King Sound
| King Sound | |
|---|---|
May River | |
| Catchment area | 21,315 kilometres (13,245 mi) |
| Max. length | 120 kilometres (75 mi) |
| Max. width | 50 kilometres (31 mi) |
| Max. depth | 50 metres (160 ft) |
King Sound is a large gulf in northern Western Australia. It expands from the mouth of the Fitzroy River, one of Australia's largest watercourses, and opens to the Indian Ocean. It is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) long, and averages about 50 kilometres (31 mi) in width. The port town of Derby lies near the mouth of the Fitzroy River on the eastern shore of King Sound. King Sound has the highest tides in Australia, and amongst the highest in the world, reaching a maximum tidal range of 11.8 metres (39 ft) at Derby.[1] The tidal range and water dynamic were researched in 1997–1998.[2]
Waters within the sound are generally turbid.
Geography
Open waters of the sound cover 2,325 km2.
King Sound is bordered by the island clusters of the Buccaneer Archipelago to the East and Cape Leveque to the West.[5]
The mean depth of King Sound of 18 metres.[4] The mouth of King Sound features a channel that is 50 metres deep and 20 kilometres wide.[4]
History
The
The first European to explore the sound was William Dampier who visited the region aboard Cygnet in 1688.
Noted surveyor Phillip Parker King surveyed the coastline in 1821 and named the area Cygnet Bay.[7] The area was later visited by John Stokes and John Wickham aboard HMS Beagle in 1838. The sound was later named after King.[8]
In the 1880s it was one of the sites in the Kimberleys of a short-lived gold rush.[9][10]
Doctor’s Creek, in the south of King Sound, has been the site of various proposals for tidal range energy plants since the 1960s.[11] In 2013, the Derby Tidal Power Project from Tidal Energy Australia was given environmental approval.[12] The 40MW tidal power station is expected to cost $375 million to construct.[12]
See also
References
- ^ Derby tides at derbytourism.com.au Archived 18 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 January 2007
- ^ Water and fine sediment dynamics in King Sound, Western Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network, 1998, retrieved 19 December 2013
- ^ . Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ . Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ Australian Hydrographic Service; Australia. Army. Defence Topographic Agency (2003), Buccaneer Archipelago and King Sound, Australia – north west coast, Western Australia (New ed., 10 January 2003 ed.), Australian Hydrographic Service, retrieved 19 December 2013
- ^ "Ausanthrop – AusAnthrop Australian Aboriginal tribal database". 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
- ^ King, Phillip Parker (1827). Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia. London: John Murray. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00028.html#chapter02
- ISBN 978-0-85905-452-2page 160
- ^ "KING SOUND AND CAMBRIDGE GULF KIMBERLEY, W.A." The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 6 September 1886. p. 9. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "THE KIMBERLEY RUSH". Globe. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 20 May 1886. p. 5 Edition: FIRST EDITION and EVENING. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- .
- ^ a b Collins, Ben (2 July 2021). "North-west Australian tidal power project in final stages of federal environmental approvals". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 24 October 2022.