Deserts cover a large portion of the land in Australia. Most of the deserts lie in the central and north-western part of the country. The largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. The size of the deserts in Australia combined is 1,371,000 square kilometres (529,000 sq mi), and occupy 18% of the continent.[1]
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Larger Australian Deserts
| Desert | State/Territory | Size | Proportion of Australian landmass |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Victoria Desert | Western Australia, South Australia | 348,750 km2 | 134,650 sq mi | 4% |
| Great Sandy Desert | Western Australia | 267,250 km2 | 103,190 sq mi | 3.5% |
| Tanami Desert | Western Australia, Northern Territory | 184,500 km2 | 71,200 sq mi | 2.4% |
| Simpson Desert | Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia | 176,500 km2 | 68,100 sq mi | 2.3% |
| Gibson Desert | Western Australia | 156,000 km2 | 60,000 sq mi | 2.0% |
| Little Sandy Desert | Western Australia | 111,500 km2 | 43,100 sq mi | 1.5% |
| Strzelecki Desert | South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales | 80,250 km2 | 30,980 sq mi | 1.0% |
| Sturt Stony Desert | South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales | 29,750 km2 | 11,490 sq mi | 0.3% |
| Tirari Desert | South Australia | 15,250 km2 | 5,890 sq mi | 0.2% |
| Pedirka Desert | South Australia | 1,250 km2 | 480 sq mi | 0.1% |
Note that the Western Desert comprises the Gibson Desert, the Great Sandy and Little Sandy Deserts and lies within Western Australia and South Australia. The total area is 524,750 km2 (202,610 sq mi) and is about 90% of the total Australian landmass.
Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert lies in Western Australia and South Australia. It is over 700 kilometres (430 mi) wide and covers an area of 424,000 square kilometres (164,000 sq mi).n
Gibson Desert
The Gibson Desert lies in central Western Australia and is made up of sandhills and dry grass. The desert is about 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi) in size. Most of the inhabitants of the area are Indigenous Australians.
Simpson Desert
The Simpson Desert lies mainly in the south-east part of the Northern Territory, but parts of it are also in Queensland and South Australia. It covers an area of almost 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi). The Simpson Desert contains the world's longest parallel sand dunes.
Other Australian Deserts
Desert Groups
- Western Desert – grouping of Gibson, Great Sandy and Little Sandy Deserts.
References
External links
- Encarta (Archived 2009-10-31)
- World Book
- National Geographic
Further reading
- Johnson, John & Catherine de Courcy.(1998) Desert Tracks Port Melbourne, Vic. Lothian Books. ISBN 0850918111
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