Reconnaissance Limnology of some Coastal Dune Lakes of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

Abstract

All nine lakes studied are small (mean area 32 ha), shallow (deep), water table exposures in thin dunes overlying laterite or sandstone. Their water is fresh (mean salinity 52 mg 1˜'), acid (mean pH 4• 8) and dominated by Na+ and Cl-, but with appreciable amounts of Ca2+, Mg2+ and HCO3-. Almost all macrophytes, littoral invertebrates, fish and limnetic zooplankters are common tropical species. A few species are shared with dune lakes in southern Australia and even fewer are endemic. Hence, these tropical dune lakes are different from those in temperate and subtropical eastern Australia. © CSIRO 1986.