Elizabeth Springs is a heritage-listed
artesian spring
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
s in
Diamantina Lakes,
Shire of Diamantina
The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie.
Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" nam ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, Australia. It is one of the springs of the
Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over , with measured water temperatures ranging from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of ...
(GAB). It was added to the
Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
on 4 August 2009.
History
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
have used the artesian springs of the GAB for an extended period of time. Some of these GAB artesian springs feature in
Aboriginal myths and hold significant spiritual and cultural values for indigenous communities. Artesian springs were, and still are, a valuable resource for the support of wildlife, and were a vital source of fresh water in an arid environment.
[Information sourced from QDNRW 2007]
The need for fresh water was also obvious to the first European settlers who ventured west of the Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
. These early settlers, encouraged by good seasons, brought their sheep and cattle out onto the great rolling plains. They soon learned that inland Australia was a harsh environment where droughts were common.
The inland of Australia is traversed by streams but these rarely flow and have few permanent waterholes. Unpredictable rainfall and high evaporation meant that early dams and earth tanks built to service the growing population and pastoral industry were unreliable. Permanent water supplies were needed to allow livestock to survive on the arid plains and to provide supplies for the growing service towns.
Europeans first discovered the artesian groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
of the GAB in 1878 when a shallow bore sunk near Bourke in New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
produced flowing water. Many bores were soon drilled near the margins of the GAB in New South Wales and South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. In 1885 the Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...
Geologist decided to drill a deep bore at Blackall
Blackall is a rural town and locality in the Blackall-Tambo Region, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,416 people.
The town is the service centre for the Blackall-Tambo Region. The dominant industry ...
to try to prove the existence of deep artesian supplies in Queensland and provide reliable water supplies during the drought. However, before the completion of this bore, the first artesian flow in Queensland was obtained near Cunnamulla
Cunnamulla () is a town and a locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the , Cunnamulla had a population of 1,140 people.
Geography
Cunnamulla ...
in 1887.
The number of bores drilled in Queensland increased from 34 to 524 in the ten-year period from 1889 to 1899. By 1915 over 1,500 flowing artesian bore
An artesian aquifer is a Aquifer#Confined versus unconfined, confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of Permeability (earth sciences), impermeable rock or cl ...
s had been drilled throughout the Basin. The assurance of a reliable water supply for settlers and their stock meant the development of a valuable sheep and cattle industry. Thousands of kilometres of bore drains were excavated to distribute water around properties, thus allowing sheep and cattle to be raised on the vast Mitchell grass
''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia. They are the dominant grass across much of the continent. They are commonly known as Mitchell grass afte ...
, mulga and spinifex plains. Bore drains are small, open channels that can extend 100 kilometres or more.
The water from the GAB continues to be of vital importance to outback regions of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. This water is often the only available supply for towns and properties for their domestic and stockwatering requirements. The GAB also supplies water for minor irrigation works, key mining and extractive industries
Extractivism is the process of extracting natural resources from the Earth to sell on the world market. It exists in an economy that depends primarily on the extraction or removal of natural resources that are considered valuable for exportation w ...
, the petroleum industry, an emerging tourism industry and limited industrial purposes. Sound management of this important natural resource by the present users will ensure that future generations may also benefit from this reliable water source.
Description
Elizabeth Springs is at about 101ha, comprising Lot 1 on SP120220.[
The Great Artesian Basin is one of the largest artesian systems in the world and occupies about 22% of the ]Australian continent
The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul (), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, Meganesia, or Papualand to distinguish it from the Australia, country of Australia, is located within the Southern ...
. Artesian springs lie around the rim of the GAB, occurring in complexes of springs known as a "supergroup", and are the natural outlets of the artesian aquifer
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
s from which groundwater of the GAB flows to the surface.[
The artesian springs, also known as mound springs, are loosely divided into recharge springs and discharge springs. Recharge springs are primarily found along the GAB's eastern rim on the Great Dividing Range where the GAB aquifers outcrop in an area of relatively high rainfall allowing recharge. The recharge springs release excess GAB recharge water or, in topographic lows intercept the GAB recharge aquifers. The western margin of the GAB also has an area where the GAB aquifers outcrop but recharge is minimal as rainfall is low and intermittent. Discharge springs are those that release groundwater that has entered the GAB from the recharge zones, which flows towards the GAB's southern, southwestern, western and northern margins. Groundwater dating research has found that water in furthest areas from the recharge areas has been moving through the GAB's porous rock strata (aquifers) for up to a million years. Elizabeth Springs are regarded as a discharge spring complex and consists of at least five active artesian mound springs together with a few semi-active mounds immediately adjacent.][
There are eleven supergroups in the main part of the GAB extending from Bourke in New South Wales and ]Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains the ...
in South Australia, and two outlier spring supergroups on Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...
