The largest lakes in Australia. The largest salt lake in Australia

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There are 800 lakes in Australia. The basins of most of them were formed in early geological epochs and are relics. Many of the lakes (Amadies, Frome, Torrens) are filled only during the rainy season, which falls every few years. In normal times, they are dry basins.

Lakes of the Australian Capital Territory

• Burley Griffin
  An artificial lake in the center of the city, the capital. The construction was completed in 1964, after the Molonglo River between the city center and the Parliamentary Triangle was dammed. The property is located approximately geographic center city, and, in accordance with Griffin's original design, was the central point of the capital. Buildings of many central institutions were built on its banks, such as the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, the National Library of Australia, the Australian National University and the High Court of Australia, and the Australian Parliament House is located nearby.

Western Australian lakes

• Disappointment
  Salt lake in Western Australia. It dries up during the dry months. The lake received its modern name in 1897 and was named so by the traveler Frank Hann, who made a significant contribution to the study of the Pilbara region. Noticing a large number of streams in the study area, he hoped to find a large freshwater lake.
• Mackay
  One of hundreds of dry lakes scattered across Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Lake Mackay covers approximately 100 kilometers from north to south and from west to east.
• 
  A lake in southwestern Australia, notable for its pink color. The lake is surrounded by sand and eucalyptus forest along the edges. The island and the lake were discovered during the expedition of the British navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802. Captain Flinders is said to have spotted the lake by climbing to the top of the island. For tourists, Lake Hillier is not the most convenient object. Due to the lack of water navigation in this area, the most convenient way getting there is air transport, which is beyond the means of most people who want to see an unusual body of water.

Lakes of Queensland

• blue lake
  Lake in Queensland. Located 44 km east of Brisbane on the island of North Stradbroke. It is located 9 km west of Dunwich. The lake is located in Blue Lakes. The maximum depth of the lake is about 10 m. Rivers flow from the lake into the Meil ​​swamp.
• Ichem
  Volcanic lake in Queensland, occupies one of the maars of the Atherton Plateau. Ichem is a former stratovolcano. It was severely destroyed in a powerful explosion 18,750 years ago. Last eruption dates back to 1292.
• Kutaraba
  A lake in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, in the Great Sandy area.

Lakes of the Northern Territory

• Amadius
  Drying drainless salt lake in the central part. It is located about 350 km southwest of Alice Springs. The area is about 880 km². Due to the arid climate, Amadius is a completely dry lake for most of the year.
• Anbangbang-Billabong
  Billabong lake in the north, located between the rocks of Nawurlandja Rock and Naurlangie Rock in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory. The lake is about 2.5 km long and is home to many bird species. In the morning, marsupial wallabies can be observed on the shores.

Lakes of Tasmania

• burbury
  An artificial lake located in the western part of the island of Tasmania, a little east of Queenstown. It was formed as a result of the construction of the Crotty Dam, which blocked the King. The area of ​​the lake is 49 square kilometers. Thus, it is the sixth largest natural and artificial reservoirs Tasmania.
• great lake
  A lake located in the northern part of the Central Highlands of Tasmania. It is a natural lake that has been greatly enlarged by the construction of a dam. The area of ​​the lake is 170 square kilometers. Thus, it is the third largest natural and artificial reservoir in Tasmania.
• Dove
  A lake located in the north of the Central Highlands of Tasmania. The lake is located at an altitude of 934 m. The lake area is 0.86 km². Dove Lake is located in the northern part of Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair National Park. This park is part of an area called " wild nature Tasmanian Wilderness, which is the object world heritage UNESCO.
• Pedder
  Lake located in the southwestern part of the island of Tasmania. This place was originally a lake. natural origin with the same name - the "old" lake Pedder. In 1972, as a result of the installation of several dams, a much larger area was flooded, and the lake actually turned into a reservoir - the "new" Lake Pedder.
• St. Clair
  A lake in the Central Highlands of Tasmania. The maximum depth of the lake is 200 m; thus, it is the deepest lake in Australia. The area of ​​the lake is 30 square kilometers, the height of the water surface is 737 m above sea level. Lake St. Clair is located at the southern end of Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair.

Lakes of South Australia

• alegzandrina
  Lake in South Australia adjacent to the coast of the Great Australian Bight, which is part of indian ocean.
• Bonnie
  Coastal lake in the southeastern part of South Australia. This is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Australia. The lake is located 450 km from Adelaide and 13 km southwest of Millicent. Kanunda is located next to the shore of the lake. For more than 60 years, large volumes of wastewater from neighboring pulp and paper mills have negatively affected the state of the lake.
• Gairdner
  A large endorheic lake in central South Australia, it is considered the fourth largest salt lake in Australia when flooded. The lake covers more than 160 kilometers in length and 48 kilometers in width with a thickness of salt deposits reaching up to 1.2 meters in some places. It is located west of Lake Torrens, 150 km northwest of Port Augusta and 440 km northwest of Adelaide.
• torrens
  The second largest saline endorheic rift lake in Australia, South Australia, located 345 km north of Adelaide. The indicated area of ​​the lake is very conditional, since over the past 150 years it has been completely filled with water only once. Now the lake is included in Lake Torrens, for the passage to which a special permit is required.
• Frome
  A large endorheic lake in South Australia, located east of the Flinders Range. Frome is a large, shallow, drying lake covered with a crust of salt. The lake is about 100 km long and 40 km wide. Most of The lake is below the level of the oceans. Area - 2596 km². It occasionally fills with brackish water from dry creeks originating in the Flinders Range, located west of Fromu, or exclusively with water from the Strzelecki Creek in the north.
• 
  Dry lake in South Australia. It is located in the center of the vast pool of the same name. Occasionally filled to a level of 9 m below sea level. At the same time, its area is 9500 square meters. km., which makes it the largest lake in Australia. When dry, the lowest point of the lake bottom is at a height of -16 m, which is the lowest point in the country.

Australia, although it is called the "green continent", is actually a very arid continent with an insufficient number of rivers and fresh water. In the hot season, the already low-water rivers completely dry up, and 2-3 large rivers of the continent become noticeably shallow and turn into muddy streams. A few lakes are not fresh at all, but salty, and also significantly decrease during the dry season, sometimes turning into several separate puddles.

The greenest and most water-rich regions of the continent are located in the southeast, while in other places precipitation, underground springs and melting ice - everything that feeds rivers and lakes is a rare phenomenon. In some areas it rains less than once a year.

