The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
and
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
in central
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
.
It is the fourth-largest
Australian desert, with an area of .
The desert is underlain by the
Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over , with measured water temperatures ranging from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of ...
, one of the largest inland drainage areas in the world. Water from the basin rises to the surface at numerous natural springs, including
Dalhousie Springs, and at
bores drilled along stock routes, or during
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
exploration. As a result of exploitation by such bores, the flow of water to springs has been steadily decreasing in recent years. It is also part of the
Lake Eyre basin
The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large porti ...
.
The Simpson Desert is an
erg
The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10−7joules (100 nJ). It originated in the Centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). It has the symbol ''erg''. The erg is not an SI unit. Its name is derived from (), a Greek word meaning 'work' o ...
that contains the world's longest parallel
sand dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
. These north-south oriented dunes are static, held in position by vegetation. They vary in height from in the west to around on the eastern side. The largest dune, Nappanerica or Big Red, is in height.
History
Aboriginal history
The
Wangkangurru
The Wangkangurru, also written Wongkanguru and Wangkanguru, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Simpson Desert area in the state of South Australia. They also refer to themselves as Nharla.
Country
Norman Tindale estimated their tribal sw ...
people lived in the Simpson Desert using hand-dug wells called ''mikiri'' from long
before European colonisation until the
Federation Drought
In Australia, the Federation Drought is the name given to a prolonged period of drought that occurred around the time of Federation in 1901.
Though often thought of as a long drought, until the record dry year of 1902 the period was actually one ...
.
Post-colonisation
Explorer
Charles Sturt
Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and la ...
, who visited the region from 1844 to 1846, was the first European to see the desert. In 1880,
Augustus Poeppel, a surveyor with the South Australian Survey Department, determined the border between Queensland and South Australia to the west of
Haddon Corner
Haddon Corner is a heritage-listed site in Tanbar, Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is in outback Channel Country at South-West Queensland, on the border corner with South Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Regist ...
, and in doing so, marked the corner point where the States of Queensland and South Australia meet the Northern Territory. After he returned to Adelaide, the links in his surveyor's chain were found to have been stretched. Poeppel's border post was too far west by 300 m. In 1884, surveyor Larry Wells moved the post to its proper position on the eastern bank of Lake Poeppel. The tristate border is now known as
Poeppel Corner. In January 1886, surveyor
David Lindsay ventured into the desert from the western edge, in the process discovering and documenting, with the help of a Wangkangurru Aboriginal man, 9 native wells, and travelling as far east as the Queensland/Northern Territory border.
In 1936,
Ted Colson became the first nonindigenous person to cross the desert in its entirety, riding camels. The name Simpson Desert was coined by
Cecil Madigan, after
Alfred Allen Simpson, an Australian industrialist, philanthropist, and geographer, and president of the South Australian branch of the
Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. Mr Simpson was the owner of the Simpson washing machine company.
In September 1962, geologist
Reg Sprigg
Reginald Claude Sprigg, (1 March 1919 – 2 December 1994) was an Australian geologist and conservationist. At 17 he became the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society of South Australia. During 1946, in the Ediacara Hills, South Australia he di ...
, his wife Griselda, and their two children completed the first vehicular crossing of the desert.
In 1980,
Bob Beer became the first person to run across the Simpson. Beer ran 420 km across the desert in 6.5 days, starting at Alka Seltzer Bore, South Australia and finishing at
Birdsville, Queensland. A documentary was made about this trip called “The Runner”.
