2.7.2.2 Potentially impacted landscape groups


Of the 11 landscape groups that occur in the Galilee subregion, most (73%) of the zone of potential hydrological change supports ‘Dryland’ (8134 km2) or ‘Floodplain, non-wetland’ (2098 km2) landscape groups. These landscape groups depend on incident rainfall and localised runoff and as such are not considered to be water dependent for this assessment. Consequently, these two landscape groups are considered to be very unlikely to be impacted by changes in hydrology due to coal resource development.

Each of the nine remaining landscape groups is considered to be water dependent. By area or length, the major water-dependent landscape groups in the zone of potential hydrological change are ‘Floodplain, terrestrial GDE’ that covers 2433 km2 (17% of the zone) and ‘Non-floodplain, terrestrial GDE’ that covers 1189 km2 (8% of the zone). Groundwater-dependent streams in the zone are classified as ‘Streams, GDE’ and cover 2801 km (45% of streams in the zone). In comparison, streams that are not dependent on groundwater – ‘Streams, non-GDE’ – cover 3484 km (55% of streams in the zone) (Table 5). The ‘Streams, GDE’ and ‘Streams, non-GDE’ landscape groups were combined and are considered further here as the ‘Streams landscape group’.

Springs and their associated wetlands, although small in area, are considered here to be a major landscape group in the zone of potential hydrological change of the Galilee subregion. There are 200 springs and spring complexes within the zone.

The remaining four water-dependent landscape groups were not prioritised for qualitative mathematical modelling and receptor impact modelling given the logistical constraints of the workshops. These landscape groups are ‘Floodplain, disconnected wetland’ that covers about 19 km2 (0.1% of the zone), ‘Floodplain, wetland GDE’ that covers about 153 km2 (1% of the zone), ‘Non-floodplain, disconnected wetland’ that covers about 3.6 km2 (0.02% of the zone) and ‘Non-floodplain, wetland GDE’ that covers 0.2 km2 (<0.01% of the zone) (Table 5). These landscape groups cover very small areas within the zone of potential hydrological change, and are expected to respond consistently to the modelled landscape groups, though this obviously would need to be confirmed through more detailed assessment. These landscape groups are not reported separately in this product.

Table 5 lists the landscape groups that occur within the zone of potential hydrological change of the Galilee subregion. It also details whether qualitative mathematical models were built for that landscape group and whether one or more receptor impact models were built.

Table 5 Summary of landscape groups developed for the bioregional assessment of the Galilee subregion


Landscape group

Length, area or number

Extent in assessment extenta

Extent in zone of potential hydrological change

Qualitative mathematical model

Receptor impact model

Dryland

Area (km2)

419,657

8,134

No

No

Floodplain, disconnected wetland

Area (km2)

6,558

19

No

No

Floodplain, non-wetland

Area (km2)

72,016

2,098

No

No

Floodplain, terrestrial GDE

Area (km2)

79,229

2,433

Yes – ‘Floodplain, terrestrial GDE’ signed digraph model ×4

Yes – ‘Response of woody vegetation to changes in flow regime and groundwater’

Floodplain, wetland GDE

Area (km2)

4,948

153

No

No

Non-floodplain disconnected wetland

Area (km2)

8,784

3.6

No

No

Non-floodplain, terrestrial GDE

Area (km2)

20,800

1,189

Yes – ‘Non-floodplain, terrestrial GDE’ signed digraph model ×2

Yes – ‘Response of woody vegetation to changes in groundwater’

Non-floodplain, wetland GDE

Area (km2)

259

0.2

No

No

Total area of landscape groups (km2)

612,251

14,030

Streams, GDE

Length (km)

48,538

2,801

Yes – ‘Streams’ signed digraph model ×2

Yes – ‘Response of woody riparian vegetation to changes in flow regime and groundwater’

Streams, non-GDE

Length (km)

344,916

3,484

Yes – ‘Streams’ signed digraph model ×2

Yes – ‘Response of aquatic nymphs of Offadens sp. (type of mayfly) to changes in flow regime’

Total length of streams (km)

393,454

6,285

Springs

Number

1,559

200

Yes – ‘Springs’ signed digraph model ×2

No

aExtent of each landscape group is either an area of land (km2), length of stream network (km) or number of springs (number).

GDE = groundwater-dependent ecosystem

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)

In total, four receptor impact models were built, representing four landscape groups (’Floodplain, terrestrial GDE’, ‘Non-floodplain, terrestrial GDE’, ‘Streams, GDE’ and ‘Streams, non-GDE’). In addition, 12 qualitative mathematical models were built covering five landscape groups. One landscape group, ‘Springs’, had qualitative mathematical models built without having a receptor impact model (Table 5). Details of the qualitative mathematical models and receptor impact models are provided for each landscape group separately in Section 2.7.3, Section 2.7.4, Section 2.7.5 and Section 2.7.6, while the results from modelling the effects of coal resource development on landscape groups using these models are presented in Section 3.4 of companion product 3-4 for the Galilee subregion (Lewis et al., 2018).

Last updated:
6 December 2018
Thumbnail of the Galilee subregion

Product Finalisation date

2018
PRODUCT CONTENTS

ASSESSMENT