Regional Management Units of north west Victoria

Brief description

A polygonal dataset of Regional Map Units (RMUs) in the Victorian Mallee.

The dataset was created from the disaggregation of land systems originally defined by Rowan and Downes (1963).

RMUs delineate areas of repeating landform component patterns that occur within a similar landscape context. They were created to provide the Mallee CMA with areas for priority investment to monitor, assess and manage regional land management issues, such as wind erosion. The units also assist in distinguishing the morphological variation in landform components, for example the difference in size of hummocks between the Tempy and Culgoa land systems.

The RMUs have been attributed for their relative wind erosion susceptibility and have been embedded into the Victorian Geomorphological Framework. Each RMU therefore has a local naming context (eg: Central Mallee 1) and a statewide Geomorphological reference, eg: 5.1.2.

The landform component grid developed by the same project, a 10 metre grid Digital Elevation Model (DEM), expert opinion and the GMU were key inputs into the creation of the landform units.

An alpha-numeric code has been applied as the naming convention for these new landform units. The letter indicates the primary parent land system to which the unit is a member whilst the number reflects the number of units the land system has been divided into.

The dataset was an output of the project "Disaggregation of landform components within land systems of the Mallee" and "Wind erosion susceptibility mapping" projects conducted by DPI between 2008 and 2011. These projects were sponsored by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority with funding from the Federal government's Caring for our Country initiative.

The final project reports and the Rowan and Downes (1963) report , "A study of the land of north-western Victoria", should be referred to when analysing or utilising this dataset.