{{Short description|Inlet in South Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date= January 2015}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Gulf St Vincent |pushpin_map=South Australia | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Australia.A2010283.0435.250m.jpg | alt = | caption = Gulf St Vincent is the easternmost of the two inlets | image_bathymetry = | alt_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = Australia | coords = {{coord|35|S|138|E|region:AU-SA_scale:1000000|display=title}} | type = Gulf | inflow = | rivers = Bungala, Dry Creek, Field, Gawler, Gilbert, Light, Little Para River, Onkaparinga, Patawalonga, Port, Sturt, Torrens, Wakefield | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = Australia | agency = | designation = | length = {{convert|138.9|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name=B1762>{{cite book|author1=Hydrographic Department, Ministry of Defence (reproduced by the Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service)|title=Gulf of St Vincent and approaches (chart no. 1762)|date=1983}}</ref> | width = {{convert|61.15|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name=B1762/> | area = {{convert|6800|km2|abbr=on}}<ref name=Bye/> | depth = {{convert|21|m|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name=Bye/> | max-depth = {{convert|40|m|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name=Chart21>{{Citation | author1=South Australia. Department of Marine and Harbors | title=The Waters of South Australia a series of charts, sailing notes and coastal photographs | publication-date=1985 | publisher=Dept. of Marine and Harbors, South Australia | pages= Chart 21|isbn=978-0-7243-7603-2 }}</ref> | volume = | residence_time = | salinity = | shore = | elevation = | frozen = | islands = Garden Island<br />Troubridge Island<br />Torrens Island | sections = | trenches = | benches = | cities = Adelaide | website = | reference = <ref>{{cite web|title=Place Name Search: Gulf St Vincent|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/place-name/PlaceDetails.jsp?submit1=SA0064438|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605101328/http://www.ga.gov.au/place-name/PlaceDetails.jsp?submit1=SA0064438|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 June 2011|publisher=Geoscience Australia|access-date=20 June 2014}}</ref> }}
[[File:Central-and-southern-Yorke-Peninsula-aerial-view-1229.jpg|thumb|300px|Gulf St Vincent (foreground) and Yorke Peninsula, facing south west]] '''Gulf St Vincent''', sometimes referred to as '''St Vincent Gulf''', '''St Vincent's Gulf''' or '''Gulf of St Vincent''', is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Spencer Gulf, from which it is separated by Yorke Peninsula. On its eastern side the gulf is bordered by the Adelaide Plains and the Fleurieu Peninsula.
== Description == The St Vincent basin is formed from Cenozoic sediments deposited over, and surrounded by, Proterozoic and Paleozoic rock.<ref>{{cite journal|title=IX. The St. Vincent Basin|author=M. F. Glaessner|doi=10.1080/00167615708728486|journal=Journal of the Geological Society of Australia|volume=5|pages=115-126}}</ref> Around 55 million years ago Gondwanaland broke up and Australia separated from Antarctica, causing a number of basins to form along the southern Australian coastline. Around 40 million years ago a number of blocks formed with the Mount Lofty Ranges rising to the east of the St Vincent basin. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum around 10,000-15,000 years ago, the sea levels rose and covered the St. Vincent basin.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Adelaide Metropolitan Coastline|url=https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/environment/docs/no27.pdf|author=SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COAST PROTECTION BOARD|website=South Australian Department of Environment and Water}}</ref>
==Location== To the south it is defined by a line from Troubridge Point on Yorke Peninsula to Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula. Its entrances from the southwest are from Investigator Strait, and to the southeast from Backstairs Passage, which separate Kangaroo Island from the mainland.<ref name="Bye">{{cite book |last1=Bye |first1=J.A.T.|editor-last1=Twidale|editor-first1=C.R.|editor-link1=Charles Rowland Twidale|editor-last2= Tyler|editor-first2=M.J|editor-last3=Webb|editor-first3=B.P |title=Natural history of the Adelaide Region |publisher= Royal Society of South Australia Inc |date= 1976 |page =143|chapter=Chapter 11:Physical oceanography of Gulf St Vincent and Investigator Strait | isbn=978-0-9596627-0-2 }}</ref> Adelaide lies midway along the gulf's east shore. Other towns located on the gulf include, from west to east, Edithburgh, Stansbury, Port Vincent and Ardrossan on the west coast, and Port Wakefield and Normanville on the east coast.
