Geography of Australia

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This article deals with the geography of the Commonwealth of Australia. For a treatment of the continent, see Australia (continent).

Geography of Australia

Continent	Australia
Region	Oceania
Coordinates	[27° S 144° E]
Area	Ranked 6th 7,686,850 km² 2 967 909.38 miles² 99% land 1% water
Coastline	25,760 km (16 006.5 miles)
Borders	0 km
Highest point	Mount Kosciuszko 2,228 m (7,309.7 ft)
Lowest point	Lake Eyre -15 m (82 ft)
Longest river	Murray River
Largest lake	Lake Eyre

The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts.

Australia is in a continental tectonic plate of the Indo-Australian Plate.

Contents

1 Physical geography

1.1 Geology
1.2 Hydrology

2 Political geography
3 Climate
4 Land use
5 Natural hazards
6 Environment
7 See also
8 References

Physical geography

Australia is a continent in Oceania located between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean at [27° S 144° E]. It is the sixth largest country in the world with a total area of 7,686,850 square kilometres (2,967,909 sq. mi) (including Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island), making it slightly smaller than the continuous 48 states of the United States and 31.5 times bigger than the United Kingdom.

Australia has a total 25,760 kilometres (16,007 mi) of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,057 sq. mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory. It has no land borders.

Geology

Australia has had a relatively stable geological history. Geological forces such as Tectonic uplift of mountain ranges or clashes between tectonic plates occurred mainly in Australia's early history, when it was still a part of Gondwana. Erosion and weathering have heavily weathered Australia's surface and it is one of the flattest countries in the world.

Australia is situated in the middle of the tectonic plate, and therefore has no active volcanism, although it may sometimes receive minor earthquakes. The terrain is mostly heavily weathered, low plateau with deserts, rangelands and a fertile plain in the southeast. Tasmania and the Australian Alps do not contain any permanent icefields or glaciers, although they may have existed in the past. The Great Barrier Reef, by far the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast. Mount Augustus, in Western Australia, is the largest monolith in the world.

Hydrology

Topography of Australia

The Great Artesian Basin - an important source of water, it is the world's largest and deepest fresh water basin. A number of towns and cities across the country are facing major water storage and usage crisis in which restrictions and other measures are taken to reduce water consumption. Water restrictions are based on a gradient of activities that become progressively banned as the situation worsens.

Political geography

States and territories of Australia

Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Climate

Climate map of Australia

By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid – 40% of the landmass is covered by sand dunes. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests, part grasslands, and part desert.

Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts lasting several seasons. Occasionally a duststorm will blanket a region or even several states and there are reports of the occasional large tornado. Rising levels of salinity and desertification in some areas is ravaging the landscape.

Australia's tropical/subtropical location and cold waters off the western coast make most of western Australia a hot desert with aridity, a marked feature of greater part of the continent. These cold waters produce precious little moisture needed on the mainland. A 2005 study by Australian and American researchers [link] investigated the desertification of the interior, and suggested that one explanation was related to human settlers who arrived about 50,000 years ago. Regular burning by these settlers could have prevented monsoons from reaching interior Australia.

Land use

Natural resources include: bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum.

Land use:

arable land: 6%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 54%
forests and woodland: 19%
other: 21% (1993 est.)

Oil and Gas: Australia saw its oil production drop more than 14 percent in 2003, almost twice the average decline rate since it peaked in 2000. An oil shale deposit called the Stuart Deposit is located near Gladstone. It has a total resource of 2.6 billion barrels and the capacity to produce more than 200,000 barrels each day.

Irrigated land: 21,070 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards

Cyclones along the northern coasts; severe thunderstorms, droughts and occasional floods; frequent bushfires. Fire bans, drought status and water use restrictions exist in some areas.

Environment

Current issues: soil erosion from overgrazing, industrial development, urbanization, and poor farming practices; soil salinity rising due to the use of poor quality water; desertification; clearing for agricultural purposes threatens the natural habitat of many unique animal and plant species; the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, the largest coral reef in the world, is threatened by increased shipping and its popularity as a tourist site; limited natural fresh water resources; threats from invasive species

International agreements:

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban 1963, Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 1994, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification

The Victorian Alps

References

Miller, Gifford et al. [Sensitivity of the Australian Monsoon to insolation and vegetation: Implications for human impact on continental moisture balance]. Geology Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 65–68.
Some information in this article has been taken from the CIA World Factbook, 2000 edition.

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