King Sound
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Infobox body of water tracking".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
King Sound is a large gulf in northern Western Australia. It expands from the mouth of the Fitzroy River, one of Australia's largest watercourses, and opens to the Indian Ocean. It is about Script error: No such module "convert". long, and averages about Script error: No such module "convert". in width. The port town of Derby lies near the mouth of the Fitzroy River on the eastern shore of King Sound. King Sound has the highest tides in Australia, and amongst the highest in the world, reaching a maximum tidal range of Script error: No such module "convert". at Derby.[1] The tidal range and water dynamic were researched in 1997–1998.[2]
Waters within the sound are generally turbid.[3] The turbidity is associated with the erosion of tidal flats.
Geography
Open waters of the sound cover 2,325 km2.[4] Other rivers that discharge into the sound include the Lennard River, Meda River, Robinson River and May River. King Sound has a catchment area of 21,315 km2.[4] King Sound is part of the Canning Basin.[3] The climate is semi-arid and tropical with a strong monsoonal influence.[3]
King Sound is bordered by the island clusters of the Buccaneer Archipelago to the East and the Dampier Peninsula to the West.[5]
The mean depth of King Sound of 18 metres.[4] The mouth of King Sound features a channel that is 50 metres deep and 20 kilometres wide.[4]
History
The traditional owners and original inhabitants of the area are Indigenous Australians, namely the Nimanburu, Njulnjul, and Warwa peoples.[6]
The first European to explore the sound was William Dampier who visited the region aboard Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". in 1688.
Noted surveyor Phillip Parker King surveyed the coastline in 1821 and named the area Cygnet Bay.[7] The area was later visited by John Stokes and John Wickham aboard Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". in 1838. The sound was later named after King.[8]
In the 1880s it was one of the sites in the Kimberleys of a short-lived gold rush.[9][10]
Doctor’s Creek, in the south of King Sound, has been the site of various proposals for tidal range energy plants since the 1960s.[11] In 2013, the Derby Tidal Power Project from Tidal Energy Australia was given environmental approval.[12] The 40MW tidal power station is expected to cost $375 million to construct.[12]
See also
Script error: No such module "Portal".
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Derby tides at derbytourism.com.au Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 7 January 2007
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00028.html#chapter02
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". page 160
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".