, including one on the Peninsula's northern tip. The GAB springs and spring complexes number around six hundred, but one "spring" may represent between two and four hundred spring outlets and supergroups may be regional clusters of such springs, often covering relatively small areas. GAB springs range in size from small springs only a few metres across such as Bundoona Springs, in southern Queensland, to major complexes of up to sixty springs with quite large pools such as Dalhousie Springs
Dalhousie Springs, also known as Witjira-Dalhousie Springs, is a group of over 60 natural artesian springs located in Witjira National Park on the western fringe of the Simpson Desert, 180 kilometres northeast of Oodnadatta in northern South Aus ...
, in northern South Australia. Some GAB artesian springs have associated discharge mounds that consist of mud, but most of the springs deposit calcium carbonate, especially the discharge springs, or other salts from the mineral-rich waters discharging from the springs. These evaporites typically form characteristic salt deposits around the spring outflow that can extend for several hundred metres as a distinctive white tail, sometimes yellow or even black, often with a central carbonate mound grading into sulphate
The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...
and chloride
The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...
salts. In many instances, particularly among South Australian GAB springs, these deposits combine with wind-blown sand, mud and accumulated plant debris to form mounds around the spring outflow, with the resulting formation resembling a small volcano, colloquially called a "mound spring". Many of the Queensland GAB springs are "softer" and fail to develop anything more substantial than a mound of a few centimetres to a few metres in height,[Fensham et al 2004] hence the use of the more readily interpreted term of "artesian spring" rather than "mound spring".[
Mound formation of GAB springs is controlled by a range of factors, including groundwater discharge and ]evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidi ...
rates, hydrochemistry
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tre ...
, influence of organic versus organic carbonate precipitation and local subsidence of the mound. Dating of GAB springs using thermoluminescence
Thermoluminescence is a form of luminescence that is exhibited by certain crystalline materials, such as some minerals, when previously absorbed energy from electromagnetic radiation or other ionizing radiation is re-emitted as light upon he ...
, uranium-thorium and carbon-14
Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
dating of quartzose
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
sands and carbonate springs deposits have produced dates of more than 740,000± years. Research has found large spring complex deposits reflect geological and hydrological changes in eastern and central Australia during the last Quaternary (last 2.6 million years) and provide an understanding of long-term changes prior to human intervention.[Habermahl 2006][
Groundwater dating, using carbon-14 and ]chlorine-36
Chlorine-36 (36Cl) is an isotope of chlorine. Chlorine has two stable isotopes and one naturally occurring radioactive isotope, the cosmogenic isotope 36Cl. Its half-life is 301,300 ± 1,500 years. 36Cl decays primarily (98%) by beta-minus decay ...
studies, has found water aged several thousand years near recharge areas and more than a million years near the centre of the GAB. The groundwater moves slowly, at less than one metre per year to approximately five metres per year, generally in a south, southwest, west direction and also northwards in the northern portion of the GAB.[
Elizabeth Springs form part of the Springvale River supergroup, one of the two most westerly supergroups in Queensland, and lie approximately 300 kilometres south-southeast of ]Mount Isa
Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
. The Springvale supergroup is a group of springs that, with the exception of Elizabeth Springs, are largely extinct or heavily modified. The main group of springs comprising Elizabeth Springs extends over an area of approximately 400 by 500 metres and consists of a series of low mounds and travertine-encrusted outflows. The mounds and surrounding outflows and seepages are well vegetated with sedges and a range of other species including large areas of the spring endemic Eriocaulon carsonii subsp. carsonii
''Eriocaulon'' is a genus of about 400 species commonly known as pipeworts, of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Eriocaulaceae. The genus is widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical regio ...
, the salt pipewort, which is a perennial and a nationally EPBC
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...