Therefore, the picture of the continental water spaces of Australia can be represented as follows:

• Drying rivers
• Lakes, mostly salty
• Artificial lakes and reservoirs

Rivers of Australia

The longest and abounding river Australia - Murray, flows in the very south of the Australian mainland and flows into Lake Alexandrina, connected through the strait to the Indian Ocean. Murray is fed by Murrumbidgee and Darling, the next largest.

Some of the rivers originate from glaciers in the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, others are collected from rain streams. Today, a dam has been built on the Murrumbidgee River, thanks to which the fresh water of the lake is accumulated in the artificial Yucambin Lake, which makes it possible to eliminate water shortages in adjacent settlements and provide irrigation agriculture in the valleys. The Darling River is formed from rainwater and small rivers flowing into it. Dries up during the dry season.

Rivers, which are formed by precipitation, are characterized by strong differences in water levels. For example, the Lachlan River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee, is famous for its floods. The maximum level of water rise in it was recorded in 1870, at 16 meters.

In Australia, river navigation is poorly developed. The lower Murray, the Murray tributaries, and the Lachlan River become navigable only in the spring and summer. But low-slung seagoing vessels cannot even enter the Murray Estuary, sandbars hindering passage.

Queensland's longest river, the Flinders, originates in the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range. In the summer rainy season, it is full of water, for several kilometers navigation opens on it. IN winter period despite the confluence of two tributaries, it dries up.

Australian explorers did not have a rich imagination and gave names to rivers, lakes and other geographical objects in honor of their compatriots. For example, two rivers Fitzroy flow in different parts of the mainland. One is in Queensland and drains into the Coral Sea. The other is in the state of Western Australia and flows into the Indian Ocean. Only the first is named after the governor of the state, Charles Fitzroy, and the second in honor of Captain Robert Fitzroy, a member of Charles Darwin's expedition.

Creek rivers

Who, at least a little interested in Australia, drew attention to the often used name "Scream". This word refers to temporary watercourses that do not have a permanent channel and dry up during the drought season. Such "rivers" become full-flowing only during the rainy season. After heavy rainfall, they often overflow and flood the surrounding plains. But due to the hot climate, quickly evaporating, they turn into marshy unconnected lakes or disappear altogether.

lakes of australia

The few Australian lakes can be characterized by three types:

• Natural freshwater lakes
• artificial freshwater lakes
• Salt lakes, some of which have not had water for thousands of years
• Lakes formed from ocean bays

The first largest lake, Eyre, is dry and salty. It is located in the desert. It becomes largest during the rainy season, when it fills up to its maximum size. And in the dry months, on the contrary, the water level drops, and the lowest point becomes the lowest point in the country. They feed Lake Eyre, filled with rainwater from the Queensland River. In the dry season, the lake turns into 2 lakes connected by a narrow strait.

Not far from Eyre is Lake Torrens, which is conditionally considered the second largest. The fact is that in the full volume of its banks it was filled with water. last time 150 years ago. The water in Torrens is salty with heavily saline soil around it. There are a majority of similar water spaces of different sizes in this country. Some of them have pronounced features, such as Lake Hiller, which is inhabited by living microorganisms that make the water in the lake pink. Or Frome, covered with a crust of salt.

Such scarcity fresh water forced the Australians to build artificial reservoirs. Western Australia has Lake Argyle, which feeds and waters the surrounding farmland. It is home to rare varieties of local fish, as well as a significant number of crocodiles. Fishing is allowed on the lake. Lake Burley Griffin was built in Canberra, now it adorns the panorama of the city, and large government institutions are built on its banks.

But Tasmania boasts lakes. All of them are freshwater and of natural origin, but some, as a result of the work carried out and the construction of dams, have significantly increased their original size. All lakes are included in the Tasmanian National Parks and Reserves, hiking trails for tourists have been laid to them, fishing is allowed in some.

Aquatic Treasures of Australia

Despite the aridity and scarcity of fresh water, Australia has water reserves. Huge reserves of artesian water are hidden under the firmament of the earth's surface. Underground pools make up almost 1/3 of the area of ​​the entire continent.

lakes of australia

Almost all lakes in Australia are anhydrous basins covered with saline clays. Occasionally filled with water, they turn into shallow muddy reservoirs. There are many of them on the Western Plateau (Western Australia), but the largest of them are located in South Australia.

Currently, microbiologists are studying the characteristics of organisms that live in salt lakes in Western Australia. There is a theory that the conditions of life in these reservoirs are about the same as on Mars. Along southeast coast many lagoons with water of varying degrees of salinity. They are separated from the sea by shallows and ridges. The largest freshwater lakes are in Tasmania.

Lake Eyre fills with water very rarely. At such a time it becomes the largest in Australia. This is the most low point on the mainland - 15 meters below sea level.

The lake is located in the desert of central Australia. Its pool is a closed system. The lower part of the lake bed is covered with a dense saline layer of soil. Even in the dry season there is little water left. It accumulates in miniature lakes on the salt bed of the lake. During the rainy season, rivers from northeast Queensland carry their waters to Lake Eyre. There are even small floods. This happens when heavy rains fall in the surrounding areas.

The second largest drainless salt lake on the continent is Torrens. It is located in South Australia. Over the past century and a half, it has only once been completely filled with water. The lake is part of the national parks. To visit it, a special permit is required.

Lake Frome is located in South Australia. It is large, drainless, shallow. It is covered with a crust of salt. Sometimes it is filled with water from the Strzelecki Creek. In the east, the lake borders on the Strzelecki Desert. There are two largest uranium deposits nearby. Endorheic Lake Gregory is located in the northeastern part of Western Australia.

It is freshwater, but after a few particularly dry years it can become salty. The lake is home to 174 species of invertebrates, crustaceans and fish. This figure is the highest among the lakes located in the arid zone of Australia. It is believed that the reason for this is prolonged flooding. fresh water. The lake is of great importance as a habitat and breeding ground for many water birds (terns, waders, cormorants, etc.).

Not far from the East Kimberley (Western Australia) is the artificial lake Argyle. It irrigates about 150 km of agricultural land. It has 26 species of freshwater fish. The most valuable of them are barramundi, bony bream, sleepy cod. Approximately 25,000 crocodiles live here. Lake Hillier is a small wonder of Middle Island, one of the many islets of the Exploration Archipelago off the southern coast of Western Australia.

