The Becher Wetlands - A Ramsar Site: Evolution of Wetland Habitats and Vegetation Associations on a Holocene Coastal Plain, South-Western Australia

ISBN-13: 9789401776578 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 681 str.

Christine Semeniuk

Spis treści

1. Introduction. 1.1 General introduction . 1.1.1 This study. 1.2 Location of study area. 1.3 Objectives. 1.4 Nature and scope of study. 1.5 History of work in similar areas.- 2. Terminology and methods. 2.1 General introduction. 2.2 Local scale wetland classification systems. 2.2.1 Local scale wetland classification. 2.2.2 Local scale wetland vegetation classification system. 2.2.3 Wetland sediment terminology. 2.3 Terminology. 2.4 Methods. 2.4.1 Introduction. 2.4.2 Wetland mapping, selection of wetlands for study, and description. 2.4.3 Wetland stratigraphy. Regional and sub-regional scale. Local scale (wetland and adjacent beachridges). Basin scale. Bedding scale. 2.4.4 Wetland hydrology. Regional and sub-regional scale. Local scale (wetland and adjacent beachridges). Basin scale. Bedding scale. 2.4.5 Wetland hydrochemistry. Regional to sub-regional scale. Local scale (wetland and adjacent beachridges). Basin scale. Bedding scale. 2.4.6 Wetland vegetation (including pollen). Regional and sub-regional scale. Local scale (wetland and adjacent beachridges). Basin scale. 2.4.7 Experiments. Experiment 1. Experiment 2. Experiment 3. Experiment 4.- 3. Regional setting. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 The Swan Coastal Plain. 3.2.1 Climate. 3.2.2 Geology. 3.2.3 Geomorphology. 3.2.4 Hydrology. 3.2.5 Coastal sectors and nearshore morphology. 3.3 The Rockingham-Becher Plain. 3.3.1 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - coastal sector. 3.3.2 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - offshore oceanography. 3.3.3 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - geometry. 3.3.4 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - geomorphology. 3.3.5 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - stratigraphy. 3.3.6 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - surface and groundwater hydrology. 3.3.7 The Rockingham-Becher Plain - wetlands. 3.3.8. The Rockingham-Becher Plain - evolutionary environmental history relating to beachridge and swale development. 3.4 The Becher Cusp. 3.4.1 The Becher Cusp - geometry and terminology. 3.4.2 The Becher Cusp - geomorphology. 3.4.3 The Becher Cusp - stratigraphy and soils. Soils. 3.4.4 The Becher Cusp - hydrology. Wetlands. 3.4.5 The Becher Cusp - vegetation.- 4. Database. 4.1 General introduction. 4.2 Radiocarbon dates. 4.3 General notes on biota.- 5. Development of wetland proto-type: geomorphology, basal sheet, hydrology. 5.1 General introduction. 5.2 Beachridges and swales. 5.2.1 Definition of shore parallel ridges. 5.2.2 Beachridges and swales of the Becher cuspate foreland: morphology. 5.2.3 Processes for constructing beachridges. Sediment source and supply. Nearshore profile. Mound nuclei. Repetitive formational agent. 5.2.4 Evolutionary environmental history relating to beachridge and swale development. Rate of beachridge development. 5.2.5 The higher set of beachridges. Cyclic storm activity and increased wave energy. Changes to sediment supply. A change in refraction intensity. Sea level changes. 5.2.6 The modern beachridges. 5.2.7 The development of beachridge swales. 5.2.8 Development of proto-wetland basins. 5.3 Wetlands. 5.3.1 Introduction. 5.3.2 Basal sediments. Descriptions of histograms. Description of grain size distributions using modern analogues. Comparison between basal sediments and modern beach/dune sands. Granulometry of quartz sand as an indicator of beach and dune sediments. Description of beach and dune in situ cores. Interpretation of the results of the three approaches. 5.3.3 A model for wetland initiation. 5.3.4 Dates for wetland commencement. Radiocarbon dating of base of wetlands. Evolutionary model for wetland development. 5.3.5 Conclusions.- 6. Wetland sedimentology and stratigraphy. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Stratigraphic framework to wetland basins. 6.3 Characterisation of wetland basin fills. 6.3.1 Occurrence of sedimentary bodies. 6.3.2 Geometry and thickness of sediment. 6.3.3 Types of sediments. 6.3.4 Typical vertical stratigraphic sequences. 6.3.5 Lateral

Blurb

This book is a landmark study of the Holocene evolution and functioning of a suite of seasonal wetland basins in the temperate coastal zone of Western Australia. In 2001, a series of discrete small scale wetlands on the Becher cuspate foreland in Western Australia, were nominated as a Ramsar site because of their scientific values. These values pertained to their setting, their method of formation and deepening, their history of infilling, their complex hydrological mechanisms, and their dynamic hydrochemical and vegetation responses. The wetlands were the subjects of intense curiosity, observation, measurement, and experiment, for over 10 years. The results of this interest and passion are presented here in order to demonstrate the considerable importance of what lay beneath the ordinary surface.

Amongst the new ideas presented in the book are the importance of stratigraphy in understanding wetland development, the significance of physiographic setting in determining wetland development, and the unravelling of several different evolutionary pathways in wetlands of the same basic origin.

The book would be of interest to a great variety of readers such as university researchers/students in the fields of geography, ecology, environmental science/engineering, botany and biology, and also would be of benefit to water/soil resource managers, land management planners, conservation agencies and environmental management/protection agencies.