# Lake Macleod > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lake_Macleod > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lake_Macleod.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Macleod > Source revision: 1355191337 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) This article is about the lake in Australia. For the similarly spelled lake and settlement in Canada, see [McLeod Lake, British Columbia](/source/McLeod_Lake,_British_Columbia). **Lake Macleod** is a [marine](/source/Marine_lake) [salt lake](/source/Salt_lake) in the [Gascoyne](/source/Gascoyne) region of [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia), 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of the port and regional centre of .[2] ## History [Dirk Hartog](/source/Dirk_Hartog), a [Dutchman](/source/Netherlands), made the first authenticated landing by a European along this coastline in 1616. Early explorers recorded phenomenal tidal ranges along this coast. ## Description Most of Lake Macleod is normally dry, covering an area of 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi), 60 km2 (23 sq mi) of which is covered by perennial bodies of [brine](/source/Brine).[3] Climatically, this part of Western Australia is greatly influenced by the north-flowing Western Australian Current that brings cool water northward from [Antarctica](/source/Antarctica), which is not conducive to producing inland [precipitation](/source/Precipitation_(meteorology)). This cool offshore current, coupled with a very flat coastal plain, contributes to the near-desert-like conditions along the coastal region as evidenced by the brown landscape around the lake and the highly reflective salt beds within the lake. The low point in the lake appears to be near the northern end where the light blues indicate some standing water. Close inspection of the image discloses very faint lines at the southernmost end of Lake Macleod where large [evaporation](/source/Evaporation) beds are used for the production of high-quality [salt](/source/Salt) and [gypsum](/source/Gypsum).[4][5] ## Environment The lake is recognised as a [DIWA](/source/A_Directory_of_Important_Wetlands_in_Australia) wetland as it is an outstanding example of a major lake situated on the coast that is periodically inundated by freshwater[6] ### Birds Some 382 square kilometres (147 sq mi) of the permanent ponds in the north-western part of the lake have been identified by [BirdLife International](/source/BirdLife_International) as an [Important Bird Area](/source/Important_Bird_Area) (IBA) because they support [fairy terns](/source/Fairy_tern), over 1% of the world populations of [red-necked stints](/source/Red-necked_stint), [curlew sandpipers](/source/Curlew_sandpiper), [banded stilts](/source/Banded_stilt), [red-necked avocets](/source/Red-necked_avocet) and [red-capped plovers](/source/Red-capped_plover), as well as a population of [dusky gerygones](/source/Dusky_gerygone).[7] The northern ponds consist of intermittently flooded, brackish to hypersaline [mudflats](/source/Mudflat) surrounding saline springs and permanent saline channels and lagoons. Large numbers of [red knots](/source/Red_knot), [Australian pelicans](/source/Australian_pelican), [little black cormorants](/source/Little_black_cormorant), [black-tailed godwits](/source/Black-tailed_godwit) and [black-winged stilts](/source/Black-winged_stilt) have been recorded. A substantial population of [canary white-eyes](/source/Canary_white-eye) is present.[8] A review of the importance of the lake for shorebirds showed that it hosted significant populations of 10 species of which [red knot](/source/Red_knot), red-necked stint and curlew sandpiper occurred in internationally significant numbers.[9] ## See also - [Leeuwin Current](/source/Leeuwin_Current) - [List of lakes of Australia § Western Australia](/source/List_of_lakes_of_Australia#Western_Australia) ## References 1. Johnson, Kaz (November 2011). ["Lake MacLeod and the Northern Ponds"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220312054839/https://rangelandswa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Lake-MacLeod-Catchment-Report-Card-2011.pdf). Nedlands, WA: Rangelands Natural Resource Management. Archived from [the original](https://rangelandswa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Lake-MacLeod-Catchment-Report-Card-2011.pdf) on 12 March 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2023. 1. Kavazos, Christopher (2016). *Small-scale biogeographic patterns of benthic bacterial and ciliate communities in the saline ponds of Lake MacLeod, North-Western Australia*. [doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.18785.10088](https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18785.10088) 1. ["Rio Tinto Dampier Salt - Lake MacLeod"](http://www.dampiersalt.com.au/ENG/sales/1148_lake_macleod.asp). *www.dampiersalt.com.au*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110217025037/http://www.dampiersalt.com.au/ENG/sales/1148_lake_macleod.asp) 2011-02-17 at the Wayback Machine. 1. ["SLWA Online Catalogue /Entire Sta"](http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2452404~S2). *henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120516073000/http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2452404~S2) 2012-05-16 at the Wayback Machine. 1. ["DIWA information Sheet"](http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/wetlands/search.pl?smode=DOIW). 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010. 1. ["IBA: Lake MacLeod"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110706102341/http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm). *Birdata*. Birds Australia. Archived from [the original](http://www.birdata.com.au/iba.vm) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2011. 1. BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake MacLeod. Downloaded from [http://www.birdlife.org](http://www.birdlife.org) on 29 July 2011 1. Bertzeletos, D; Davis, R A; Horwitz, P (July 2012). ["Importance of Lake MacLeod, northwestern Australia, to shorebirds: a review and update"](https://rswa.org.au/publications/Journal/95(2)/Bertzeletosetal.pp.115-124.pdf). *Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia*. **95** (2): 115–124. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lake Macleod](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Macleod) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Macleod?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.