School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemRules of reengagement: integrating geomorphology into river diversion designs(River Basin Management Society, 2020)There are many river diversions around mining pits in Australia. Poor performance of these diversions has led to stricter guidelines for their design, including better appreciation of geomorphic context. The Pilbara region in Western Australia is an area with many open-pit mines and river diversions. There is a poor understanding of the regional watercourses and limited guidelines for the incorporation of geomorphic and environmental elements into river diversion designs. We developed a series of hydrogeomorphic guidelines for headwater channels in the Eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. We undertook a large-scale regional geomorphic analysis of headwater streams, before focusing on the variability in river reach form. Using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry (SfM), the presence and distribution of channel features were mapped. The result was a high resolution ‘recipe’ or classification of features for a river addressing the natural morphology, roughness contribution and character of natural rivers within the Pilbara. Direct rainfall modelling provided appropriate rainfall flood frequency estimation for these small ungauged catchments. This knowledge was integrated to produce a series of guideline hydraulic criteria for the various headwater channels. These guideline hydraulic criteria can be used to design river diversions, in addition to helping us understand more about the complexity and variability of headwater channels within the Eastern Pilbara. These criteria can also help to set ‘closure criteria’ which specify the conditions that mine owners have to meet to return the mine to public ownership.