-listed threatened species.[
GAB artesian springs are a significant refuge in arid and semi-arid Australia, providing one of the few sources of natural permanent water. Estimates of the age of artesian springs have concluded that individual springs may last for up to a few hundred thousand years, but spring groups collectively may last possibly up to several million years. The presence of such permanent freshwater in inland Australia over the past few million years has provided habitat for a wide array of fish, invertebrates and plants that have been "stranded" in GAB artesian springs as inland Australia has dried out.][
Ecologically GAB artesian springs are considered an evolutionary refuge as they allow wetland dependent (specialised habitat) species to persist as their original geographic range becomes uninhabitable due to drying over an extended period of time because of climatic change.][
With the contraction of their main range, relictual species are hypothesised to have evolved different characteristics from their original stock, leading to the high levels of endemism (the frequency of species with restricted distributions) in isolated GAB artesian spring groups.][Brown and Gibson 1983] Hence artesian springs provide the localised habitat requirements for a suite of endemic (restricted to one or more GAB spring) fish and aquatic invertebrate species which include hydrobiid
Hydrobiidae, Common name, commonly known as mud snails, is a large Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of very small Freshwater snail, freshwater and brackish water snails with an Operculum (gastropod), operculum; th ...
molluscs, isopods
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
, ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...
s, amphipods
Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descri ...
, copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s and flatworm
The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegment ...
s.[Morton et al, 1995, p.11, p.119 & p.134][
GAB artesian springs hold plants and animals that have evolved into new species found nowhere else. The presence of endemic species, and large peat mounds, indicates that some GAB springs have been active for a very long time. Hydrobiid snails are the best studied of these endemic groups. Hydrobiid snails are the most diverse of all freshwater ]gastropods
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. Ther ...
and frequently have small distribution ranges, resulting in high levels of endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
.[Perez et al 2005] This makes them excellent candidates for evolutionary studies on endemism and speciation and for use as potential indicators (surrogates) of the importance of environments such as GAB artesian springs for other, less well-studied freshwater taxa
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
.[Ponder pers. comm. 2004] Hydrobiid snails are particularly well represented in GAB artesian springs with well over 23 taxa and five genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
,[ although each mound complex or aggregation is separated by hundreds of kilometres. It has been hypothesised that this is a result of ancestral ]Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
n hydrobiids being stranded by the increasing aridity of inland Australia and being isolated in the permanent waters of GAB artesian springs.[De Deckker 1986] Recent work has demonstrated that the GAB hydrobiid snails have evolved in three separate radiations, one in Queensland and two in South Australia, with the Queensland hydrobiids and those of South Australia being completely unrelated.[
The Elizabeth Springs, on its own and collectively with the other significant discharge springs comprising the GAB springs, are notable examples of the endemism exhibited by GAB artesian springs. Elizabeth Springs has one endemic snail and one endemic fish.][Ponder 2004] It also has four endemic GAB artesian spring plant species as well as five relict spring plant species, plants that have survived from when inland Australia was wetter.[ A number of other possible endemic invertebrates also exist at the springs.] In addition at least one species of frog, four species of reptile, 50 species of birds, four species of mammals, and 13 species of plants are known from the vicinity of the springs from a species list generated by the Australian Natural Heritage Assessment Tool,[ANHAT 2005 & 2008] and as detailed in a Queensland Herbarium
The Queensland Herbarium ( Index Herbariorum code: BRI) is situated at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is part of Queensland's Department of Environment and Science. It is responsible for disc ...
report based on comprehensive ground surveys.[
]
Condition
Surveys over the last twenty years have shown that most of the remaining active GAB artesian springs in Queensland are suffering damage from draw-down or stock. Trampling by stock or modification of the spring to improve access for stock is a serious threat to GAB springs. Trampling (also known as pugging) modifies the physical structure of the microhabitat, which are small scale habitat zones with different environment conditions, and if serious enough, removes the microhabitat entirely. Modification of the spring, normally by digging the spring out to improve the pooling of water, removes the microhabitat altogether.[
In 2004 there was evidence of cattle grazing within the Elizabeth Springs reserve, with some trampling of the seepages and outflows surrounding the mounds. However, since fencing after 2004 the overall condition of the Elizabeth Springs has vastly improved reducing the previous impacts on the intact relictual biota.][
The endemic species associated with GAB artesian springs, particularly the ]vascular plant
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...
s and invertebrates, appear to be highly sensitive to changes in water flow or conditions at the springs. This is at least in part due to the dependence of many species on microhabitats such as seepages of only a few millimetres depth. A range of human activities that have been occurring over the last 120 years impacts GAB artesian springs. The most serious is groundwater extraction resulting in draw-down of water pressure at the spring, primarily but not exclusively due to numerous uncapped artesian bores and inefficient earth drains, and the loss or modification of microhabitat and ultimately the extinction of the spring. Groundwater extraction has been implicated in the extinction of many springs and has been partly addressed by the extensive GAB bore-capping programme. Extraction for other uses such as mining and town water supply remains a substantial impact. Reductions in flow at Elizabeth Springs have been observed, although in some other springs flow appears to have stabilised. Draw-down remains the most serious threat to GAB artesian springs.[
Lastly, the spread of the introduced mosquitofish (]Gambusia affinis
The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its genus, generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, th ...