== History == The Aboriginal name given to it by the original inhabitants of the area, the Kaurna people was '''Wongajerla''',<ref name="friends">{{cite book|url=http://friendsofgulfstvincent.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GStV-Precious-Asset.pdf|publisher=Friends of Parks Inc / Friends of Gulf St Vincent|page=4|title=Gulf St Vincent: A precious Asset|date=2009|isbn=978-0-646-52043-8|access-date=6 December 2019|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114404/http://friendsofgulfstvincent.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GStV-Precious-Asset.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> also spelt '''Wongga Yerlo'''<ref name="enfield">{{cite web | title=Tjilbruke Story | website=Port Adelaide Enfield | date=12 August 2014 | url=https://www.cityofpae.sa.gov.au/explore/arts-and-culture/explore-atsi-culture/m2y/more-stories/tjilbruke-story | access-date=16 November 2020 | archive-date=28 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228104021/https://www.cityofpae.sa.gov.au/explore/arts-and-culture/explore-atsi-culture/m2y/more-stories/tjilbruke-story | url-status=dead }}</ref> or '''Wonggayerlo''', meaning "western sea".<ref>{{cite web | title=Wonggayerlo 'Western sea' (Gulf St Vincent) | website=City of Charles Sturt | url=https://www.charlessturt.sa.gov.au/community/arts,-culture-and-history/kaurna-culture/wonggayerlo | access-date=17 November 2020}}</ref>
It was named '''Gulph of St. Vincent''' by Matthew Flinders on 30 March 1802, in honour of Admiral John Jervis (1st Earl of St Vincent)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/encounter/collection/B12985211_275_180.htm|title=South coast. Gulph of St. Vincent|work=A voyage to Terra Australis|author=Matthew Flinders|author-link=Matthew Flinders|page=180|publisher=State Library of South Australia|access-date=12 April 2010}}</ref> who won a naval victory off Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. It was shortly afterwards (after his meeting with Flinders at Encounter Bay on 8 April 1802) mapped by Nicolas Baudin, who named it '''Golfe de la Mauvaise'''<ref name="friends" /> or '''Golfe de la Misanthrophie'''.<ref>{{Cite book| last1=Dutton|first1=Geoffrey | title=Founder of a city: the life of Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of the colony of South Australia, founder of Adelaide, 1786-1839 |year=1960 | publication-date=1984 | publisher=Rigby | edition=[New] | isbn=978-0-7270-1913-4|pages=146–147 }}</ref> In the following year Louis de Freycinet renamed it '''Golphe Josephine''' to honour Josephine Bonaparte.<ref>Eric Wolanski (editor), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5VyRAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 Estuaries of Australia in 2050 and Beyond], Dordrecht: Springer, 2014, p.155 ({{ISBN|9789400770188}} & {{ISBN|9400770189}})</ref><ref name="friends" />
Due to Flinders' lengthy imprisonment on Mauritius during his return to England, the publication of Baudin's map preceded that of Flinders by three years.
The Adelaide Desalination Plant which is located on Gulf St Vincent's eastern shore in Lonsdale, supplies the Adelaide metropolitan area with desalinated water from the gulf. It officially opened in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Adelaide Desalination Plant (ADP)|url=http://www.sawater.com.au/community-and-environment/our-water-and-sewerage-systems/water-sources/desalination/adelaide-desalination-plant-adp|publisher=SA Water|access-date=28 July 2015|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307120438/http://www.sawater.com.au/community-and-environment/our-water-and-sewerage-systems/water-sources/desalination/adelaide-desalination-plant-adp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Adelaide Desalination Plant (Port Stanvac)|url=http://www.acciona.com.au/business-divisions/water/projects/adelaide-desalination-plant-port-stanvac|publisher=ACCIONA Australia|access-date=28 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416075253/http://www.acciona.com.au/business-divisions/water/projects/adelaide-desalination-plant-port-stanvac|archive-date=16 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Environment== The Gulf teems with crustacea and polychaeta, as well as various species of sea squirts and sea urchins. The benthos is a soft sediment shelf, with species of zosteraceae around the mouth of the Port River. The cardinalfish genus ''Vincentia'' takes its name from Gulf St Vincent where the type specimen of its type species was collected.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = http://www.etyfish.org/kurtiformes/ | title = Order KURTIFORMES (Nurseryfishes and Cardinalfishes) | access-date= 23 September 2018 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | date = 31 May 2018}}</ref>
==Gallery== {| |<gallery heights="185px" mode="packed"> File:Seahorse*.JPG|Seahorse beneath Edithburgh Jetty File:Pyjama squid.jpg|Striped Pyjama squid mating under Edithburgh jetty File:Crab *.jpg|Hermit crab beneath Edithburgh jetty File:Rock ling.jpg|Rock ling beneath Edithburgh jetty </gallery> |}
==See also== *Gulf St Vincent Important Bird Area
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Gulf St Vincent}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140110094620/http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/pno/index.jsf South Australian State Gazetteer PlaceNames Online Search] * [http://friendsofgulfstvincent.org.au/ Friends of Gulf St Vincent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218143220/http://friendsofgulfstvincent.org.au/ |date=18 December 2014 }} Accessed 14 February 2014.
{{List of Australian seas}}
Category:Gulf St Vincent Category:Bodies of water of South Australia St Vincent Category:Coastline of South Australia Category:Aulacogens Category:IMCRA meso-scale bioregions