Impacts of Ports along the Pilbara Coast, Western Australia – A Coastline of Global Geoheritage Significance that Services a Mineral-Rich Hinterland

Margaret Brocx,Vic Semeniuk

doi:10.4401/ag-7495

Abstract

The Pilbara region in remote north-western Australia is mineral-rich with ores being mined/quarried and exported since the 1960s for the wealth of the Australian Nation and exported from a range of ports developed specifically for such purposes. However, the Pilbara Coast is one of few arid coasts around the World and the most arid coast in Australia - it stands unique as the most geomorphologically / geologically diverse arid coast globally and therefore has global coastal geoheritage significance. Ports along the Coast have been and continue to be developed without, or with little regard to their natural values, with impacts in terms of geoheritage and biological values - the parameters for port selection are based on engineering and economic perspectives of coastal proximity and coastal bathymetry in spite of information available for proper management and wise use of this coastal zone. Consequently, some significant coasts have been destroyed or markedly modified. With the intended growth of the mineral industry, there can be expected further destruction unless government agencies address the geoconservation issues but, in this context, there seems to be both a widespread lack of understanding on the part of government agencies of the geoheritage values of this Coast and a lack of geoethics. This contribution describes the natural heritage significance of the Pilbara Coast, the ports therein, their impacts and, from a geoethics viewpoint, the notion of centralizing ports rather than to indiscriminately construct facilities dictated by economic and port ownership. The Pilbara Coast provides a case study of geoethics where natural history assets of global significance conflict with industrial use.

Highlights

The Pilbara region in remote north-western A ustralia is mineral-rich with ores being mined/quarried and exported since the 1960s for the wealth of the A ustralian N ation and exported from a range of ports developed for such purposes
The Pilbara Coast in the north -w estern Au stralia (Fig. 1) is globally u niqu e and significant in its geoheritage valu es, coastal processes and land form s, stratigraphy, m angrove ecology, and biod iversity. It is one of eight trop ical arid coasts in the World bu t m arked ly d ifferent to the rest; com p ared to the other coasts it is the m ost geologically, geomorphologically, and sedimentologically d iverse of the arid coasts (Sem eniu k, 1996) and thu s globally significant (Brocx, 2008; Brocx and Sem eniu k, 2015) and, in its natu ral state, shou ld have been recognized as a World H eritage Site
The Pilbara Coast contains m any featu res of geoheritage significance, from the large scale to the sm all scale (Sem eniu k, 1996; Brocx, 2008): land form s su ch as d eltas, Pleistocene oolitic lim estone barriers and their m u d -filled sw ales, archipelago/ ria shores, d eltas that m erge into linear d u ne field s, rocky shore erosion of Pleistocene lim estones, Qu aternary stratigrap hy su ch as Pleistocene oolitic shoaling lim estone sequ ences and lim estone rocky shores, H olocene m angrove sequ ences, tem pestites in beach/ d u ne sand s, and the com plexities of beach-rock d evelopm ent

Summary

IN TROD UCTION

The Pilbara Coast in the north -w estern Au stralia (Fig. 1) is globally u niqu e and significant in its geoheritage valu es, coastal processes and land form s, stratigraphy, m angrove ecology, and biod iversity. As Pep poloni and Di Capu a (2015a) point ou t, geoscientists and geo-engineers shou ld carry social and ethical responsibilities tow ard s society and the planet, particu larly (in ou r view ) in the conservation of geological heritage and geod iversity - the case of the ind u strialization of the Pilbara Coast transgresses this ethos This p aper d escribes: the m ineralrich Pilbara hinterland and need for ports for exporting ores/ m inerals; the types of locations for p orts - p aram eters for selection; and im pacts of p orts and loss of geoheritage valu es

THE MIN ERAL-RICH PILBARA HINTERLAND AND THE N EED FOR PORTS

IMPACTS OF EXISTIN G PORTS AN D LOSS OF GEOHERITAGE VALUES

D ISCUSSION AN D CON CLUSION S