) is a threat to the freshwater endemics of all the GAB artesian springs. Gambusia has not been reported from Elizabeth Springs.[
The GAB Sustainability Initiative (GABSI) is a jointly funded initiative of the Federal and State governments and pastoral bore owners. GABSI aims to preserve the pressure of the Great Artesian Basin, and reduce water waste, through rehabilitating uncontrolled bores and replacing bore drains with polyethylene pipes, tanks and troughs for livestock water. Although a substantial number of bores are now being fully controlled with water distributed by pipelines to tanks and troughs, about 80% of the total outflow from the Basin is still wasted because of inefficient water delivery systems.][
This condition report drew on a number of source.][
]
Heritage listing
Elizabeth Springs is one of a suite of nationally important artesian springs in the Great Artesian Basin, which is the world's largest artesian basin. The artesian springs have been the primary natural source of permanent water in most of the Australian arid zone over the last 1.8 Million years (the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
and Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
periods). These artesian springs, also known as mound springs, provide vital habitat for more widespread terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates with aquatic larval young, and are a unique feature of the arid Australian landscape.[
As these artesian springs are some distance from each other in the Australian inland, and individually each one covers a relatively tiny area, their isolation has allowed the freshwater animal lineages to evolve into distinct species, which include fish, aquatic invertebrates (crustacean and freshwater snail species) and wetland plants. This results in a high level of endemism, or species that are found nowhere else in the world.][
Elizabeth Springs is nationally significant as it holds a suite of species which are genetically and evolutionarily distinct from other Great Artesian Basin springs, including an endemic freshwater snail and an endemic fish species. Elizabeth Springs also holds four of the eleven known Great Artesian Basin spring wetland endemic plants, along with five plant species not recorded within 500 kilometres of the springs, which are indicative of a wetter past.][
Elizabeth Springs is the only remaining relatively intact Great Artesian Basin spring with extant biota (fauna and flora) in far western Queensland and is regarded as one of the most important artesian springs because of its isolation, intactness and the extinction of other springs. Over 74% of the artesian springs in Queensland are extinct (no longer flowing) and all the artesian springs in New South Wales are extinct or badly damaged.][
Elizabeth Springs was listed on the ]Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
on 4 August 2009 having satisfied the following criteria.[
Criterion A: Events, Processes
Elizabeth Springs is one of a suite of important artesian discharge springs in the Great Artesian Basin for endemic fish, invertebrates (including hydrobiid gastropod molluscs) and plants,] and has also been ranked by CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
as a nationally "significant" semi-arid and arid refugia in Australia for regional endemics of aquatic invertebrates (isopods, ostracods, and hydrobiid molluscs) and fish.[
GAB artesian springs are important for illustrating the role of evolutionary refugia for relict species,][Morton et al, 1995, p.11] which have evolved into distinct and endemic species in the GAB springs. Elizabeth Springs contains one artesian spring endemic hydrobiid snail, Jardinella isolata;[ANHAT 2005 & 2008] an endemic fish species the Elizabeth Springs goby
''Chlamydogobius micropterus'', the Elizabeth Springs goby, is a species of goby endemic to Elizabeth Springs in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state ...
Chlamydogobius micropterus (, and four of the 11 known GAB spring wetland endemic plants.[ Elizabeth Springs contains the threatened saltmarsh pipewort (Eriocaulon carsonii subsp. carsonii), a relict species of tropical Australia that is largely endemic to the artesian springs of the GAB.][R.J.-P. Davies et al 2007] They also contain three of the other GAB spring endemics: Eragrostis fenshamii, Fimbristylis sp.[RJ Fensham 3743] and Myriophyllum artesium.[Rod Fensham, pers. comm., 28/10/2008] Elizabeth Springs also contains five other relict plant species, which are not recorded within 500 km of the springs: Isotoma fluviatilis, Pennisetum alopecuroides, Plantago gaudichaudii, Schoenus falcatus and Utricularia caerulea.[
Criterion B: Rarity
Extant artesian springs in the GAB are a geographically rare phenomenon, each one covering a tiny area within the basin. Over 74% of the GAB springs in Queensland are extinct (no longer flowing) and all the GAB artesian springs in New South Wales are extinct or badly damaged.][Ponder 1989, p.416] Elizabeth Springs is regarded as one of the most important GAB artesian springs because of its isolation, relative intactness and the extinction of other springs in far Western Queensland
Western Queensland encompasses the three western regions in the Australian state of Queensland:
* North West Queensland, often known as Gulf Country;
* Central West Queensland; and
* South West Queensland.
