The deposition of silt around the head of the Tamar Estuary is a 6000 year old natural process that has formed much of the low lying areas around the city.
However, since European settlement, the combination of increased silt load from the development of agriculture and timber industries in the catchment, and the modifications to the natural water courses and tidal prism around Launceston has greatly exacerbated the accumulation of new silt in the system.
The history of this development, and the effect of the modifications to the pre-European natural flows, is very well covered by the paper prepared by Ian Kidd and Professor Jenny Davis – 200 years of Mud and Misunderstandings.
200 years of mud and misunderstandings writers Ian Kidd and Jenny Davis