Great Victoria Desert

Great Victoria Desert

The Great Victoria Desert is a barren, arid, and sparsely populated desert ecoregion in southern Australia. It falls inside the states of South Australia and Western Australia and consists of many small sandhills, grasslands and salt lakes. It is over 700 kilometres (435 miles) wide (from west to east) and covers an area of convert|424400|km2. The Western Australia Mallee shrub ecoregion lies to the west, the Little Sandy Desert to the northwest, the Gibson Desert and the Central Ranges xeric shrublands to the north, the Tirari and Sturt's Stony deserts to the east, and the Nullarbor Plain to the south separates it from the Southern Ocean.

Due to the aridity and dryness of the desert, almost no farming activity is carried out there, and it is a protected area of Western Australia.

Within South Australia, is Mamungari Conservation Park, one of the twelve World Biosphere Reserves [http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/biosphere/] in Australia and contains pristine arid zone wilderness and possesses cultural significance.

The average annual rainfall is low, ranging from 200 to 250 mm (8 to 10 in) per year. Thunderstorms are relatively common in the Great Victoria Desert, with an average of 15 - 20 thunderstorms per annum. Summer daytime temperatures range from 32 to 40 °C (90 to 104 °F). In winter, this falls to 18 to 23 °C (64 to 75 °F). Snow never falls in the Great Victoria Desert.

It is inhabited by many different groups of Indigenous Australians, including the Kogara and the Mirning.

In 1875, British explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross the desert. He named the desert after the then-reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria.

It is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) region.cite paper | author = Environment Australia | title = Revision of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) and Development of Version 5.1 - Summary Report | publisher = Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Australian Government | url = http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/ibra/version5-1/summary-report/index.html | accessdate = 2007-01-31] [http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/ibra/version6-1/index.html IBRA Version 6.1] data]

References

ee also

*Australasia ecozone
*Ecoregions of Australia
*List of deserts by area

External links

* [http://home.iprimus.com.au/ozthunder/oz/gibson.html Climate of the Great Victoria Desert and Gibson Desert]


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  • Great Victoria Desert — S section of the vast desert region of Western Australia …   English World dictionary

  • Great Victoria Desert — a desert in SW central Australia. 125,000 sq. mi. (324,000 sq. km). Also called Victoria Desert. * * * Arid region, Western Australia and South Australia. Lying between Gibson Desert on the north and Nullarbor Plain on the south, it extends east… …   Universalium

  • Great Victoria Desert — Basisdaten Geografische Lage: 129° ö. L. 27° s. B. Fläche: 424.400 km² Jährlicher Niederschlag: 150 250 mm Durchschnittliche Tageshöchsttemperatur: 30 °C …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Great Victoria Desert — noun a desert region in south central Australia to the north of the Nullarbor Plain • Instance Hypernyms: ↑desert • Part Holonyms: ↑Australia, ↑Commonwealth of Australia, ↑Australian Desert, ↑Great Australian Desert …   Useful english dictionary

  • Great Victoria Desert — Great′ Victo′ria Des′ert n. geg a desert in SW central Australia. 125,000 sq. mi. (324,000 sq. km) …   From formal English to slang

  • Great Victoria Desert — /vɪkˈtɔriə/ (say vik tawreeuh) noun a large desert area north of the Nullarbor Plain extending from Lake Barlee, WA, across north western SA …  

  • Latitude Hill (Great Victoria Desert) — Latitude Hill is a hill in the Great Victoria Desert, Western Australia. It is located at coord|26|20|8|S|128|56|40|E|display=inline,title|type:mountain scale:100000,Gazetteer of Australia (1996). Belconnen, ACT: Australian Surveying and Land… …   Wikipedia

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