The lake, bordered by a belt of snow-white salt, seems magical. It is surrounded by various types of eucalyptus trees. The lake is unusual because of its bright pink color. It is preserved even when water is collected in a container. Previously, scientists thought that the cause of the strange coloration was algae. However, studies have shown this theory to be false. There are no algae in the lake at all. The mystery of rose water has yet to be solved.

Almost in the very center of Tasmania, Great Lake is located. It, like the nearby lakes Eco and St. Clair, is one of the sources of the Derwent, the main river of the island. These bodies of water are very different from "typically Australian". They lurk in the depths of the mountains, bordered by wild rocks with formidable jagged ridges and surprisingly resemble picturesque lakes Switzerland and Scotland.

Introduction

Relevance: the study of the relief, climate and hydrography of the mainland is relevant, as this makes it possible to examine the nature of Australia in more detail and carefully.

The Australian continent is one of the oldest land masses, the flattest of all continents and, apart from Antarctica, the driest. This is the smallest continent the globe(7.6 million km2). From the north, west and south, Australia is washed by the Indian Ocean, and from the east - by the Pacific. In the north, archipelagos of islands and inland seas link it with Southeast Asia. Off the south coast is the largest island of the mainland - Tasmania. The northeastern coast of the continent is washed by the Coral Sea. The entire central part of the southern coast is washed by the waters of the Great Australian Gulf. The area of ​​the mainland is 7.7 million km2.

Almost one third of the mainland area, mostly inland, is a desert or semi-desert, not occupied by agricultural land. 60% of the territory is drainless, only one large Murray-Darling system in the southeast of the country is used for navigation and irrigation.

Australia is poor in surface waters, which is associated with the dominance of a dry tropical and subtropical climate on the mainland, the absence high mountains with snow and glaciers. Of all the atmospheric moisture falling on the territory of Australia, only 10-13% enters water bodies, the rest either evaporates or seeps into the soil and is consumed by plants. This is the main reason for the exceptional poverty of the continent in surface waters. During the year, only 350 km3 of water flows into the ocean from the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bAustralia (less than 1% of the total flow of the Earth's rivers). The distribution of surface waters across the mainland is very uneven. More than half of the volume of river runoff falls on the share of poorly developed areas north of the tropic. There are few rivers and lakes in Australia, about 60% of the mainland has no flow into the ocean. No other continent has such a relatively large area of ​​internal runoff. For the main part of the mainland, especially for its inland desert and semi-desert regions, temporary drains - screams - are characteristic. Water appears in them only after rare rains and for a short time. The remaining rivers of the mainland belong to the basins of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The rivers of the Indian Ocean basin are short, shallow, and often dry up during the dry season. The Pacific Ocean includes rivers flowing from the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range. These rivers are full of water throughout the year, as there is a lot of rainfall here; short and curvy. The food of most rivers of the mainland is predominantly rain, and in the Australian Alps it is mixed. There are about 800 lakes in Australia. Most of them are relic lakes, the basins of which were formed in more humid geological epochs. Many of Australia's modern lakes are dry basins filled with loose clay-saline silt, covered with a crust of salt or gypsum. They fill with water only after rare showers that fall in Western Australia once in a few years. Against the backdrop of a sparse hydrographic network and the almost complete absence of fresh lakes, Australia's amazing wealth of groundwater is striking. The area of ​​all artesian basins occupies 1/3 of the territory of the mainland. More than 15 artesian basins are confined to platform basement syneclises between the plateaus of Western Australia and the Great Dividing Range. The depth of groundwater is from 100 to 2100 m. Sometimes groundwater under natural pressure comes to the surface in the form of mineral springs. Australia's largest groundwater storage facility is the Great Artesian Basin.

Purpose: to characterize the hydrographic resources and show their impact on the nature of mainland Australia.

1. study the literature on the subject of Australian hydrography;

2. study the features of lakes and river systems in Australia;

3. show the impact of groundwater on the nature of the mainland.

Object: Australian continent

Subject: hydrographic objects of the mainland

Research methods:

Statistical;

Research;

Cartographic.

Structure term paper:

The introduction reveals the relevance, purpose, objectives, object, subject, as well as research methods for course work.

The first chapter deals with the geological structure and climatic conditions of the continent. The Australian platform throughout the geological history of the mainland has been subjected to slow uplifts, subsidences and faults. The climate is dry and continental.

The second chapter reflects the features of the hydrography of the mainland. Approximately 10% of the territory has a drain into the Pacific Ocean, the rest belongs to the Indian Ocean basin. There are many lake basins on the territory of Australia, but all of them are currently deprived of water and have turned into salt marshes. A distinctive feature of Australia is the wealth of groundwater. They accumulate in artesian basins that occupy the troughs of the ancient basement along the edges of the Western Plateau and in the Central Lowland.

In conclusion, a summary of the material of the two chapters is summarized, the results of the study are highlighted, and a conclusion is made on the entire course work.

Literature review: when writing a term paper, I mainly used the following sources: Ed. Pashkanga K.V., Physiography for preparatory departments of universities, M., 1995 .; Korinskaya V.A., Dushina I.V., Shchenev V.A., Geography 7th grade, M., 1993.; Vlasov T.V., Physical geography of the continents, M., "Enlightenment", 1976.-304p.; Pritula T. Yu., Physical geography of continents and oceans: textbook. higher allowance textbook institutions / T. Yu. Pritula, V. A. Eremina, A. N. Spryalin. – M.: Humanitarian. ed. center VLADOS, 2004. - 685 p.

