[Assam] The Lake Eyre phenomenon

[Ram Sarangapani]

Here are some photos, an article (from The Australian), and an interesting
article on the lake's geology/hydrology.

This has been happening for thousands of years &  it's happening again as we
speak.
Hope y'all  enjoy it as I did.

--Ram


http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/02/23/2498335.htm?site=adelaide

http://media.theaustralian.com.au/multimedia/2009/02/24-lakeeyre/index.html

http://www.oz-greetings.com.au/geology/article/43/-b-LAKE-EYRE--b-
 Lake Eyre's waters bring dead centre to life

Jamie Walker | *February 25, 2009*
Article from:  The Australian <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/>

*IT began as a monsoonal deluge in distant Queensland, flooding the channel
country, isolating towns, and filling rivers and creeks that have not run
for years. Now it's here, at Lake Eyre.*

This is the moment of magic when the flood empties into Australia's dead
centre, bringing life to a parched and pearly expanse of saltpan that is
mostly devoid of it, and hope to communities that have endured more than
their share of drought.

With his eagle-eye view from the cockpit of his charter plane, pilot Trevor
Wright has been tracking the advance of the torrent for the past fortnight,
as anticipation grew of its arrival yesterday at Lake Eyre.

The vast, salt-encrusted basin is the end of the line for the floods that
have spread devastation across north and central Queensland, and now
northern NSW, providing a poignant counterpoint to the misery unleashed on
Victoria by the deadly Black Saturday bushfires.

The flood's headwaters have taken nearly a month to wend their way south
from Queensland, along the swollen Diamantina and Georgina rivers, through
the veined tracts of channel country straddling the state border, before
reaching this corner of desert in South Australia, 700km north of Adelaide.

Last week, the waters filled Goyders Lagoon, about an hour's flying time in
Mr Wright's Cessna from Lake Eyre. Then, they reached bone-dry Warburton
Creek, pushing forward at a rate of up to 40km a day.

Finally, yesterday, the flood spilled into Lake Eyre, a finger of greenish
water shimmering in the heat haze against the vanilla shell of the dry lake
bottom.

Pelicans, gulls and terns have followed in such prodigious numbers they
could be clouds in the bleached sky. Camels, drawn by the scent of open
water, have come down from the Simpson Desert. Soon, Lake Eyre will live up
to its name, spawning yellow-bellied fish and fingerlings for the birdsto
feast on. The 9690sqkm basin, which at 15m below sealevel is the lowest
point in Australia, has filled to brimming only three times since it was
first sighted by Europeans 160 years ago, and it has been a very long time
between drinks for locals waiting for this drought to break.

Mr Wright, who works for a charter service out of William Creek, population
three, the nearest settlement to Lake Eyre, said he hadn't seen such a
volume of water hit the lake since 2000, when it was half full.

"What you are seeing now is all the floodwater out of Queensland," Mr Wright
said yesterday, flying The Australian over the soon-to-be transformed
saltpan. "This is where it all ends up. What a wonderful sight."

Inland rivers expert Richard Kingsford agreed it was shaping up as a bumper
year for Lake Eyre - certainly the best since 2000. To see water flowing in
the dead heart of our continent was magnificent because it happened so
rarely.

"When those rivers run, I believe it's one of the most spectacular events in
the world," said Professor Kingsford, of the University of NSW.

University of Melbourne research hydrologist Justin Costelloe, who witnessed
Lake Eyre filling in 2000, marvelled at how one of the most inhospitable
places on the planet could explode into life so dramatically. "The system
really just bursts into life even though you're in the barren centre of
Australia," Dr Costelloe said.

Already, there is talk among the locals of reviving the dormant Lake Eyre
Yacht Club, as well as a rowing competition. At Mungerranie, a stopping
point on the Birdsville Track, north of the lake, publican Pam Farrington
said the good news about it filling was spreading, and she was fielding
calls from people wanting to book in once the flood had passed and the road
links opened up.

Mr Wright can hardly keep up with the telephone calls. After the lean years
of drought, which had hit the local cattle stations particularly hard, it
was a relief to have the district jumping again.

"From an economic point of view, it's going to make a big difference to us,"
he said. "It's just one of those things you hope for ... for the water to
come down. We're going to make the most of it while we can."