Salt River is a river in the
Wheatbelt 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 ...
. It is a tributary of the
Avon River, taking water from two of the Avon's sub-catchments, the
Yilgarn River and the
Lockhart River, from their junction where it passes through a hydrological-topographical pinch-point at Caroline Gap.
From here it flows south-west past
Quairading
Quairading is a Western Australian town located in the Wheatbelt region. It is the seat of government for the Shire of Quairading.
History
The town was named for Quairading Spring, derived from a local Aboriginal word recorded in 1872 by s ...
, about before discharging into the
Yenyening Lakes northeast of
Brookton. These in turn discharge into the
Avon River, which discharges into the
Swan River and its estuary, which discharges into the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
.
Salt River, and all its tributaries, is a
saline river system comprising a chain of
salt lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...
s. Its southern, Lockhart tributaries arise in the vicinity of
Lake Grace
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
,
Newdegate and
Lake King
Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...
, whilst its Yilgarn tributaries arise north and east of
Southern Cross
Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...
, and near
Merredin and
Kellerberrin.
Loosely, the term "Salt River" applies to all of these tributaries. The system has a very low gradient, estimated at around 30 centimetres fall per kilometre. In many places it is essentially flat, and in these places it forms relatively large salt-lakes that hold large amounts of water before eventually filling and overflowing. Thus the Salt River does not flow all at once, other than during periods of prolonged or
extreme rainfall. Rather, each component rotates through a cycle of filling and overflowing, influenced by cycles further upstream.
Waterway assessments
The river was extensively surveyed in 2008.
References
Rivers of the Wheatbelt region
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