Tanami Desert

Last updated
Tanami Desert
Tanami Desert Panorama.jpg
Tanami Desert, 2014
IBRA 6.1 Tanami.png
The IBRA regions, with Tanami highlighted in red
Area259,972.77 km2 (100,376.05 sq mi)
Geography
Country Australia
State Western Australia, Northern Territory
Coordinates 20°S130°E / 20°S 130°E / -20; 130  

The Tanami Desert (Warlpiri : Jarnami) [1] is a desert in northern Australia, situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Contents

It has a rocky terrain and small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored by Australians of European descent until well into the twentieth century. It is traversed by the Tanami Track.

The name Tanami is thought to be an anglicisation of the Warlpiri name for the area, "Chanamee", meaning "never die". This referred to certain rock holes in the desert which were said never to run dry.

Under the name Tanami, the desert is classified as an interim Australian bioregion, comprising 25,997,277 hectares (64,240,670 acres). [2] [3] [4]

Biological resources

According to government commissions, the Tanami desert is uniquely "one of the most important biological areas to be found in Australia particularly as it provides refuge for several of Australia's rare and endangered species". [5] [6]

The species that are found include:

Significant bird species include:

Mineral resources

There are several mines in the Tanami Desert including:

Local indigenous groups

The Tanami Desert is part of Kukatja and Warlpiri country. The Tjurabalan live at the edge of the desert. [7]

There are a large number of cultural sites in the Tanami.

Southern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area

In July 2012, 10,000,000 hectares (25,000,000 acres) of the desert area (38% of the total bioregion) was declared an indigenous protected area or conservation zone. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ https://ausil.org.au/Dictionary/Warlpiri/index-english/index.htm
  2. ↑ Environment Australia. "Revision of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) and Development of Version 5.1 - Summary Report". Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Australian Government. Archived from the original on 2006-09-05. Retrieved 2007-01-31.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ↑ IBRA Version 6.1 data
  4. ↑ "Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA7) regions and codes". Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Commonwealth of Australia. 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Gibson, David F (1986). A biological survey of the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory. Vol. Technical report 072-9990. Alice Springs: Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory. p. 79. ISBN   0-7245-0836-8.
  6. ↑ Morton, S. R.; et al. (1995). "Refugia for biological diversity in arid and semi-arid Australia". Biodiversity Series, Paper No. 4. Australian Government: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Elias, Derek J (2001). Golden dreams: people, place and mining in the Tanami desert (Ph.D thesis). Australian National University.
  8. ↑ "Australia declares Tanami 'largest' conservation zone". BBC News. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Aboriginal desert reserve bigger than Tasmania". Australian Geographic. AAP. 11 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Horn, Allyson (10 July 2012). "Traditional owners to manage conservation zone". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Horn, Allyson (10 July 2012). "Australia's largest conservation zone declared" (transcript). Lateline. Australia: ABC1. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Southern Tanami declared a conservation zone" (Press release). Central Land Council. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2013.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Sandy Desert</span> Desert in Northern Western Australia

The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion, 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). The Gibson Desert lies to the south and the Tanami Desert lies to the east of the Great Sandy Desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ord Victoria Plain</span> Bioregion in Australia

The Ord Victoria Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising 12,540,703 hectares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Bonaparte</span> Bioregion in Western Australia and Northern Territory

The Victoria Bonaparte, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising 7,301,242 hectares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yalgoo bioregion</span> Bioregion in Western Australia

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Sandy–Tanami desert</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnhem Coast</span> Region in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Arnhem Coast, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, comprising an area of 3,335,669 hectares of the coastal plains that characterises central Arnhem Land in the Top End of the Northern Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Arnhem</span> Bioregion in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Central Arnhem, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, comprising an area of 3,462,433 hectares of central Arnhem Land in the Top End of the Northern Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darwin Coastal</span> Region in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Darwin Coastal, an IBRA bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Creek bioregion</span> Region in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Pine Creek biogeographic region, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, and comprises 2,851,777 hectares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf Coastal</span> Region in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Gulf Coastal, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, comprising 2,711,718 hectares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf Fall and Uplands</span> Region in Australia

The Gulf Fall and Uplands, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Queensland, comprising 11,847,909 hectares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf Plains</span> Region in Australia

The Gulf Plains, an interim Australian bioregion (IBRA), is located in the Northern Territory and Queensland, comprising 22,041,825 hectares. It is one of 89 such bioregions defined in Australia, with 419 subregions as of IBRA version 7, compared with the 85 bioregions and 403 subregions described in IBRA6.1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burt Plain</span> Ecoregion in the Northern Territory, Australia

Burt Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, and comprises 7,379,719 hectares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields</span> Bioregion in Australia

The Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields, an interim Australian bioregion, comprises 27,984,283 hectares, and is part of four state/territories of Australia: the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finke bioregion</span> Bioregion in South Australia and Northern Territory

Finke, an interim Australian bioregion, comprises 7,267,416 hectares, and is part of two state/territories of Australia: the Northern Territory and South Australia. It is part of the Central Ranges xeric scrub ecoregion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stony Plains</span> Region in Australia

Stony Plains, an interim Australian bioregion, comprises 13,166,372 hectares, and is part of two state/territories of Australia: the Northern Territory and South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sturt Plateau</span> Bioregion in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Sturt Plateau, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, and covers an area of 9,857,531 hectares. The bioregion has the code STU. There are three subregions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanami bioregion</span> Region in Australia

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davenport Murchison Ranges</span> Bioregion in the Northern Territory of Australia

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gawler bioregion</span> Region in South Australia

Gawler is an interim Australian bioregion located in South Australia. It has an area of 12,002,883 hectares. Gawler bioregion is part of the Tirari–Sturt stony desert ecoregion.

References

20°S130°E / 20°S 130°E / -20; 130

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.