Gilbert River (Queensland)
Gilbert | |
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![]() The dry bed of the Gilbert River at the crossing on the Gulf Development Road between Croydon and Georgetown, Queensland. | |
Location of Gilbert River mouth in Queensland | |
Etymology | In honour of John Gilbert[1] |
Location | |
Country | Australia |
State | Queensland |
Region | Far North Queensland |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Gregory and Newcastle Ranges, Atherton Tableland |
• location | below Conical Hill |
• elevation | 634 m (2,080 ft) |
Mouth | Gulf of Carpentaria |
• location | north of Karumba |
• coordinates | 16°32′23″S 141°16′22″E / 16.53972°S 141.27278°E |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
Length | 887 km (551 mi) |
Basin size | 46,810 km2 (18,070 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• average | 280 m3/s (9,900 cu ft/s)(extremely seasonal) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Langdon River, Little River (Queensland), Einasleigh River |
• right | Styx River, Percy River, Robertson River |
National park | Blackbraes National Park |
[2] |
The Gilbert River is located in Far North Queensland, Australia. When combined with the Einasleigh River, the river system is the largest river system in northern Australia.[citation needed]
Features and location
The Gilbert River rises below Conical Hill in the
The Gilbert River is a seasonal stream and discharge can vary greatly depending on the intensity of the monsoon. When combined with the Einasleigh River, the Gilbert River has the sixth-highest discharge of any river in Australia,[citation needed] slightly less than that of the Potomac in North America. In an intense wet season, however, the discharge can be as large as that of the Fraser River in Canada, and in a mild wet season like that of 1951-52, the discharge can be as little as one tenth of the long term mean.[citation needed] It is estimated that runoff from the combined Gilbert-Einasleigh River system totals about 2.2 percent of the total runoff from Australia.[5] The record major flood of the Gilbert River was in January 1974 and the floods of February 1991 and in January and February 2009, caused widespread road closures and inundation of properties throughout the catchment.[4]
Environment
The climate of the basin is tropical, with annual rainfall generally around 800 millimetres (31 in). Almost all the annual rainfall occurs between December and March: the months from May to September are rainless in over 60 percent of years (over 80 percent for August). Rainfall is highly variable due to monsoon variability and occasional severe cyclones: in a wet season like 1973–74 or 1999–2000 it can exceed 1,800 millimetres (71 in), but in the almost nonexistent wet season of 1951-952 it was as low as 300 millimetres (12 in) over much of the basin.[citation needed]
The river is too erratic for
The
Etymology
The river was named in July 1845 by Ludwig Leichhardt in honour of the naturalist John Gilbert who was killed two weeks earlier in an engagement with an Aboriginal group near the Gulf of Carpentaria coast.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Gilbert River (entry 13736)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
- ^ a b c "Map of Gilbert River, QLD". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
- ^ "Gilbert River drainage sub-basin — facts and maps". WetlandInfo. Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
- ^ Bureau of Meteorology. Australian Government. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
- ^ Brown, John Alexander Henstridge (1983). Australia's Surface Water Resources. Canberra: Australian Government Publication Service.
- ^ "Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gulf Plains". BirdLife International. 2011. Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
- ^ "Kutjal". AusAnthrop Australian Aboriginal tribal database. Ausanthrop. Retrieved 8 June 2015.