In 1984,
Dennis Bartel was the first white man to successfully walk solo and unsupported west-to-east across the Simpson, 390 km in 24 days, relying on old Aboriginal wells for water. In 2006, Lucas Trihey was the first nonindigenous person to walk across the desert through the geographical centre away from vehicle tracks and unsupported. He carried all his equipment in a two-wheeled cart, and crossed from East Bore on the western edge of the desert to Birdsville in the east. In 2008, Michael Giacometti completed the first, and only, east-to-west walk across the Simpson Desert. Starting at
Bedourie in Queensland, he walked solo and unsupported, towing all his equipment, food, and water in a two-wheeled cart to Old
Andado homestead. Also in 2008, Belgian
Louis-Philippe Loncke
Louis-Philippe Loncke is a Belgian explorer, adventurer and motivational speaker. In 2008, he achieved the world first crossing on foot of the length of the Simpson desert, which was a North to South traverse passing through its geographical ce ...
became the first non-indigenous person to complete a north–south crossing of the desert on foot, unsupported, and through the geographical centre.
In 2016, explorer
Sebastian Copeland
Sebastian Copeland (born 3 April 1964) is a British-American-French photographer, polar explorer, author, lecturer, and environmental advocate. He has led numerous expeditions in the polar regions to photograph and film endangered environments. In ...
and partner Mark George completed the longest unsupported latitudinal crossing (west-to-east across the dunes) of the Simpson They linked the
Madigan Line,
Colson Track
Colson Track is a remote dirt track in Australia running between Numery Station in Hale, Northern Territory, and the Simpson Desert in South Australia. It is named in honour of Ted Colson
Edmund Albert "Ted" Colson (3 June 1881 – 27 Fe ...
and
French Line
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for the first time, walking from
Old Andado homestead to
Birdsville, a distance of in 26 days.
In 1967, the Queensland government established the
Munga-Thirri National Park
Munga-Thirri National Park, formerly known as the Simpson Desert National Park, is the largest national park in Queensland, Australia, 1,495 km west of Brisbane, Australia, Brisbane. The park covers an area of in the Simpson Desert surroun ...
, formerly known as the Simpson Desert National Park.
Access
No maintained roads cross the desert. The
Donohue Highway
The Donohue Highway is a mostly unpaved outback track that leads through the northern foothills of the Simpson Desert in Queensland to Tobermorey Homestead, Northern Territory near the Northern Territory/Queensland border in Australia.
The roa ...
is an unpaved outback track passing from near
Boulia towards the Northern Territory border in the north of the desert. Some tracks were created during seismic surveys in the search for gas and oil during the 1960s and 1970s. These include the French Line, the Rig Road, and the QAA Line. Such tracks are still navigable by well-equipped four-wheel drive vehicles that must carry extra fuel and water. Towns providing access to the South Australian edge of the Simpson Desert include
Innamincka to the south and
Oodnadatta
Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback roa ...
to the southwest; and from the eastern (Queensland) side include
Birdsville,
Bedourie,
Thargomindah, and
Windorah. The last fuel on the western side is at the Mount Dare hotel and store. Before 1980, a section of the
Commonwealth Railways Central Australian line passed along the western side of the Simpson Desert. The less travelled Madigan Line runs from Old Andado Station to Birdsville. The geographic centre of the desert can be reached by driving 80 km north from the French Line via the Centre Line.
Visitor attractions
The desert is popular with tourists, particularly in winter, and popular landmarks include the ruins and mound springs at
Dalhousie Springs, Purnie Bore wetlands, Approdinna Attora Knoll and Poeppel Corner (where Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory meet). Because of the excessive heat and inadequately experienced drivers attempting to access the desert in the past, the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( fil, Kagawaran ng Kapaligiran at Likas na Yaman, DENR or KKLY) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for governing and supervising the exploration, developmen ...
has decided since 2008–2009 to close the Simpson Desert during the summer – to save unprepared "adventurers" from themselves.
Another attraction is the Big Red Bash, which is billed as the most remote
music festival
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...
on Earth.
The event features concerts and a Big Red Bash drag race across sand dunes to raise money for the
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...
.
[ ]
The desert can also be crossed by bicycle. The
Simpson Desert Bike Challenge
The Simpson Desert Bike Challenge (SDBC) is an annual staged mountain bike race held in the Simpson Desert of Australia. First held in 1987, the SDBC is run by the Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation Desert Challenge Inc
The SDBC c ...
crosses the Simpson Desert every year in September.
