Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 87:35-47, 2004 
Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: 
Part 6. Mt Manning Range 
N Gibson 
Science Division, Department of Conservation and Land Management, Wildlife Research Centre, 
PO Box 51 Wanneroo, WA 6065 
IS! neilg@calm.wa.gov.au 
(Manuscript received July 2003; accepted June 2004) 
Abstract 
This study of the flora and plant communities of the Mt Manning greenstone belt (some 100 km 
N of Koolyanobbing) recorded a total flora of 238 taxa, of which 234 were native and four were 
introduced. The species list is poorer than reported for previously studied ranges and shows a 
compositional shift consistent with the more semi-arid nature of the climate. The most common 
life-forms were shrubs 50% and annual herbs 23.5%. No taxa were found to be endemic to the 
greenstone belt. Seven community types were defined from 54 quadrats established along the 
range system. These communities types were strongly correlated with edaphic factors, and are 
compositionally distinct from those of nearby ranges to the south. The vegetation of the Mt 
Manning Range, like that of the Helena & Aurora Range to the south and Die Hardy Range to the 
west, is very poorly conserved. The results of the current survey support previous 
recommendations for the inclusion of the Mt Manning greenstone belt into the Nature Reserve. 
Keywords: flora, vegetation. Goldfields, Mt Manning Range, Western Australia, greenstone 
Introduction 
The Mt Manning greenstone belt extends some 30 km 
from the Mt Manning Range north to the Evanston- 
Menzies Road, about 100 km north of Koolyanobbing. It 
consists of ca a 1 km-thick sequence of variously 
metamorphosed basalt overlain by chert and banded 
ironstone, which in turn is overlain by high-Mg basalt 
and minor gabbro separated by banded ironstone 
(Greenfield 2001). These belts are a common landform of 
the Eastern Goldfields and incorporate most of the 
mineralization. As a consequence, they have been heavily 
exploited for mineral exploration and mining for over 
100 years. Despite this, a detailed knowledge of the flora 
and vegetation of individual ranges is still lacking, 
although broad scale structural vegetation mapping 
(Beard 1972) and regional surveys (Keighery et al 1995) 
are available. 
This paper continues a this series of papers that report 
on detailed floristic studies on some of these ranges, to 
address this deficiency (Gibson et al. 1997; Gibson & 
Lyons 1998a,b; Gibson & Lyons 2001a,b). The Mt 
Manning greenstone belt is the most arid system yet 
studied, and provides contrast to the biogeographic 
patterns reported from other range systems. 
Study Locality 
The study area lies ca 100 km north of Koolyanobbing 
and covers all of the Mt Manning greenstone belt (Fig 1; 
Greenfield 2001). The belt runs north-south and is ca 6 
km wide but quickly narrows to less than 2 km. The 
geology of the study area has been mapped and 
described in detail in the Lake Giles and Bungalbin 1: 
100000 sheets (Greenfield 2001, Chen & Wyche 2001) 
© Royal Society of Western Australia 2004 
following earlier regional studies of Walker & Blight 
(1983). The lenticular greenstone belts of this region are 
believed to be 3000 My old and to have subsequently 
undergone multi-staged metamorphism that peaked with 
the major granitiod intrusion between 2710 and 2670 My 
ago. These ancient rocks have weathered into gently 
undulating plains and broad valleys covered by Tertiary 
soils (< 65 My old). These soils may develop in situ from 
the weathering of laterite duricrusts, or represent 
depositional soils derived from the ancient rocks or the 
Tertiary laterization (Greenfield 2001). The net result is a 
very subdued landscape except for the highly resistant 
banded ironstones which form a series of abrupt rocky 
outcrops. 
The climate of the region is warm dry mediterranean 
with warm winters and hot summers. Mean annual 
rainfall at Diemals Station (ca 45 km NW of the range) is 
275 mm, with moderate seasonal variation over the 23 
years of record (1970-1994; decile 1,157 mm; decile 9, 436 
mm) Most rain falls in winter generally associated with 
frontal activity from April through August. Summer falls 
are highly erratic and result from thunderstorms. 
Heaviest falls (to 127 mm) are associated with rain 
bearing depressions forming from tropical depressions 
(Milewski & Hall 1995; Bureau of Meteorology 2004). The 
temperature data from Diemals show mean maximum 
temperatures is highest in January (36 °C) with 
November through March all recording mean annual 
temperatures above 30 °C. Lowest mean minimum 
temperatures of 4 °C are recorded in July. The highest 
daily maximum temperature recorded was 46.5 °C with 
the lowest being -4.6 °C. On average there are 15.9 days 
a year over 40 °C and 67.2 days above 35 °C, with 11.1 
days per year with the minimum below freezing (Bureau 
of Meteorology 2004). 
The Mt Manning Range lies in the South Western 
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