16. Temperate Southern Province

The temperate southern province occupies the entire southern coast of Australia with a 15,300 km long coastline. While much of the climate is dominated by the sub-tropical high, midlatitude cyclones bring frontal rain and humid conditions to the southeast and southwest coasts, with a more arid central Bight and central west coast regions. The open coast is dominated by micro-tides and exposed to persistent moderate to high southerly swell which drives both substantial onshore and longshore transport. Moderate-sized rivers and numerous streams flow to estuaries along the humid coasts where shelf-derived sediments are predominately quartz. However, across most of the south coast shelf carbonate dominates the beach material. This chapter reviews the physical and biological processes that operate across the shelf and coast.