The current state of geomorphic landform design in Australia

Authors: Dressler, S; Waygood, C Download Paper Open access courtesy of:

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2515_79

Cite As:
Dressler, S & Waygood, C 2025, 'The current state of geomorphic landform design in Australia', in S Knutsson, AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2025: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 1-14, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2515_79



Abstract:
The Australian mining industry has been constructing geomorphic landforms using geomorphic principles for the last 14 years. The authors have been involved in the design and construction of most of these, totalling over 20 sites across Australia, typically comprising multiple landforms, and primarily (but not exclusively) in the coal mining industry. Our involvement in the full landform cycle of geomorphic landforms, from initial concepts through to erosion monitoring, has given us the opportunity to review learnings and general concepts in Australia and elsewhere which we have captured in this paper. We review the current state of geomorphic landform work and briefly discuss three Australian case studies in terms of the design process, the core tenets of geomorphic design in Australia. We also discuss examples of the natural analogues considered relevant for mining landforms in particular soils and climates, and the contribution stakeholders and state regulators have made in facilitating acceptance of more natural landforms in the Australian context, especially in New South Wales. Integration of soil erodibility testing, aspects of landscape evolution models (LEMs), and erodibility design envelopes has allowed landforms steeper than natural analogues to be constructed and addressed a key concern with the use of natural analogues, namely that site soils are often more erodible and vulnerable than those on natural analogues, with additional risks during the revegetation process. We briefly indicate our approach to the use of rock armouring on these landforms if and where required. Progress in the last few years has focused on monitoring using high-density LiDAR, and software development and improvement. Fundamentally, monitoring allows for progressive improvement and confidence in the design outcomes, which can then be reflected in software improvements. We have moved away from the use of traditional software using break lines to the use of Python scripting working on gridded surfaces, both for efficiency and to obtain outcomes that better align visually with our local landforms. The functionality of this tool is discussed to help others adopt a similar if applicable.

Keywords: geomorphic, landforms, Australia, review

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