Climate
The area has an extremely hot, dry
desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in deser ...
. Rainfall is minimal, averaging only about 150 mm per year and falling mainly in summer.
Temperatures in summer can approach 50 °C and large
sand storms are common. Winters are generally cool, but heatwaves even in the middle of July are not unheard of.
Some of the heaviest rain in decades occurred during 2009–2010, and caused the Simpson Desert to burst into life and colour. In early March 2010, Birdsville recorded more rain in 24 hours than is usual in a whole year. Rain inundated Queensland's north-west and Gulf regions. In total, 17 million megalitres of water entered the State's western river systems, leading to
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains ...
. In 2010, researchers uncovered the courses of ancient river systems under the desert.
Ecology
The Simpson Desert is also a large part of the
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the W ...
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
of the same name, which consists of the
Channel Country and the
Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields bioregion
A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use the ...
s of the
Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia
The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was deve ...
(IBRA).
[IBRA Version 6.1](_blank)
data
The flora of the Simpson Desert ecoregion is limited to drought-resistant shrubs and grasses, especially ''
Zygochloa paradoxa
''Zygochloa'' is a genus of desert plants in the grass family known only from Australia. The only known species is ''Zygochloa paradoxa'', commonly known as sandhill canegrass. It occurs in extremely arid areas such as the Simpson Desert
...
'' grass that holds the dunes together and the
spinifex and other tough grasses of side slopes and sandy desert floor between the dunes. The Channel Country section of the ecoregion lies to the northeast of the desert proper around the towns of Bedourie and Windorah in Queensland, and consists of low hills covered with
Mitchell grass
''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia. They are the dominant grass across much of the continent. They are commonly known as Mitchell grass aft ...
cut through with rivers lined with
coolabah trees. The ecoregion also includes areas of rocky upland and seasonally wet clay and salt pans, particularly Lake Eyre, the centre of one of the largest inland drainage systems in the world, including the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers.
Wildlife adapted to this hot, dry environment and seasonal flooding includes the
water-holding frog (''Litoria platycephala'') and a number of reptiles that inhabit the desert grasses. Endemic mammals of the desert include the
kowari (''Dasycercus byrnei''), while birds include the
grey grasswren
The grey grasswren (''Amytornis barbatus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found on arid inland floodplains of Australia where it is endemic. The grey grasswren is a rarely seen elusive bird that was first ...
(''Amytornis barbatus'') and
Eyrean grasswren
The Eyrean grasswren (''Amytornis goyderi'') is a small grasswren from the Passerine family Maluridae. This is a cryptically plumaged and uncommon bird endemic to arid regions of Central Australia. The species was discovered by F.W. Andrews in ...
(''Amytornis goyderi'').
Lake Eyre and the other seasonal wetlands are important habitats for fish and birds, especially as a breeding ground for waterbirds, while the rivers are home to birds, bats, and frogs. The seasonal wetlands of the ecoregion include Lake Eyre and the
Coongie Lakes
The Coongie Lakes is a freshwater wetland system located in the Far North region of South Australia. The lakes system is located approximately north of the Adelaide city centre. The wetlands includes lakes, channels, billabongs, shallow flood ...
, as well as the swamps that emerge when
Cooper Creek
The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its ...
,
Strzelecki Creek, and the Diamantina River are in flood. The birds that use these wetlands include the
freckled duck
The freckled duck (''Stictonetta naevosa)'' is a waterfowl species endemic to Australia. The freckled duck has also been referred to as the monkey duck or oatmeal duck. These birds are usually present in mainland Australia, but disperse to coas ...
(''Stictonetta naevosa''),
musk duck (''Biziura lobata''),
silver gull (''Larus novaehollandiae''),
Australian pelican (''Pelecanus conspicillatus''),
great egret
The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, an ...
