Great Sandy Desert | |
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Area | 284,993 km2 (110,036 sq mi) |
Geography | |
Country | Australia |
State/Territory | |
Coordinates | 20°S125°E / 20°S 125°E |
The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion, [1] [2] located in the northeast of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions and extending east into the Northern Territory. It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of 284,993 square kilometres (110,036 sq mi). [3] [4] The Gibson Desert lies to the south and the Tanami Desert lies to the east of the Great Sandy Desert.
The Great Sandy Desert contains large ergs, often consisting of longitudinal dunes.[ citation needed ]
In the north-east of the desert there is a meteorite impact crater, the Wolfe Creek crater.[ citation needed ]
"Fairy circles", which are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 22 and 12 metres (7 and 39 ft) in diameter and often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass, are found in the western part of the desert, in the Pilbara region. It has not yet been proven what causes these formations, but one theory suggests that they have been built and inhabited by Australian harvester termites since the Pleistocene. [5] [6]
The region is sparsely populated. The main populations consist of Aboriginal Australian communities and mining centres. The Aboriginal people of the desert fall into two main groups, the Martu in the west and the Pintupi in the east. Linguistically, they are speakers of multiple Western Desert languages. Many of these Indigenous people were forcibly removed from their lands during the late 18th, 19th, and the early 20th centuries, to be relocated to other settlements, such as Papunya in the Northern Territory. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some of the original inhabitants returned. Young adults, from the Great Sandy Desert region, travel to and work in the Wilurarra Creative programs to maintain and develop their culture, and a greater sense of community. [7]
Rainfall is low throughout the coast and, especially further north, is strongly seasonal. Areas near the Kimberley have an average rainfall that exceeds 300 mm (12 in), but can be patchy. Many dry years end with a monsoon cloud mass or a tropical cyclone. Like many of Australia's deserts, precipitation is high by desert standards, but with the driest regions recording total rainfall a little below 250 mm (9.8 in). The heat of Australia’s ground surface, in turn, creates a massive evaporation cycle, which partially explains the higher-than-normal desert rainfall. This region is one which gives rise to the heat lows, which help drive the NW monsoon. Almost all the rain regionally comes from monsoon thunderstorms, or the occasional tropical cyclone rain depression. [8]
Annually, for most of the area, there are about 20–30 days where thunderstorms form. However, in the north and bordering the Kimberley, 30-40 per year is the average. [9]
Summer daytime temperatures are some of the highest in Australia. [10] Regions further south average 38 to 42 °C (100 to 108 °F), except when monsoonal cloud cover is active. Several people have died in this region during seasonal flooding, after their vehicles were stuck or broken down on remote dirt roads. Conversely, a few travellers have had their vehicles malfunction during the hottest times of the year, with dehydration, sun exposure and heatstroke being the predominant causes of death. [11] Winters are short and warm; temperatures range from 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F).
Frost does not occur in most of the area. The regions bordering the Gibson Desert in the far southeast may record a light frost or two every year. [12] Away from the coast winter nights can still be chilly in comparison to the warm days.
Climate data for Telfer, Western Australia (temperatures, extremes and rain data 1974 - 2013) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 48.1 (118.6) | 47.1 (116.8) | 45.1 (113.2) | 41.2 (106.2) | 38.0 (100.4) | 33.9 (93.0) | 33.4 (92.1) | 36.0 (96.8) | 41.3 (106.3) | 44.1 (111.4) | 46.0 (114.8) | 47.5 (117.5) | 48.1 (118.6) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 40.6 (105.1) | 38.6 (101.5) | 37.3 (99.1) | 34.5 (94.1) | 29.1 (84.4) | 25.3 (77.5) | 25.3 (77.5) | 28.4 (83.1) | 32.7 (90.9) | 37.0 (98.6) | 39.4 (102.9) | 40.2 (104.4) | 34.0 (93.2) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 26.0 (78.8) | 25.4 (77.7) | 23.9 (75.0) | 20.6 (69.1) | 15.3 (59.5) | 11.9 (53.4) | 10.6 (51.1) | 12.5 (54.5) | 16.5 (61.7) | 20.8 (69.4) | 23.4 (74.1) | 25.4 (77.7) | 19.4 (66.9) |
Record low °C (°F) | 17.2 (63.0) | 17.7 (63.9) | 14.4 (57.9) | 11.5 (52.7) | 5.6 (42.1) | 2.1 (35.8) | 3.0 (37.4) | 2.5 (36.5) | 6.2 (43.2) | 10.5 (50.9) | 13.0 (55.4) | 16.5 (61.7) | 2.1 (35.8) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 49.1 (1.93) | 102.7 (4.04) | 77.3 (3.04) | 20.0 (0.79) | 18.5 (0.73) | 12.1 (0.48) | 13.2 (0.52) | 5.4 (0.21) | 2.5 (0.10) | 2.9 (0.11) | 16.5 (0.65) | 46.9 (1.85) | 370.4 (14.58) |
Average precipitation days | 7.5 | 8.7 | 5.9 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 5.3 | 42.6 |
Source: Bureau of Meteorology [13] |
Indigenous art is a huge industry in central Australia. Mines, most importantly the Telfer gold mine and Nifty copper mine, and cattle stations are found in the far west. Telfer is one of the largest gold mines in Australia. The undeveloped Kintyre uranium deposit lies south of Telfer.
