Alluvial and Hillslope Gully Mapping – Digital gully mapping based on lidar data collected

2018-2019 lidar data collected from aircraft was used to map gully polygons across portions of the Burdekin, Fitzroy, and Normanby catchments. Griffith University developed methods to map gullies and estimate potential active erosion and total sediment volume. The dataset was created as part of the NESP TWQ 5.10 project to establish a baseline for erosion management impacting the Great Barrier Reef.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment runoff and water quality impacts based on mapped gully locations and estimated erosion volumes.
• Prioritizing land management investments for erosion control based on the spatial extent of gully and streambank erosion.
• Analyzing the relationship between topography and gully formation using the 0.5 m resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs).
• Monitoring changes in gully erosion over time by comparing this baseline dataset with future lidar surveys.

Strengths

• Data is derived from high-resolution airborne lidar with an average point density of 20 to 30 ground points per square metre.
• Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) have a fine spatial resolution of 0.5 meter cell size.
• Mapping covers four large blocks across three major catchments (Burdekin, Fitzroy, Normanby) impacting the Great Barrier Reef.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data coverage is limited to specific portions of three catchments, not the entire regions.
• The dataset's row count and total file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, originating from Griffith University and CSIRO.

Collection Method

Gully polygons were generated using methods developed in the NESP 5.10 project, applied to hydrologically conditioned DEMs derived from classified lidar point clouds.

Time Range

Lidar data was acquired in 2018 and 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 12:12:04.687902; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Portions of the Burdekin, Fitzroy, and Normanby Catchments in Australia.