History
Karuwali (also known as ...
.[
Criterion D: Principal characteristics of a class of places
The GAB is the world's largest example of an artesian basin and associated artesian springs.][Harris 1992 p 157] GAB artesian springs are the primary sources of permanent fresh water within the arid zone since at least the late Pleistocene (the last 1.8 million years) and are therefore a unique feature of the arid Australian landscape.[Ponder 1986, p.416] As the primary natural source of permanent fresh water in most of the arid zone, GAB artesian springs represent vital habitat for more widespread terrestrial vertebrates, and invertebrates with aquatic larvae.[Ponder 1986, p.415] Elizabeth Springs is one of a suite of important artesian discharge GAB Springs that are outstanding examples of the endemism exhibited by artesian springs individually and collectively.[Ponder 2003] Species found at Elizabeth Springs include an endemic freshwater hydrobiid snail Jardinella isolata, and an endemic fish species, the Elizabeth Springs goby Chlamydogobius micropterus. Elizabeth Springs is the only remaining relatively intact GAB spring with extant biota (fauna and flora) in far Western Queensland and holds a suite of species which are genetically and evolutionarily distinct from other GAB springs.[Wilson 1995, p.2 & p.7][Zeidler pers. comm.][
]
References
Bibliography
* Australia Nature Conservation Agency (ANCA). (Undated). Elizabeth Mound Springs. Information Leaflet.
* ANHAT 2005, Analysis of freshwater snails and freshwater fish - DEH internal report. Australian Natural Heritage Assessment Tool (ANHAT), Department of the Environment and Heritage (DEH), Canberra.
* ANHAT 2007, Comparative national analysis of biota richness and endemism rates - DEWHA internal report. Australian Natural Heritage Assessment Tool (ANHAT), Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA), Canberra.
* Allen, G.R. Midgley, S.H. and Allen, M. 2002, Field guide to the freshwater fishes of Australia. Western Australian Museum. CSIRO Publishing Collingwood, Victoria.
* Blake, T. and Cook, M. 2006. Great Artesian Basin historical overview. May 2006 report for Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines.
* Bowler, J.M. 1982. Aridity in the late Tertiary and Quaternary of Australia. In 'Evolution of the Flora and Fauna of Arid'. Barker, W.R. and Greenslade, P.J.M. (eds). pp 35–46.
* Briggs, J.D. and Leigh, J.H. 1995. Rare or Threatened Australian Plants. Australian Nature Conservation Agency & CSIRO Division of Plant Industry. Collingwood, Vic.
* Davies, R.J.-P., Craigie, A.I., Mackay, D.A., Whalen, M.A., Cheong, J. P.E. and Leach, G.J. 2007. Resolution of the taxonomy of Eriocaulon (Eriocaulaceae) taxa endemic to Australian mound springs, using morphometrics and AFLP markers. Australian Systematic Botany, 20, pp. 428–447.
* De Deckker, Patrick. 2005, Personal Communication. Australian National University. Invertebrate (Crustacean - ostracod) specialist.
* DEW 2007a. Department of the Environment and Water Resources - Threatened species and ecological communities (listed under the EPBC Act) website (accessed 14/08/07):
* http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/gabsprings.html
* http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=26&status=Endangered
* DEW 2007b. Department of the Environment and Water Resources - Rangelands land management (accessed 09/08/07):
* http://www.environment.gov.au/land/management/rangelands/promoting.html
* DEW 2007c. Department of the Environment and Water Resources - Australian Wetlands Database (accessed 06/09/07):
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* Fairfax, R.J. and Fensham, R.J. 2002, In the footsteps of J. Alfred Griffiths: a cataclysmic history of Great Artesian Basin springs in Queensland. Australian Geographical Studies 40(2) p 210-230.
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Attribution
External links
{{commons category-inline, Elizabeth Springs
Australian National Heritage List
Diamantina Lakes, Queensland
Aquifers in Australia
Articles incorporating text from the Australian Heritage Database