The geological structure of Australia is the simplest in comparison with other continents. The Precambrian platform and the Hercynian foldbelt stand out in it. The Precambrian platform composes 2/3 of the mainland area of ​​the Western Plateau and almost the entire Central Lowland. West Side The platform represents the anteclise of the ancient basement, where Precambrian crystalline rocks and, to a lesser extent, Proterozoic and younger sedimentary formations are exposed. East End ancient foundation syneclise platforms. The Precambrian base is lowered here and covered by a layer of Mesozoic (mainly Cretaceous), Paleogene and Neogene marine and lacustrine sediments. Hercynian folded structures compose the eastern mountainous belt of the mainland. In addition to the Paleozoic folded-sedimentary formations, volcanic and intrusive rocks of all ages take part in its structure. The Australian platform was subjected to faults and oscillatory movements that occurred in connection with tectonic movements in geosynclines that framed it from the west and from the east. The West Australian geosyncline, which originated in the Precambrian, was part of a vast geosynclinal zone that framed the Archean and Proterozoic land cores in the southern hemisphere. The Lower Paleozoic folding and oscillatory movements that took place in this zone created land links between the Precambrian platforms of Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa, which persisted in the Paleozoic era and in the first half of the Mesozoic. The splits that led to the separation of Australia from Africa and Southeast Asia did not occur until the Cretaceous. In the East Australian or Tasmanian geosyncline, the Lower Paleozoic folding formed mountain country, which in the west adjoined the leveled Australian platform, and in the east went beyond the modern outlines of the mainland. However, the main role in the formation of the mountains was played by the Upper Paleozoic folding, as a result of which a huge area of ​​the mountainous land of Tasmania was raised from under the sea level, extending on the site of Tasmanov and coral seas. Since the end of the Paleozoic, the land of Tasmania has experienced slow fluctuations; at the beginning of the Mesozoic, the troughs captured the Central Lowland. They led to the transgression of the seas and to the formation of vast lake basins, in which limestone and clay-sand strata were deposited. Seas and lakes have long isolated the western leveled land of Australia from the eastern mountainous country. The general uplift of the mainland at the end of the Cretaceous caused the retreat of the seas and the shallowing and drying up of lakes. The northern and eastern margins of the Precambrian structures in Australia and the Hercynian structures in Tasmania were framed by the Alpine geosyncline.

Tectonic movements in it led at the end of the Cretaceous to the loss land communications with Southeast Asia and New Zealand structures preserved from subsidence. Powerful folding in the Alpine geosyncline occurred in the Neogene. The high mountains of New Guinea, New Zealand, and the mountainous archipelagos of islands in between were erected. On the rigid bases of Australia and Tasmania, folding was reflected in faults, the movement of blocks along them, the introduction of intrusions, volcanic activity, slow deflections and uplifts. The western fault edge of the mainland has risen; on Tasman Land, the Kimberley horst massif, contoured by faults, stood out. The horst ranges of the Flinders Lofty separated from the southwestern margin of the Western Plateau by the Torrens Lake graben. The most significant changes in the relief, as well as in the size and shape of the mainland, occurred in the east. A significant part of Tasmania sank along the fault lines to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, its western margin, preserved from subsidence, rose high, which determined the orographic severity of the East Australian Mountains. Their ancient rocks were superimposed by basalt covers, which occupy especially large areas in the central and southern ranges. In the Quaternary period, the marginal parts of the mainland continued to slowly fluctuate. There was a final separation from the mainland of Tasmania and New Guinea; the subsidence of individual mountainous sections of the coast created finely indented rias shores on the island of Tasmania, in the northwest and east of the mainland. The nature of the relief of Australia is determined by the antiquity of the structures that make it up and the long-term peneplanation. The latter led to the alignment of vast territories, so that in the relief, first of all, its amazing uniformity is striking: the mainland is a plateau with average height 350 m, i.e. is after Europe the lowest part of the land. From the former higher levels, flat-topped island mountains (in places where sedimentary suites occur) and peaked massifs (in places where crystalline rocks are exposed) have been preserved. The largest area is occupied by the leveling surface created during the period from the end of the Cretaceous to the Neogene, the so-called Great Australian Peneplain. It has a height of 300-500 m on the Western Plateau, does not rise above 200 m in the Central Lowland and is elevated to 700-1500 m in the East Australian Mountains, where it can be traced in the same levels of flat-topped massifs. The wide distribution and good preservation of planation surfaces and, in particular, Australian peneplain, are explained by the slowness of vertical land movements and the low degree of relief dissection in a predominantly desert climate, as well as the armoring effect of protective crusts.

The ferruginous and siliceous protective crusts have been preserved mainly since the Neogene, when the necessary climatic prerequisites for their formation were very hot and seasonally humid conditions. The formation of limestone, gypsum and sulfate protective crusts began at the end of the Neogene in a dry and hot climate and is now continuing in the interior of Australia. Short-term humidification and cooling during the pluvial epochs of the Quaternary period led to the formation of erosional landforms (river valleys, lake basins, etc.) that have been preserved in modern desert regions. Glacial sculptural forms, as well as the relief of glacial accumulation, are characteristic only of the Australian Alps, the only region where, in addition to the island of Tasmania, there was Quaternary glaciation. Features of the tectonic structure of Australia make it possible to distinguish three structural and morphological provinces on the mainland: the Western Plateau, the Central Lowland and the East Australian Mountains. The western plateau, coinciding in general in outline with the anteclise of the Precambrian basement, represents a slightly dissected surface of the Great Australian Peneplain with an average height of 300-500 m. On its eastern margin, the crystalline ridges of the McDonnell and Musgrave ranges prepared by denudation (Mount Widroff, 1594 m, the highest point of the Western Plateau). At the western edge there are extensive flat-topped remnant massifs (the Hamersley Range, etc.). The southwestern edge of the plateau, which drops steeply to a narrow coastal lowland along a fault line, is called the Darling Range. In the northwest, the plateau is framed by the Kimberley horst massif, in the north it ends on the Arnhemland peninsula. Huge areas in the interior, they occupy sandy and rocky deserts. sandy deserts Bolshaya Peschanaya and big desert The Victorias lie on the northern and southern slopes of the Western Plateau and are separated by the rocky Gibson Desert. In the southwest, lake basins have been preserved, witnessing the wet epochs of the Quaternary period. In the south, the Nullarbor karst plain stands out. Central lowland. The prerequisite for its formation was the trough of the eastern margin of the ancient Australian platform, the subsidence of a part of the Caledonian folded structure, as well as the subsequent marine and lacustrine regimes. Thick sea and lake sediments have hidden irregularities ancient relief, which appears only in the form of weakly expressed hills on the outskirts of the lowland. Its middle part, the so-called Central Basin, lies in the area of ​​Lake Eyre, 12 m below sea level. Exactly this low place Australia, In the western half of the basin there are deserts that continue the desert belt of the Western Plateau.

