Endangered lakes of scientific and cultural value in the world heritage area of South-West Tasmania

Three unique meromictic lakes, exhibiting extreme micro-stratification, are threatened by hydroelectric development. Already one has reverted to holomixis, while sinking chemoclines and declining meromictic stabilities in the other two indicate their impending demise. At risk is not only the intrinsic nature of their meromictic systems, their ecology, and as yet undescribed microorganisms, but also the opportunity for the study of undistributed sediments, which may yield a valuable chronological record of the period of aboriginal occupation of nearby Kutikina Cave. These were the most southerly humans on earth 20 000 years BP.