sheep/cattle/horses and
cleared vast amounts of land due to their lack of knowledge of Australian
land.
They believed they need to master and exploit the environment to
produce for the people. This thinking led to a lot of irreversible damage to
the environment.

Contemporary Approaches

Farmers adopting sustainable farm-management practices that minimise

land degradation:
Limiting stocking rates to ensure that adequate ground cover is
maintained
Reducing the amount of tillage (the agricultural preparation of soil by
mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and

overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools

include shovelling, picking, mattock work, hoeing, and raking) required; for
example through the use of direct drilling techniques for planting crops
Managing the use of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides
Excluding stock from river banks, steeply sloping lands and other areas
prone to land degradation
Placing watering points where land degradation will be minimised
Rotating crops to minimise land degradation
Fencing off areas of natural vegetation
Mulching or retaining the stubble of crops to add organic content to the
soil and to minimise erosion.

Total Catchment Management

Best way to protect water quality in waterways is to manage the whole

catchment. Sources of pollution need to be identified and pollutants need
to be intercepted and treated before they end up in waterways
The amount of water taken from waterways meeds to managed for
irrigation, urban and industrial use.

Issues in Land Management

Land Degradation

Any change in land that reduces its existing or potential productivity.

Occurs wherever the natural balance in the landscape is changed by
human activity, through misuse and overuse.
Cost of land degradation increases consistently
Types and causes of land degradation:
Wind and water erosion: Once soil is stripped of vegetation, it is easily
blown or washed away. Includes gullying, rill erosion and sheet erosion.
Dryland salinity: When the land is cleared of its natural vegetation,
groundwater is gradually drawn towards the surface by evaporation. This
brings dissolved salts to the surface, killing trees and crops. In Australia,
about 2.2 million ha of productive land are affected by dryland salinity.
Irrigation Salinity & Waterlogging: This occurs when the water table is
raised by excessive irrigation. In addition to tree and crop loss, it can
result in in increased salinity in waterways.
Soil structure decline: Cultivation of land changes structure of the soil.
Makes it more susceptible to erosion and soil compaction, and also
reduces the nutrients in the soil.
Loss of native trees and shrubs: Mainly due to land clearing for agriculture.
Results in loss of land stability and usefulness.
Clearing of natural vegetation: Clearing on steep sloping land has resulted
in penetration of water in the soil. This makes the soil unstable when it is
wet, causing landslips.
Replacement of natural vegetation with pasture: Results in rising water
tables, salinisation and waterlogging.
Soil Acidification: Results from the use of superphospates in fertilisers and
the growth of nitrogen-fixing legumes like clover. Acidification can lead to
decline in productivity of land.

Overgrazing: Causes a loss of biodiversity. Also causes a reduction in

vegetation cover, which leads to further erosion and runoff.

Land Clearing

Within 200 years of European Occupation, area of Aus covered by

eucalyptus has halved and area of rainforests has been reduced by 75%
Originally land was cleared for land for industry. Nowadays, land is cleared
for paper products.
Old growth forests (ones that havent been affected by human activities)
are cleared to make woodchips for wood industries.
Removal of trees has led to rising water tables, dryland salinity,
waterlogging, soil erosion and a decline in water quality.

Soil erosion and salinity

Water erosion: Removal of soil by rainfall or running water

Water erosion is greatest in places with low vegetation cover.
Layer of leaf matter (humus) absorbs rainfall and reduces the runoff that
can carry away soil in small rivulets.
Downhill slopes make erosion more severe because of more energy.
If water moves evenly, stripping soil over a broad front it is called sheet
erosion.
If water flows into channels or rivulets, the soil is washed with it. This is
known as rill erosion. Eventually most eroded material ends up in the
sea/ocean.
Wind erosion: Soil particles are detached from soil and blown away by
wind.
Wind erosion is greatest in areas where rainfall is low and soils are sandy.
Strategies for reducing soil erosion:
minimising the length of time that soil is left bare, particularly in areas
where strong winds and drought occur
maintaining plant cover by reducing stocking rates
eliminating pests, such as rabbits, which can strip an area of its vegetation
building raised areas of soil, called contour banks, across slopes to reduce
the movement of water down slopes
ploughing across, not down, slopes or avoiding the cultivation of sloping
land
planting trees to form windbreaks
Natural salinity in arid climates in known as primary salinity.
Human-induced salinity is known as secondary salinity, and is caused by
land use activities that change water balance of a catchment. Occurs
when salt stored in the soil or groundwater is mobilised by extra water
provided by human activities. Can be provided by irrigating (irrigation
salinity) or by clearing vegetation (dryland salinity)
Extensive removal of deep rooted native vegetation and its replacement
with crops and pasture leads to rising water tables, bringing with it
dissolved salts (dryland salinity)
When trees are cleared, rain seeps into soil, raising water table. Water
table rises, bringing dissolved salts to the roots of trees, killing them.

Water table rises further and salt pan forms where water table reaches
surface.

