Articles | Volume 25, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-867-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-867-2021
Research article
 | 
23 Feb 2021
Research article |  | 23 Feb 2021

Intensive landscape-scale remediation improves water quality of an alluvial gully located in a Great Barrier Reef catchment

Nicholas J. C. Doriean, William W. Bennett, John R. Spencer, Alexandra Garzon-Garcia, Joanne M. Burton, Peter R. Teasdale, David T. Welsh, and Andrew P. Brooks

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Cited articles

Ayele, G. K., Addisie, M. B., Langendoen, E. J., Tegegne, N. H., Tilahun, S. A., Moges, M. A., Nicholson, C. F., and Steenhuis, T. S.: Evaluating erosion control practices in an actively gullying watershed in the highlands of Ethiopia, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 43, 2835–2843, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4436, 2018. 
Bartley, R., Bainbridge, Z. T., Lewis, S. E., Kroon, F. J., Wilkinson, S. N., Brodie, J. E., and Silburn, D. M.:. Relating sediment impacts on coral reefs to watershed sources, processes and management: a review, Sci. Total Environ., 468, 1138–1153, 2014. 
Bartley, R., Hawdon, A., Henderson, A., Wilkinson, S., Goodwin, N., Abbott, B., and Telfer, D.: Quantifying the effectiveness of gully remediation on off-site water quality: preliminary results from demonstration sites in the Burdekin catchment, NESP Project 2, no. 4, Report to the National Environmental Science Programme, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns, 76 pp., 2017. 
Bartley, R., Thompson, C., Croke, J., Pietsch, T., Baker, B., Hughes, K., and Kinsey-Henderson, A.: Insights into the history and timing of post-European land use disturbance on sedimentation rates in catchments draining to the Great Barrier Reef, Mar. Pol. Bult., 131, 530–546, 2018. 
Bartley, R., Poesen, J., Wilkinson, S., and Vanmaercke, M.: A review of the magnitude and response times for sediment yield reductions following the rehabilitation of gullied landscapes. Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 45, 3250–3279, 2020. 
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Short summary
Gully erosion is a major contributor to suspended sediment and associated nutrient pollution (e.g. gullies generate approximately 40 % of the sediment pollution impacting the Great Barrier Reef). This study used a new method of monitoring to demonstrate how large-scale earthworks used to remediated large gullies (i.e. eroding landforms > 1 ha) can drastically improve the water quality of connected waterways and, thus, protect vulnerable ecosystems in downstream-receiving waters.