(''Ardea alba''),
glossy ibis (''Plegadis falcinellus''), and
banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus''). Also, the mound springs of the Great Artesian Basin are important habitat for a number of plants, fish, snails, and other invertebrates.
Native vegetation is largely intact as the desert is uninhabitable, so habitats are not threatened by agriculture, but are damaged by introduced species, particularly rabbits and feral camels. The only human activity in the desert proper has been the construction of the gas pipelines, while the country on its fringes has been used for cattle grazing and contains towns such as
Innamincka. Mound springs and other waterholes are vulnerable to overuse and damage. Protected areas of the ecoregion include the
Simpson Desert,
Goneaway,
Lochern,
Bladensburg,
Witjira and
Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Parks as well as the
Innamincka Regional Reserve
Innamincka Regional Reserve is a protected area located in the north-east of South Australia which includes the town of Innamincka. The regional reserve was proclaimed on 22 December 1988 under '' National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972'' over a ...
, and the
Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert National Park.
Ethabuka Reserve is a nature reserve in the north of the desert owned and managed by
Bush Heritage Australia
Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, which is still its legal name. It's vision is: Heal ...
.
[Ethabuka Reserve]
Bush Heritage Australia. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
Dunefields
The extensive dunefields of the Simpson Desert display a range of colours from brilliant white to dark red, and include pinks and oranges.
Morphology
The sand ridges have a trend of SSE-NNW and continue parallel for great distances. This pattern is seen throughout the
deserts of Australia
The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about , or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert. Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, ...
. Some of the ridges continue unbroken for up to 200 km. The height and the spacing between the ridges are directly related. Where five to six ridges occur in 1 km, the dune height is around 15 m, but when only one or two ridges occur in 1 km, the height jumps to 35–38 m.
[ In cross section, the lee side is the eastern slope with an incline of 34-38°, while the stoss side is the western slope with an incline of only 10-20°. In cross section, the cross beds are planar with ]foresets A foreset bed is one of the main parts of a river delta. It is the inclined part of a delta that is found at the end of the stream channel as the delta sediment
Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of wea ...
alternating between east and west. The foresets have incline angles of 10-30°.[
]
Sediment
The sand is predominately made up of quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...
grains, which are rounded and subangular. They range in size from 0.05 to 1.2 mm with 0.5 mm being the typical size for the crests and 0.3 mm being the average size on the dune flanks. The active crests have sand sediment, but on the interdunes, the sediment is not as well sorted.[ The sediment varies in color from pink to brick red, but by the rivers and playas, the sediment color is light grey. The progression of the color from grey to red is due to the release of ]iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of wh ...
from the sediment when weathered.[
]
See also
*Australasian realm
The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and th ...
*Ecoregions of Australia
Ecoregions in Australia are geographically distinct plant and animal communities, defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature based on geology, soils, climate, and predominant vegetation.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) identified 825 terres ...
*List of deserts by area
This is a list of the largest deserts in the world by area. It includes all deserts above .
Notes
See also
* Desert
* Desertification
* List of deserts by continent
* Polar desert
Polar deserts are the regions of Earth that fall un ...
*Simpson Desert Important Bird Area
The Simpson Desert Important Bird Area comprises some 22,848 km2 of land within the Simpson Desert in south-western Queensland and north-eastern South Australia. It consists of five large contiguous reserves subject to little grazing p ...
References
External links
Trek notes for The Simpson Desert (ExplorOz)
Into the Simpson Desert: Join veteran desert archaeologist Dr Mike Smith on an expedition into the remote southern Simpson Desert (2007) - includes audio blog, expedition slideshow and photo diary
National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
{{Authority control
Deserts of Australia
Ergs
Deserts of the Northern Territory
Deserts of Queensland
Deserts of South Australia
Lake Eyre basin
Central Queensland
Far North (South Australia)
Australian outback tracks
Ecoregions of South Australia
Ecoregions of Queensland
Ecoregions of the Northern Territory
IBRA subregions
1930s neologisms