Download Australia`s Physical Environments

Australia’s Physical Environments Notes
The Australian continent
Australia’s geographical dimensions (size, shape, latitude and longitude)
- Size – Area of 7 million km2 – 6th largest in the world
- Shape – Compact, almost circular, with a mountain range in the east, otherwise fairly flat
- Latitude – 10° S to 43° S
- Longitude – 113° E to 153° E
The origins of the continent (different perspectives)
- Geological explanation
Techtonic plates move,
causing continental drift
Collision of plates
Folding + faulting
mountain ranges
Earthquakes + Volcanoes
(Pangaea > Gondwanaland and Laurasia > our seven continents)
-
Aboriginal explanation involved Dreamtime stories of spirit ancestors that shaped the landscape
Physical characteristics that make Australia unique
Landforms (check below map)
- Australia is relatively flat
o Eastern Highlands/Great Dividing Range, including the Snowy Mountains
o Central Lowlands, including the Simpson Desert and Finders Range
o Western Plateau, including the Nullarbor Plain and Uluru
Drainage basins
- Murray Darling Basin covers 14% of Australia’s land, including the Darling, Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers
- Important for agriculture, and provides habitat for flora and fauna, provides water (cotton, agriculture)
- The Murray Darling Basin faces many problems
o Declining health of red gums
o Loss of wetlands
o Increase in salinity of water
o Pollution
- There are different groups with different views
o Farmers would lose employment and jobs if the Plan (water buyback) goes ahead
o Conservationists want more water in the basin for more species/revival of the Basin
- Lake Eyre is also a drainage basin
Weather and Climate
- Latitude affects temperature – more northerly areas have higher temperature (tropical location)
- Eastern regions have higher rainfall due to direction of trade winds and warm ocean currents to Australia’s east
and Great Dividing Range leading to orographic rainfall
- Australia’s centre has high temperatures/law rainfall due to:
o GDR restricting rain
o Flatness of Australia in the middle
o Location near the Tropic of Capricorn – trade winds not bringing rain
KC Notes
Copyright 2013
Kris Choy
-
Climate graphs in different parts of Australia
Darwin
Brisbane
Alice Springs
Perth
Melbourne
Canberra
Sydney
Vegetation and fauna
- Vegetation Patterns
o On the east, Sclerophyll forests, woodlands and scattered rainforests on the coastline
o Further inland past GDR is grasslands, and even further near the middle are acacias
o South are Saltbushes
- These are caused by rainfall (Transpiration > condensation > rainfall)
o Trade winds and rainfall dominated on east, more ecosystems + sclerophylls
o Rainforest in east due to level of land and orographic rainfall
o Grasslands – not enough rainfall + precipitation (due to position – west of GDR)
o Acacias and mulgas in arid central regions – low growing, small leaves – less transpiration + not eaten
o Saltbush concentrated by salty soils – cannot sustain other plant forms, too salty
o Latitude – cool temperate vs tropical
- Fauna in Australia (Insect – found in (vegetation) – adaptations to survive area)
o Termites – Central Australia (Grasslands) – saliva and burrow underground
o Lizards (Thorny Devil) – Grasslands/Desert – thons to prevent predators
o Finches – Oasis/Desert – small and fast
o Camel – Desert – Stores water in humps
o Meat/Bulldog Ants – Desert – small
Natural resources
- Energy resources – black coal, uranium, liquefied natural gas – NSW, QLD, Vic
- Minerals – iron ore, bauxite, lead, diamonds, zinc ores, mineral sands – WA mostly, also in QLD and NT
- Soils – poor soils (low rainfall)
- Resources are found mainly in Western Australia and partly in Northern Territory and South Australia
KC Notes
Copyright 2013
Kris Choy
Major Landforms
KC Notes
Copyright 2013
Kris Choy