Deserts of Australia 2

Deserts of Australia

Deserts of Australia

There are many Australian Deserts. These include • Great Victoria Desert• Great Sandy Desert• Tanami Desert• Simpson Desert• Gibson Desert• Little Sandy Desert• Strzelecki Desert• Sturt Stony Desert• Tirari Desert• Pedirka Desert

About 70% of the Australian mainland is classified as semi-arid, arid or desert and is the driest inhabited continent on Earth.

Great Victoria Desert The biggest desert in Australia is The Great Victoria Desert covering an area of over 420,000 square kilometres from the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia to the Gawler Ranges in South Australia. It has many small sandhills, grassland plains, areas with a closely packed surface of pebbles and salt lakes.

Great Sandy Desert

Australia’s second largest Desert, the Great Sandy Desert, is located in the north of Western Australia, below the Kimberley region on the northern coast. It covers an area of about 280,000 square kilometres. Dry season temperatures are around 38 to 42°C and wet season days reach around 25 to 30°C. Nights can get very cold, even freezing.

Tanami DesertThe Tanami Desert is known as one of the most isolated and arid places on earth. Australia’s third largest Desert is located north west of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory to the east of the Great Sandy Desert.

Simpson DesertThe fourth largest Australian desert is the Simpson Desert located in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland. It has large areas of dry, red sandy plain and dunes and in fact is the world's largest sand dune desert.

Gibson DesertThe 5th largest desert in Australia, the Gibson Desert is located in Western Australia covering an area of about 155,000 square kilometres. The Gibson Desert was named after Alfred Gibson who became lost and died in this desert during an expedition in 1874.

Little Sandy DesertAustralia’s sixth largest desert, located in Western Australia, is the Little Sandy Desert with a area of 111,500 square kilometres.

It is named because it is near to and looks like the Great Sandy Desert, but it is much smaller.

Strzelecki DesertThe Strzelecki Desert is situated in the Far North Region of South Australia, South West Queensland and western New South Wales. As the seventh largest desert in Australia it covers an area of 80,250 square kilometres. It has many sand dune fields and is named after the Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki.

Sturt Stony DesertLocatated in north-east of South Australia, the Sturt Stony Desert was named by Charles Sturt in 1844, while he was trying to find an inland sea.

Tirari DesertCovering an area of15,250 square kilometres, the Tirari Desert in South Australia contains salt lakes and many large sand dunes.

Pedirka DesertThe Pedirka Desert is a small desert of about 1,250 square kilometres, located about 100 kilometres north-west of Oodnadatta in South Australia.