The southeastern part of the Central Lowland is occupied by accumulative plains crossed by Australia's largest rivers, the Murray and Darling. In the lower reaches of the Murray, to the west of the river, the Flinders Lofty horst-block ranges stand out. East Australian mountains. For a long time they were called the Australian Cordillera, however, by the type of relief they differ sharply from the Cordillera of both the North and South America. These are ancient (mostly of Hercynian age) horst-block mountains, already heavily destroyed, with an average height of about 1000 m, mostly flat-topped. Faults and faults of the Paleogene and Neogene shattered them into separate ridges and massifs. Fault along the east coast of Australia has led to the steepness of the eastern slopes; the gentler western slopes descend to the Central Lowland in hilly foothills (downs). The outpourings of basalts that accompanied the splits left their imprint on the forms of the ridges in many places. Stepped plateaus are confined to linear eruptions, volcanic cones to eruptions central type. In the highest mountain range, in the Australian Alps (Kostsyushko Peak 2234 m), traces of Quaternary glaciation have been preserved: karts, troughs, glacial lakes. Karst is developed in the limestones that make up the peaks of the Blue Mountains and some others. Minerals. Due to the weak development of sedimentary covers, Australia is characterized by a significant predominance of ore minerals over non-metallic ones. The areas of the most active metallogeny are concentrated along the western margin of the continent and in the southeast, in the zones of contact between the platform Precambrian and geosynclinal Paleozoic structures, as well as in the East Australian mountains, in the folded Caledonian and Hercynian structures. Australia has significant reserves of gold, non-ferrous metals and iron ores. Gold plays a leading role among ore minerals, the main deposits and mining areas of which are concentrated in the southwest of Western Australia (Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie, etc.), in the state of Victoria (Bendigo, Ballarat) and in the northeast of Queensland (Charters Towers to the south -west of Townsville, etc.). The most significant region in terms of production and reserves is southwestern, covering vast territories in a wide strip between the Murchison River and the city of Dundas. Non-ferrous metal ores are concentrated mainly in the east of Australia. The largest deposit (and the main mining area) of copper ore is located on the island of Tasmania (Mount Lyell); large deposits of copper ores exist and are being developed in Queensland (Mount Morgan, Mount Isa). The reserves of polymetallic ores of zinc, lead and silver are very large in Australia.

New South Wales ranks first in terms of reserves and production of polymetallic ores. The Broken Hill field is one of the largest in the world. A significant amount of silver and zinc is mined in the northeast of Australia in Queensland (Mount Isa), as well as on the island of Tasmania. It is also necessary to mention the very large reserves of tantalum and niobium, the industrial deposits of which are concentrated in Western Australia (Pilbarra). Deposits of uranium radium ores have been explored and exploited in South Australia (Mount Painter and Radium Hill) and in the Northern Territory (Ram Jungle and others). The main iron ore mining area is near Iron Knob in South Australia, although there are larger reserves than at Iron Knob on the islands of Coolen and Coatu in Yampi Bay (north of the mouth of the Fitzroy River), as well as in the Murchison River basin. Mining in these areas is now almost non-existent due to the difficulty of getting the ore to the smelters in New South Wales. In terms of coal reserves, Australia ranks first among the countries of the southern hemisphere. The largest coal basin (Permian age) is located in New South Wales and occupies a very advantageous geographical position, stretching for 250 km along the coast of the Tasman Sea. The most powerful seams of high-quality coals are concentrated in the area of ​​the cities of Newcastle (mainly) and Sydney. The second largest basin is located in Queensland (in the areas of Brisbane and Claremont). The coals of this basin are of Permo-Carboniferous age. Brown coals (tertiary age) are mined in an open way in the state of Victoria, in the vicinity of Melbourne; there is information about the discovery of new reserves of brown coal near Adelaide. Exploration for oil, which is being intensively carried out at the present time, has not yet yielded practical results. The main reason for the lack of oil on the mainland is the small number of basins with sufficient thickness of marine sedimentary rocks in which oil could accumulate.

Australia, having separated from Gondwana in the Jurassic, has been subjected to slow uplifts, subsidences, and faults throughout geological history. Now the mainland is a plateau with an average height of 350 m, i.e. is after Europe the lowest part of the land. Its climatic conditions are dry and continental.

The features of runoff in Australia and on islands close to it are well illustrated by the following figures: the runoff volume of the rivers of Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and New Zealand is 1600 km3, the runoff layer is 184 mm, i.e. little more than in Africa. And the runoff volume of Australia alone is only 440 km3, and the thickness of the runoff layer is only 57 mm, i.e., several times less than on all other continents. This is due to the fact that most of the mainland, unlike the islands, receives little rainfall and there are no high mountains and glaciers within it.

The area of ​​internal runoff includes 60% of the surface of Australia. Approximately 10% of the territory has a drain into the Pacific Ocean, the rest belongs to the Indian Ocean basin. The main watershed of the mainland is the Great Dividing Range, from the slopes of which the largest and most full-flowing rivers flow. These rivers are almost exclusively fed by rain.

Since the eastern slope of the ridge is short and steep, short, fast, winding rivers flow towards the Coral and Tasman Seas. Receiving more or less even nutrition, they are the deepest rivers in Australia with a clearly defined summer maximum. Crossing the ridges, some rivers form rapids and waterfalls. The length of the largest rivers (Fitzroy, Berdekin, Hunter) is several hundred kilometers. In the lower reaches, some of them are navigable for 100 km or more, and at the mouths are accessible to ocean-going vessels.

The rivers of Northern Australia flowing into the Arafura and Timor Seas are also full-flowing. The most significant are those that flow from the northern part of the Great Dividing Range. But the rivers of the north of Australia, due to the sharp difference in the amount of summer and winter precipitation, have a less uniform regime than the rivers of the east. They overflow with water and often overflow their banks during the summer months. monsoon rains. In winter, these are weak narrow watercourses, which dry up in places in the upper reaches. The largest rivers in the north - the Flinders, Victoria and Ord - are navigable in the lower reaches for several tens of kilometers in summer.

There are also permanent streams in the southwest of the mainland. However, during the dry summer season, almost all of them turn into chains of shallow polluted reservoirs.

There are no permanent streams in the desert and semi-desert inland parts of Australia. But there is a network of dry channels, which are the remnants of the former developed water network, formed under the conditions of the pluvial epoch. These dry channels are filled with water after rains for a very short time. Such intermittent streams are known in Australia as "creeks". They are especially numerous in the Central Plain and are directed towards the endorheic, drying up Lake Eyre. The Nullarbor karst plain is devoid of even periodic watercourses, but has an underground water network with a drain towards the Great Australian Bight.

The most developed river network is on the island of Tasmania. The rivers there have a mixed rain and snow supply and are full-flowing throughout the year. They flow down from the mountains and therefore are stormy, rapids and have large reserves of hydropower. The latter is widely used for the construction of hydroelectric power plants. The availability of cheap electricity contributes to the development of energy-intensive industries in Tasmania, such as the smelting of pure electrolyte metals, the production of cellulose, etc. The lack of surface water is partially compensated by the large reserves of groundwater that accumulate in artesian basins. The artesian waters of Australia contain a lot of salts.

