Lockhart River (Western Australia) facts for kids
The Lockhart River is a river found in the Wheatbelt area of Western Australia. It's like a smaller part of a bigger river system called the Avon River. The area of land that collects water for the Lockhart River is huge, covering about 32,400 square kilometres (12,500 sq mi)!
When the Lockhart River joins the Yilgarn River, they form the Salt River. This meeting point is in a special narrow area called 'Caroline Gap,' which is a low spot between two hills, Mount Caroline and Mount Stirling.
Rivers that Feed the Lockhart
The Lockhart River system gets its water from several rivers and lakes. Think of it like branches of a tree, all leading to the main trunk.
- The Lockhart River itself starts from a place called Lake Biddy.
- The Camm River flows from Lake King through towns like Hyden and Kondinin before it meets the Lockhart River.
- The Pingrup River begins near Lake Cairlocup and travels north to Lake Grace and then joins the Lockhart River.
How Much Water Flows?
Scientists have been measuring the water flow in the Lockhart and Yilgarn Rivers since 1976. They found that water flows through these rivers every year, but the amount changes a lot!
For example, in 7 out of 25 years, the Lockhart River had more than 10 gigalitres (350,000,000 cu ft) (that's 10 billion litres!) of water flowing through it. But in 10 other years, it had less than 1 gigalitre (35,000,000 cu ft) (1 billion litres).
Studies done in 2008 and 2009 showed that the Lockhart River usually has about 13 GL of water flowing each year. This is much more than the Yilgarn River, which averages about 4 GL.
Salty Water
One interesting thing about the Lockhart River is how salty its water is. The water in the Lockhart River is very salty, almost as salty as ocean water! In fact, it's one of the saltiest rivers in Western Australia. Scientists looked closely at the river in 2008 and 2009 to understand more about its water.
