research program 1
regolith geoscience
Physiographic regions of Australia
Project Leader : Colin Pain, Geoscience Australia
Start date and duration: 01/07/05 – 30/12/07
Participants : Geoscience Australia, Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program (ACLEP)
Brief project description :
In 2005/2006 the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program (ACLEP) provided funding to LEME for the preparation of a national map of physiographic regions. A first draft of this map will be completed by the end of June 2006. We have now approached ACLEP for further funding to enhance regolith information, and have been successful in getting $15,000. The new objective is to assess the complexity of each physiographic region in the present coverage, and where necessary compile new more detailed line work so that each polygon has a similar level of complexity. Where appropriate we will use data from other LEME projects.
There will also be a report. The map of physiographic regions of North America (1940) was accompanied by a 520-page book. The original map of physiographic regions of Australia (1977) appeared in a 15-page chapter in a book on the geography of Australia. We envisage something in between.
The project contributes to LEME's strategic intent by providing a basis for the regional description and explanation of the Australian regolith. It also provides a firm basis on which to extrapolate results obtained from studies of detailed areas to surrounding areas at lower resolution. In particular the project will work with P4 projects in the Murray-Darling Basin .
Deliverables (outputs) and expected impacts of research (outcomes):
Outputs
- Revised map of physiographic regions (produced in 05/06) with new more detailed line work so that each polygon has a similar level of complexity.
- Attribute descriptions (landform, relief, and substrate materials) for the new polygons in revised map.
- Report describing the Physiograpahic Regions map - this will be a new report on the landforms of Australia.
Outcomes
- A more comprehensive set of attributes for ASRIS, and therefore better decision making capacity for those who use ASRIS for NRM decisions.
- A netter understanding of the landscape context for much of LEME's work.
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