The rivers flowing from the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range are short, in their upper reaches they flow in narrow gorges. Here they may well be used, and partly already used for the construction of hydroelectric power stations. When entering the coastal plain, the rivers slow down their flow, their depth increases. Many of them in the estuarine parts are even accessible to large ocean-going vessels. The Clarence River is navigable for 100 km from its mouth, and Hawkesbury for 300 km. The volume of runoff and the regime of these rivers are different and depend on the amount of precipitation and the time of their occurrence. (Appendix B)

The Fitzroy River is located in the East Australian Mountains. It flows into the King's Bay of the Indian Ocean. Like other rivers in Australia, the Fitzroy is fed by rainwater, to a lesser extent its water level depends on snowmelt and groundwater. Despite the shallow depths, Fitzroy is navigable (about 130 kilometers upstream from the mouth). The Fitzroy has no major tributaries. Fitzroy does not freeze.

The source of the Murchison is in the Robinson Range. It flows into the Indian Ocean. The river flows through Western Australia. Twice a year (summer and winter) the Murchison bed dries up, forming a long string of small lakes. Murchison's way of feeding is rain feeding. A tributary of the Murchison is a small river, the Murchison. Murchison also does not freeze.

On western slopes The Great Dividing Range originates from rivers that make their way along the interior plains. In the region of Mount Kosciuszko begins the longest river in Australia - Murray (2375 km). Its largest tributaries, the Murrumbidgee (1485 km), Darling (1472 km), Goulburn and some others, also originate in the mountains. (Appendix B)

The rivers of the northern and western coasts of Australia are shallow and relatively small. The longest of them - Flinders flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria. These rivers are fed by rain, and their water content varies greatly at different times of the year. Rivers whose flow is directed to the interior of the mainland, such as Coopers Creek (Barkoo), Diamantina, and others, are deprived not only of a constant flow, but also of a permanent, distinctly expressed channel. In Australia, such temporary rivers are called " cries" (eng. creek). They fill with water only during short showers. Soon after the rain, the riverbed again turns into a dry sandy hollow, often without even a definite shape.

The marginal regions of Australia have a runoff to the Indian Ocean (33% of the runoff from the total area of ​​the mainland) and to the Pacific. Rivers that empty into the ocean tend to be short, with steep dip profiles, especially those that drain from the East Australian Mountains. The volume of runoff, as well as the regime of river levels, is different and significantly depends on the amount of precipitation and the time of its occurrence. The rivers that start in the East Australian mountains (Burdekin, Fitzroy, Burnett, and others) are the most full-flowing and uniform in flow. The least full-flowing and unstable rivers west coast(Fortescue, Gascoigne, etc.), flowing down from semi-desert coastal plateaus. Surface runoff is completely absent on the Nullarbor karst plain adjacent to the Great Australian Bight.

Australia has only two major rivers, the Murray and the Darling. Starting in the Australian Alps, Murray is the most abundant river in Australia (basin area 1072 thousand km2, length 1632 m). Its food is mainly rain and, to a lesser extent, snow. Flowing with a barely noticeable slope through the vast southeastern plains of the Central Lowland, the river loses a lot of water to evaporation and barely reaches the ocean. At the mouth it is blocked by sand bars. The main tributary of the Murray is the Darling River, the longest river in Australia (the basin area is 590 thousand km2, the length is 2450 m), but it is even less full-flowing, and in dry seasons its waters, lost in the sands, do not reach Murray.

The large left tributaries of the Murray, the Murrumbidgee and Goulburn, also maintain a constant flow, during the rainy season, overflowing for tens of kilometers. Floods come very quickly, but do not last long, accompanied by severe floods. The rivers of the Murray Basin serve as important sources of irrigation water.

All rivers in the Murray-Darling system are fed mainly by rainfall and to some extent by snowfall in the Australian Alps. Therefore, the maximum consumption occurs in the summer. Prior to the construction of dams and reservoirs, the floods of the rivers of the Murray system on a flat, low-lying plain sometimes took on the character of catastrophic floods. At the same time, the rivers carried large masses of detrital material and deposited ramparts along the channels, which often prevented the flow of tributaries into the main river. Currently, the flow of the Murray and all its tributaries is regulated, which has both positive and negative sides. A large number of reservoirs makes it possible to accumulate significant reserves of irrigation water in case of prolonged droughts and at the same time prevents a fairly regular flow of fertile silt into floodplain complexes.

During the dry winter period, the level of the main river drops significantly, but, as a rule, a continuous flow is maintained throughout its entire length. Only in the years of the most severe droughts, certain areas upstream Murray dry up completely.

The main features of the natural landscapes of the Murray-Darling plains are determined by their position in the tropical and subtropical zones, the increase in the dryness of the climate from east to west, and the nature of the relief. The northern part of the plains is occupied by a flat basin, into which the waters of the Darling and its tributaries collect. The basin is bounded from the south by the low upland of Kobar by an uplift of the Paleozoic folded basement, from the east by the foothills of the East Australian Mountains. The raised outskirts of the basin receive up to 400 mm of precipitation per year and are occupied by typical eucalyptus savannahs and thickets of shrubby acacias. The grass cover, withering in the dry winter season, blooms luxuriantly in early summer, when rare, but heavy rains. In the center of the basin, in drier conditions, thickets of scrub mulga are common. The hollow is drained by the Darling River, which begins in the New England Mountains and very quickly turns from a mountain river into a flat river, with an insignificant fall, thanks to which many branches and channels are separated from the main channel, ending in lake depressions at the bottom of a wide valley. The lakes do not have permanent outlines, after floods for several months they support the supply of the main river, then they dry up and in severe droughts the flow of the river almost stops. In the channel there are chains of lakes, saline in the lower reaches. In completely rainless years, water in the channel is only for two to three months. The low water of the Darling in the lower reaches is explained by the fact that in the middle and lower reaches this river is transit. Crossing the inland arid regions, it does not receive a single tributary for 1500 km. Navigation on the river is possible only during high water (during four summer months) for 1000 km for ships of shallow draft. The Darling plains merge in the southwest with the Murray plains, which lie on the site of a sea bay that existed until the end of the Neogene. The bay was filled not only with marine, but also with alluvial-lacustrine deposits brought by the Murray and its tributaries. The northern part of the plains (to the mouth of the Darling) receives little rainfall, is crossed by wide valleys of temporary streams and is covered with scrub mulga. The main geomorphological element of the southern part of the plains is the Murray Valley. Above the mouth of the Darling, it is wide, the riverbed meanders in a wide floodplain, in which there are many oxbow lakes and lakes. Below the confluence of the Darling, its banks are rather steep, which indicates a vigorous deep erosion of the river: the Murray flows here through an area that only emerged from under the sea level in the Quaternary and is still in the process of uplift. The straightness of the valley below the Morgan suggests that the river here uses the meridional tectonic depression, parallel to the horst massif of the Lofty Ridge.