Introduced Species

Exotic species compete with native plants and animals for food and space.
Many introduced species are domesticated. When domesticated animals
escape and become wild they are known as feral. Plants that are
unwanted are known as weeds.
Can be introduced via ship cargoes; purposefully to curb populations of
other invasive species; as domesticated animals.
Fencing, trapping, killing are used to control feral animals.
Poisoning, ploughing and burning are used for weeds.
Banning importation of species is best way to reduce exotic species.

Water Management

Irrigation accounts for 69% of world water use. Irrigation sprays are cheap,
but waste a lot of water. Drip irrigation reduces wastage and delivers
water to where it is needed. Also reduces salinity.
Reduced river flow: Water used for irrigation, household and industrial
uses reduce amount of water for aquatic ecosystems.
Changes to seasonal flows: Increases in consumption of water in summer
reduces amount of water for aquatic ecosystems.
Temperature change: Storage of water leads to drop in temperature and
industry pollute rivers with very warm water
Dam walls can prevent fish from moving upstream to breed
Pollution kills aquatic plants and enters the food chain, causing genetic
damage. Fertiliser runoff can cause excessive plant and fungal blooms.
Water quality in rural areas are affected by eroded soil, nutrients,
pesticides/weedicides and salt.
Rural water quality can be improved by:
protecting the vegetation of the streams river bank to create a buffer
zone
Ploughing across slopes rather than down them
Taking care when applying fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides
Controlling where stock drink from rivers.
Water quality in urban areas is affected by sediment, oil and rubber from
cars, pollutants, litter, nutrients from detergents, lawn fertilisers and dog
faeces. There is also higher runoff in urban areas with hard surfaces.
Water quality in urban areas can be improved by following these
suggestions: Wash cars on the lawn not in the street.
Never pour oil, paint or other toxic substances down stormwater drains.
Use lawn fertilisers carefully. Dont allow them to wash into stormwater
drains.
Minimise runoff from construction sites by using straw and plastic barriers
to trap silt.

Coastal Management

Waves are the most significant of all agents shaping the coastal zone.
When a wave breaks some of the water flows up the beach (known as a
swash). Its return is
called

backwash.
Salt-spray weathering breaks up
surface or rock
because the salt
particles expand and contract as they dry in the sun
Plant weathering breaks rock and plants send their rooots into rocks
Animal weathering break up rock when sea creatures attach to rocks and
produce chemicals that erode them.
Rocks such as sandstone and limestone are soft and break down more
quickly than more resistant rocks, such as shale and granite. Sometimes
the more resistant rocks form outcrops. The action of breaking waves also
erodes the bases of cliffs, forming caves that eventually may become
arches. As the weathering process continues, arches can collapse leaving
solitary rocky features in the sea called sea stacks.

O
n
a

beach there is a continual cycle of sand being deposited and taken away.
In periods of calm weather constructive waves will gradually deposit sand
on the beach. During storms, however, massive destructive waves pound
the coast, stripping away the sand and rock (see Figure 7.7g). The sand is
deposited in shallow water in offshore bars. These changes are often
dramatic but are usually short term. The sand usually returns to the beach
within a short period of time. If waves approach the beach at an angle,
sediment will also be transported across the beach at an angle by the
swash of the wave. The backwash will then carry the sediment straight
back down the slope of the beach to the water. This is known as longshore
drift.
If a beach is next to a river mouth or bay, longshore drift will slowly
deposit sediment across the river to form a long finger of sand known as a

spit. When sand spits link islands to the mainland they are known as
tombolos.
Sand dunes are formed when wind blows dry, loose, beach sand inland.
This sand is trapped by specialised plant and grass communities.
Dune systems protect low-lying coastal areas. During storms, they act as
buffers against high-energy waves. Sand is eroded from the beach and
transported offshore by storm waves. In calm conditions, the sand is
transported back and redeposited on the beaches and dunes.
Estuaries are the lower areas of a river and its mouth and often support
vegetation. These plants have adapted to cope with fluctuations in water
level and salinity. The most common coastal wetland species is the
mangrove, which is found close to the sea. Mangroves have salt-excluding
root systems and salt-excreting leaves, which enable them to survive in
salty waters. Inland from the mangroves are salt marshes (see figure 7.7l).
These areas are less frequently flooded and the vegetation is more dense
and low growing. Succulents and grasses are common in these areas. A
lagoon is a large body of water that sometimes forms behind depositional
barriers, such as spits. The water in a lagoon can be saline (salty),
brackish (saltier than fresh water but less salty than sea water) or fresh
water depending on its proximity to the sea. The Myall Lakes on the NSW
coast are a well-known example of a lagoon system.
Coastal wetlands act as a water filtering system, by removing nutrients
and sediments and also recycling chemical and organic matter. They are
extremely biodiverse and are home to a vast array of aquatic and
terrestrial organisms. They also protect land-based ecosystems close to
the sea from the full impact of destructive wave energy. They assist with
erosion control by binding and stabilising soils and reducing surface flows.
Coastal land has been cleared for human settlement, agriculture, industry,
mining, recreation and forestry. In most cases natural vegetation is
cleared, exposing the sand and soil to consequent erosion.
Acid sulphate soils are relatively harmless and found in most wetlands.
When moved, however, they release sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid
releases other toxins in the soil and decreases water quality, destroying
sensitive ecosystems.