coorong National park

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Home : Coorong National Park : Natural Attractions

Natural Attractions

The Coorong National Park is an area of world-wide biological significance. It contains a representative sample of coastal and salt-influenced terrestrial habitats as well as an unusual set of aquatic habitats in the Coorong Lagoon and ephemeral lakes.

Flora

278 terrestrial flowering plant and fern species are recorded in the park, of which 80 are introduced.

See the flora species lists for the park:

Alphabetical (100Kb PDF)
By Family (150Kb PDF)

Fauna

The Coorong Lagoon is a very important area for migratory wading birds and serves as a refuge in the drier months for many water birds. Of the 238 bird species which have been recorded, nine are introduced species. Some are oceanic birds which have only been recorded in the Coorong area as dead birds stranded on the ocean beach.

See Waders of the Coorong and Lower Lakes brochure (1Mb PDF).

Twenty three terrestrial mammals have been recorded in the park. Of these species, seven are introduced. Ten species of marine mammals have been recorded as stranded on the beach of the Younghusband Peninsula.

Twenty one reptiles and seven amphibians have been recorded in the park.

Hydrology

The park is characterised by a complex interaction of water from a number of sources including sea water, the River Murray, rainfall and groundwater.

The lagoon waters are part of an ecosystem which supports an important feeding area for waterbirds and migratory waders. Freshwater soaks are one of the few sources of freshwater for fauna.

In September 2000 freshwater once again flowed into the Coorong Lagoon at Salt Creek via a series of drains and wetlands through the Upper South East.

Geology

The park is an interesting area for study of geology and geological processes. Next to the Southern Ocean there is a range of sand dunes known as the Younghusband Peninsula, and on the eastern side there is a composite range of Pleistocene dunes. The depression between these parallel dunes is principally occupied by a salt water lagoon about 100 km long. In the south the presence of water in the interdunal depression becomes seasonal and the lagoon is replaced by a series of ephemeral lakes and swampy mud flats.

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