The Murray ends in the vast, shallow Alexandrine lagoon. It is completely cut off by sandbars, and only artificial channels allow small ships to penetrate into it. Murray's runoff fluctuates sharply with the seasons, but unlike the Darling's, it does not stop throughout the year. Currently, the flow is regulated by a system of dams and reservoirs. Hume's largest reservoir is located near Albury. Up the Murray, ships rise 1700 km to the city of Albury, but in practice navigation is of little importance due to the lack of free communication with the ocean and the shallow water of the river. Much of the Murray Lowland is characterized by aridity. The amount of precipitation (mainly winter) slightly increases (from 250 to 500 mm) from the northwest to the southeast, and landscapes change in the same direction. Thickets of mulga scrub occupy the driest areas; in wetter areas, they are replaced by malli-scrub thickets, characteristic of the landscapes of the Australian steppes. In the southwest, in foothill areas, the increasing role of summer monsoon moisture contributes to the emergence of savannah landscapes with a dense grass cover and eucalyptus along river valleys and in relief depressions. A special area against this background is the Riverina between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, composed of sandy-argillaceous alluvial deposits and having a particularly flat relief. In many places, the sands are hilly into dunes, now fixed by vegetation. The absence of slopes makes it difficult to drain flood waters, so the Riverina is rich in small-sized shallow lakes, the oxbow lakes of Murray and Murrumbidgee. South of Murray lie the arid sandy plains of Mally Wimmer, protected from the ocean by the Victorian Mountains. The sands are hilly into dunes, stretched latitudinally in the direction of the prevailing winds and fixed with malli scrub. From the mountains towards Murray, the plains are crossed by intermittent rivers, ending in salt lakes near Murray. Only on the southern edge of the plains, wetter than the north, more or less permanent streams remain and the dull grayish-green malli scrub is replaced by bright green savannahs. A completely special landscape area, known as the Goiderland, is formed by the horst-block ridges of the Flinders Lofty and the plains adjacent to them from the east and north. This is a territory fragmented by meridional faults, including the Eyre Peninsula contoured by faults, Spencer Bay, the low horst massif of the York Peninsula, St. Vincent Bay, the Flinders Range and its southern continuation of the Lofty Range. The ridges have rounded or flat tops, but their slopes are strongly dissected by erosion, which is active in the winter wet season.

The rivers of the Murray-Darling system have a large economic importance, since their waters are used to irrigate the fertile, but arid lands of the lowlands, an amount of water that in the driest years Murray does not bring his own. For these purposes, such a large amount of water is consumed up to the ocean. In addition, the intensive development of agricultural production (in particular, the use of mineral fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and other pesticides) within the river basin contributed to the severe pollution of rivers - in the middle reaches, Murray carries up to 130 tons of salt per year. Therefore, if citrus orchards are irrigated with river water, they may die.

Sharp seasonal level fluctuations and strong accumulative activity of the rivers make navigation difficult. For example, the mouth of the Murray is so cluttered with clastic material that it is completely inaccessible to ships. The river itself is navigable as far as the city of Albury, the Darling in the lower reaches is accessible to small boats.

The Murray is a large navigable river. Passenger boats can climb almost two thousand kilometers along it to the city of Albury at the very foot of the Australian Alps. Thanks to snow supply and the Hume Reservoir built in the upper reaches of the river, the water level in Murray is quite sufficient for navigation throughout the year. Quite another matter - Darling. Although this tributary is two hundred kilometers longer than the main river, its full flow depends entirely on rains. Therefore, in the dry period of the year, it turns in the lower reaches into a chain of separate reservoirs a kilometer and a half long and a hundred meters wide. The Darling becomes a full-fledged tributary of the Murray only during the rainy season, when the flood comes. At this time, in some places it spills over tens of kilometers.

The nature of Australia is unique, it is home to animals, birds and fish that cannot be found on other continents. Rare species of fish live in the rivers of Australia: butterfly fish, rabbit fish, cat fish, rat fish, frog fish, cattail, roach, bream, carp, salmon, eel and many other species. 2.2 Features of Australia's lakes

There are many lake basins on the territory of Australia, but all of them are currently deprived of water and have turned into salt marshes. They are located mainly in hollows filled with water only after rains. At the same time, for a significant part of the year, these lakes are covered with a clay-saline crust. Most lakes in Australia, like rivers, are fed by rainwater. They have neither a constant level nor a runoff. In summer, the lakes dry up and are shallow saline depressions. The layer of salt at the bottom sometimes reaches 1.5 m. Most of the lakes in Australia are waterless basins covered with salt-bearing clays. In those rare cases when they are filled with water, they are silty salty and shallow water bodies. There are many such lakes on the Western Plateau in Western Australia, but the largest of them are in South Australia: Lake Eyre, Torrens, Gairdner and Frome. All of them are surrounded by wide strips of salt marshes. Numerous brackish or salt water lagoons are developed along the southeastern coast of Australia, cut off from the sea. sandbanks and ridges. The largest freshwater lakes are in Tasmania, where some of them, including Great Lake, are used for hydroelectric purposes.

The largest lakes on the continent are Eyre (9500 km²), Mackay (3494 km²), Amadius (1032 km²), Garnpang (542 km²) and Gordon (270 km²; at the same time it is the largest artificial reservoir in Australia). The largest salt lakes are Eyre (9500 km²), Torrens (5745 km²) and Gairdner (4351 km²). (Appendix A) The largest of them is Lake Eyre, which is the remnant of a vast reservoir. Water in it now appears only after summer showers. In 1840, Edward Eyre discovered a salt lake in South Australia, which was later named after him. Lake Eyre, in rare cases when its basin is completely filled, is the largest lake in Australia and its lowest point - about 15 m below sea level. It is the central point of the vast Lake Eyre basin.

