Coongan River

The Coongan River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Coongan River
Location
Country	Australia
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Chichester Range
• elevation	480 metres (1,575 ft)[1]
Mouth
• location	De Grey River
• elevation	46 metres (151 ft)
Length	200 kilometres (124 mi)[2]
Basin size	3,740 square kilometres (1,444 sq mi)[3]
Discharge
• average	80 GL/a (90 cu ft/s)

The headwaters of the river rise below the Chichester Range. The river flows in a northerly direction past Marble Bar then through the Gorge Range before discharging into the De Grey River, of which it is a tributary, at Mulyie Pool near Mount Woodhouse.

The town of Marble Bar also draws approximately 180ML scheme water from the river's alluvium per year.

The river has eight tributaries including; Talga River, Triberton Creek, Emu Creek and Budjan Creek.

The name is Indigenous Australian in origin, and was first recorded in 1878 by Alexander Forrest. The traditional owners of the area are the Njamal or Nyamal peoples.[4]

The rivers water quality varies dependent of the flow but the average turbidity of the river water is 587 NTU and the average salinity is 100 mg/L.

References

1. "Bonzle Digital Atlas – Map of Coongan River". 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
2. Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of river names – C". Retrieved 3 September 2011.
3. "Surface Hydrology of the Pilbara Region Summary" (PDF). 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
4. "Ausanthrop - Australian Aboriginal tribal database". 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.