The vegetation of the Great Sandy Desert is dominated by spinifex. [14]
Animals in the region include feral camels and dingoes. Other mammalian inhabitants include bilbies, mulgara, marsupial moles, rufous hare-wallabies, and red kangaroos.
Varied types of lizards occur here, such as goannas (including the large perentie), thorny devils, and bearded dragons.
Some of the bird-life found within the desert include the rare Alexandra's parrot, the mulga parrot and the scarlet-chested parrot. [15]
The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.
The Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a global biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna.
The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost pristine state. It is about 155,000 square kilometres (60,000 sq mi) in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The Gibson Desert is both an interim Australian bioregion and desert ecoregion.
The Carnarvon xeric shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Western Australia. The ecoregion is coterminous with the Carnarvon Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregion.
The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is a desert region in the state of Western Australia, lying to the east of the Pilbara and north of the Gascoyne regions. It is part of the Western Desert cultural region, and was declared an interim Australian bioregion in the 1990s.
The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia, situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about 2,700,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi), or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert. Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, they are primarily distributed throughout the Western Plateau and interior lowlands of the country, covering areas from South West Queensland, Far West region of New South Wales, Sunraysia in Victoria and Spencer Gulf in South Australia to the Barkly Tableland in Northern Territory and the Kimberley region in Western Australia.
Coolgardie is an Australian bioregion consisting of an area of low hills and plains of infertile sandy soil in Western Australia. It has an area of 129,122.09 square kilometres (49,854.32 sq mi). It includes much of the Great Western Woodlands.
The Ord Victoria Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising 12,540,703 hectares.
Yalgoo is an interim Australian bioregion located in Western Australia. It has an area of 5,087,577 hectares. The bioregion, together with the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions, is part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion as classified by the World Wildlife Fund.
Western Australia occupies nearly one third of the Australian continent. Due to the size and the isolation of the state, considerable emphasis has been made of these features; it is the second largest administrative territory in the world, after Yakutia in Russia, despite the fact that Australia is only the sixth largest country in the world by area, and no other regional administrative jurisdiction in the world occupies such a high percentage of a continental land mass. It is also the only first level administrative subdivision to occupy the entire continental coastline in one cardinal direction.
The Northern Territory (NT) occupies the north central part of the continent of Australia. The Northern Territory borders are to the west with Western Australia, the Western Australia border being near the 129° east longitude. The NT to the south with the South Australian border being the 26th parallel south latitude. To the east the NT with the Queensland border along the 138° east longitude.
Solanum chippendalei is a small fruiting shrub in the family Solanaceae, native to northern Australia. It is named after its discoverer, George Chippendale. The fruits, known as "bush tomatoes", are edible and are an important indigenous food, and the aborigines who use them broadcast the seed for later harvesting.
The Great Sandy-Tanami desert is a ecoregion of Western Australia extending into the Northern Territory. It is designated as a World Wildlife Fund region.
The Eremaean province is a botanical region in Western Australia, characterised by a desert climate. It is sometimes referred to as the dry and arid inland or interior region of Western Australia It is one of John Stanley Beard's phytogeographic regions of WA, based on climate and types of vegetation who, in "Plant Life of Western Australia" (p. 29-37) gives a short history of the various mappings.
The botanical provinces of Western Australia (or Beard's Provinces) delineate "natural" phytogeographic regions of WA, based on climate and types of vegetation. John Stanley Beard, in "Plant Life of Western Australia" (p. 29-37) gives a short history of the various mappings.
The Pilbara shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in Western Australia. It is coterminous with the Pilbara IBRA region. For other definitions and uses of "Pilbara region" see Pilbara.
Tanami is an interim Australian bioregion, comprising 25,997,277 hectares in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is part of the Great Sandy-Tanami desert ecoregion.
Davenport Murchison Ranges is an interim Australian bioregion located in the Northern Territory. It has an area of 5,805,108 hectares. The bioregion is part of the larger Great Sandy-Tanami desert ecoregion.
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