Erosional history of the Warrah Catchment in the Liverpool Plains, New South Wales

Abstract

Since European settlement, considerable changes in land cover and land management have occurred in the Liverpool Plains as a response to agricultural expansion and development. As a consequence, erosion gullies have been initiated and subsequently have developed into extensive networks. Streams, erosion gully networks, rills, land cover and land management have been mapped and digitized on to a GIS using a number of aerial photographic time-slices. Information derived from the GIS-generated maps includes: (a) measurement of temporal and spatial changes in the fluvial and gully networks, and land use and land management practices; and (b) assessment of changes in the connectivity of gullies to streams. It has been shown that revegetation and erosion control works decreased the density of erosion gullies from 1943 to 1994. Show more