thaw02
The upside down river
Melbourne's Yarra River is affectionately know as the upside down river due to it's permanently brown appearance.
The much maligned muddy colour of the Yarra is caused by the easily eroded clay soils of the water catchment. The water was clear at the time of European settlement, but intensive land clearing and development since the mid 1800s has resulted in the presence of microscopic clay particles. The particles are kept suspended by the turbulence in some parts of the middle and lower sections of the river. When the river water combines with marine salts as it enters Port Phillip, the suspended particles clump together and sink. The muddy appearance does not indicate an unclean waterway. In fact, the Yarra is probably one of the cleanest capital city rivers in the world. Since the major clean-up campaigns of the late 1970s and 1980s, the river has again become home to several species of fish and even the occasional dolphin.
The upside down river
Melbourne's Yarra River is affectionately know as the upside down river due to it's permanently brown appearance.
The much maligned muddy colour of the Yarra is caused by the easily eroded clay soils of the water catchment. The water was clear at the time of European settlement, but intensive land clearing and development since the mid 1800s has resulted in the presence of microscopic clay particles. The particles are kept suspended by the turbulence in some parts of the middle and lower sections of the river. When the river water combines with marine salts as it enters Port Phillip, the suspended particles clump together and sink. The muddy appearance does not indicate an unclean waterway. In fact, the Yarra is probably one of the cleanest capital city rivers in the world. Since the major clean-up campaigns of the late 1970s and 1980s, the river has again become home to several species of fish and even the occasional dolphin.