Wind Erosion in Western Queensland Australia

Chapter 1 - Introductionthem inaccessible to those without appropriate resources or an understanding of the microphysicalprocesses on which they are based.It is acknowledged that the modelling approach adopted in this research has a number oflimitations, some of which are common to existing wind erosion models. These relate tochallenges in accounting for the heterogeneous distribution of vegetation cover in arid andsemi-arid environments, and an inability to account for temporal changes in soil erodibility.Developing methods to account for the spatial distribution of vegetation cover in winderosion models was beyond the scope of this research; however, the issue of soil erodibilitymodelling is addressed in this thesis.Finally, the development of models to assess complex dynamic systems is an iterativeprocess. The research presented in this thesis reflects this characteristic. There is, however, afocus on presenting the research successes. Early into the research a field monitoring programwas established in an attempt to obtain quantitative data on the interactions betweenmeteorological and land surface conditions controlling land erodibility in the westernQueensland rangelands. Considerable resources were directed toward the field study,including substantial support from volunteers. Ultimately, a reliance on coarse samplingresolutions meant that the data collected was insufficient to resolve process interactionssuitable for incorporation into the model. For this reason the data have not been included inthis thesis. The experience I gained from spending time working at the field sites was,however, invaluable in developing an understanding of the rangeland system.1.6 Study AreaThe study area is the arid and semi-arid rangelands of western Queensland, Australia (Figure1.3). The region forms the north-eastern half of the Lake Eyre Basin, the dominant dustsource area in Australia and in the southern hemisphere (Goudie and Middleton, 2006). Thestudy area is ~672 000 km 2 in size and can be divided into four biogeographical regions.These include: the Mulga Lands, Mitchell Grass Downs, Channel Country, and Simpson-Strzelecki Dunefields. Each of the regions can be described by characteristic landforms andvegetation types (DEWHA, 2007).15