Lake Alexandrina (South Australia) - Description

Description

Lake Alexandrina is located north of Encounter Bay and east of Fleurieu Peninsula. The Murray River is the major river to flow into Lake Alexandrina. Others include the Bremer, Angas, and Finniss Rivers, all from the eastern side of the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. The lake is shallow and contains a number of islands near the southern end.

The lake empties into the sea near Goolwa (the channel is known as the Murray Mouth), but when the river flow is low the entrance is often blocked by a sand-bar. Originally subjected to tidal and storm inflows of seawater the lake is now maintained as fresh water by a series of barrages across the islands near the Murray Mouth.

Though connected to the ocean historically the fresh and salt water flows mixed very little, with the lake area remaining fresh over 95% of the time with normal river inflow. Salt water inflows from the ocean would result in relatively little mixing of fresh and salt water, either vertically in the water column or laterally across the flow stream. Hindmarsh Island is reputed to be the largest island in the world with salt water on one side and fresh water on the other. Lake Alexandrina is connected by a narrow channel to the smaller Lake Albert to the south-east.

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