Geography of Australia
The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country. The population is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts; regular, tropical, invigorating, sea breeze known as "the Doctor" occurs along the west coast in the summer.
Table of contents |
2 Climate and terrain 3 Natural resources and land use 4 Environment 5 Reference 6 Related topics |
Location:
Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean
Geographic coordinates: 27 00 S, 133 00 E
Map references: Oceania
Area:
Area and boundaries
note: includes Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island
Area comparative
- Canada comparative: about 4 times bigger than Nunavut
- United Kingdom comparative: about 31.5 times bigger than the UK
- United States comparative: slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states
Coastline: 25,760 km
Maritime claims:
- contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles
- continental shelf: 200 nautical miles or to the edge of the continental margin
- exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles
- territorial sea: 12 nautical miles
Climate and terrain
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 is situated in the middle of the tectonic plate, and therefore has no volcanism, although it may sometimes receive minor earthquakes. The terrain is mostly heavily weathered, low plateau with deserts, rangelands and a fertile plain in southeast. Tasmania and the Australian Alps contain a number of permanent icefields and numerous glaciers. The Great Barrier Reef, by far the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast. Uluru, in central Australia, is the largest monolith in the world.
Elevation extremes:
- lowest point: Lake Eyre: -15 m
- highest point: Mount Kosciuszko: 2,229 m
Natural resources and land use
Natural resources include: bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum.
Australia is home to the Great Artesian Basin - an important source of water for people and cattle in the parched outback. This basin is the world's largest and deepest fresh water basin.
Land use:
- arable land: 6%
- permanent crops: 0%
- permanent pastures: 54%
- forests and woodland: 19%
- other: 21% (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: cyclones along the northern coasts; severe thunderstorms, droughts and occasional floods; frequent bushfires
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
International agreements:
Environment
Reference
Related topics