Broke Inlet, originally named Broke's Inlet, is an inlet in the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

located west of Walpole. The inlet is a large shallow

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

at the eastern end of the

d'Entrecasteaux National Park D'Entrecasteaux National Park is a national park in Western Australia, south of Perth. The park is named after the French Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux who was the first European to sight the area and name Point D'Entrecasteaux in 1792. The pa ...

, linked to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

by a narrow seasonally open channel situated between two high sand dune systems. The inlet is the only large

left in the South West that has not been significantly altered by development within its

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

area or along its shores. The catchment of the inlet has an area of and the inlet itself has a surface area of with a total volume of . The inlet receives an annual inflow of , mostly from the Shannon River and discharges annually. The water in the inlet is

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...

and generally has half the salinity of sea water. The salinity varies greatly depending on river discharge, the season and whether the bar is open or not. Broke Inlet is listed as a regionally significant

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

with

Environment Australia Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism o ...

References

Inlets of Western Australia South coast of Western Australia D'Entrecasteaux National Park {{WesternAustralia-geo-stub