Lake Bullen Merri and its smaller northern neighbour Lake Gnotuk are a pair of
crater lakes near
Camperdown in
south western Victoria,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Lake Bullen Merri has brackish water quality whereas Lake Gnotuk is hyper saline (twice as salty than seawater).
Lake Bullen Merri
Lake Bullen Merri has a maximum depth of , with a clover leaf outline indicating that it was probably formed by two overlapping
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
volcanoes. The lake is depicted in work by
Eugene von Guerard. The edge of the lake was marked by a stone in the late 1800s by
James Dawson; from this and von Guerard's painting, it can be deduced that the level of the lake has dropped considerably in the last 100 years.
On the south side of the lake there is a yacht club and toilets. There is a boat ramp available for the boaties.
Lake Gnotuk
The smaller lake to the north of Lake Bullen Merri has a maximum depth of . The two lakes are linked by an overflow channel in the common wall at an elevation of 175 m. There is a 19th-century record of water from Bullen Merri overflowing into Gnotuk.
The crater is 2 km across and although the lakes have the same level of their lake-beds, the level of water is lower in Gnotuk. Lake shore terraces indicate previous higher levels and lake floor sediments and fossils show a record of past fluctuations in salinity, water level and climate.
There is no direct public access to the lake.
On the low-lying land between the two lakes is Camperdown's major sporting complex. There is an 18-hole golf course, two cricket ovals (one with a turf pitch), an extensive equestrian course, tennis courts and a bowling green.
See also
*
List of lakes of Victoria
*
List of volcanoes in Victoria
References
External links
Lake Bullenmerrie, southwest of Camperdown. Three craters 3.2 km by 2.8 km are surrounded by a prominent tuff-ring. (Oblique aerial photo) Museum Victoria
Volcanoes of Victoria (state)
Maars of Australia
Volcanic crater lakes
Lakes of Victoria (state)
Rivers of Barwon South West (region)
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