The lake is located in the desert of central Australia, in the northern part of the state of South Australia. The Lake Eyre Basin is a closed system surrounding the lake bed, the lower part of which is filled with a saline dense layer of soil due to the seasonal evaporation of trapped waters. The basin of the lake is the center of flow for a vast area and receives a whole system of temporary watercourses - screams (Coopers, Diamantina, Eyre, etc.). The lake is shallow, highly saline, its area and shape are unstable and change depending on the amount of precipitation. Usually the lake consists of two reservoirs - Lakes Air North and Air South. But during the rainy season, screams bring a large amount of water from the mountains, the lakes become a single full-flowing reservoir. In the wettest years, the area of ​​Lake Eyre reaches 15 thousand km2. During the dry period, which lasts a significant part of the year, the inflow of water stops, the water in the lake evaporates, it breaks up into shallow reservoirs, interspersed with areas covered with salt crusts. Even in the dry season, little water remains in Eyre, which usually collects in small lakes formed on the salty dried lake bed. During the rainy season, rivers from northeast Queensland flow towards the lake. The amount of water brought by the monsoon determines whether the water reaches the lake; and if so, how deep will the lake be. The lake also experiences small to medium-sized flooding due to heavy rainfall in the surrounding area. There is a yacht club on the lake.

From the northeast and east, the usually dry channels of Diamantina and Cooper Creek approach, which are rather deeply incised in the lower parts of the valleys due to the recent trough of the lake basin. Rare eucalyptus trees grow along the screams. south of the lake Eyre lie the residual salt lakes Torrens, Gairdner and other smaller ones. They occupy an elongated zone of tectonic subsidence, framed on the east by the Flinders and Lofty ranges, and on the west by a ledge of the Western Plateau. These lakes are also covered with a crust of salt for most of the year.

The lakes of Australia, which are quite significant in number and size, are swamps for most of the year. To the north of Spencer Bay (but without connecting to it) lies Torrens Lake, surrounded by sand dunes, which has a circumference of 225 km. And to the east of it is Lake Gregory, which may be divided into several separate lakes. To the west of Lake Torrensa lies on a plateau. Rising to 115 m, big lake Gairdner, which, like countless smaller lakes in the same area, is extremely abundant in salt and seems to have only recently separated from sea water. In general, there are clear signs that the southern coast of the mainland is still slowly rising from sea waters.

Lake Hillier on one of the islands of the Recherches archipelago. The water in the pond is bright pink. Its color will remain even if you pour water from the lake into a glass and look at the light. Hillier's mystery is explained in an elementary way: the lake was once formed on the site of a lagoon - it is separated from the Indian Ocean by a thin strip of land. Sea water in the lake evaporates under the rays of the sun and becomes more and more salty. In addition to bacteria and microscopic algae, no one lives in the lake. And the strange color is nothing more than a product of the vital activity of its inhabitants.

Amadius is a dry drainless salt lake in the central part of Australia. It is located approximately 350 km southwest of Alice Spring. The area is about 880 km2. Due to the arid climate, Amadius is a completely dry lake for most of the year. The lake was first explored in 1872 by Ernest Giles, who named it after the Duke of Savoy, King Amadeus I of Spain. Although the traveler originally intended to name it after his benefactor, Baron Ferdinand Müller. Amadius is about 180 km long and 10 km wide, making it the largest lake in the Northern Territory. Despite the high salt content, its extraction is not carried out due to the remoteness from established markets.

Billabong is an Australian word for a small stagnant body of water, especially an oxbow lake connected to a flowing body of water. Billabong usually forms when the course of a river or creek changes. The name probably comes from the Viraturi word bilaban, although some believe the word comes from Gaelic. Billabong is mentioned quite often in works of Australian literature, for example in the poem "Waltzing Matilda" by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, which became the unofficial anthem of Australia.

Disappointment is a salt lake in Western Australia (Australia). It dries up during the dry months. The lake received its modern name in 1897 and was named so by the traveler Frank Hann (Eng. Frank Hann), who made a significant contribution to the study of the Pilbara region. Noticing a large number of streams in the study area, he hoped to find a large freshwater lake. But to his disappointment, the lake turned out to be salty (translated from in English "disappointment"- disappointment).

Lake St. Clayer has been formed by glaciers over the past 2 million years. This deepest lake in Australia is the source of the Derwent River. The surroundings of the lake offer excellent conditions for walking.

Torrens is the second largest saline endorheic rift lake in Australia, in the state of South Australia, located 345 km north of Adelaide. The indicated area of ​​the lake is very conditional, since over the past 150 years it has been completely filled with water only once. The lake was discovered by Edward Eyre in 1839, for the next 20 years it was believed that Lake Torrens is a huge shallow salt lake in the shape of a horseshoe, surrounding the northern Flinders ranges and blocking the path through the interior of the country. The first European who overcame this mythical barrier is A. Gregory. Now the lake is part of the Lake Torrens National Park, which requires a special permit to enter.

Frome (English) Lake Frome listen)) is a large endorheic lake in the Australian state of South Australia, located east of the Flinders Range. Frome is a large, shallow, drying lake covered with a crust of salt. The lake is about 100 km long and 40 km wide. Most of the lake is below sea level. Area - 2.59 km². It occasionally fills with brackish water from dry creeks originating in the Flinders Range, located west of Fromu, or exclusively with water from the Strzelecki Creek in the north. To the west, Lake Frome is adjacent to Vulkatoon Gammon Ridge National Park. Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park), in the north it is connected by the Salt Creek to Callabonna Lake, in the east it borders the Strzelecki Desert, and in the south it borders the Frome Downs Pasture Farm. The amount of precipitation in the region where the lake is located is minimal, and the nearest settlement, the village of Arkarula, is located 40 km to the northwest. There are two large uranium deposits in the immediate vicinity of the lake. The lake was named in 1843 in honor of the British officer and Surveyor General of South Australia, Edward Charles Frome. In 1991, in view of its "regional geological significance", Lake Frome was declared a regional nature reserve.

Lake Cynthia or Lake C- is at the southern end mountain lake Cradle St. in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area. It is Australia's deepest natural freshwater lake at a depth of 200 meters. The source of the Derwent River, which eventually heads towards Hobart, Lake St. is also known for its Aboriginal name, which means “to sleep the water.” It is at Lake C that the Land Trail ends in the south. At the southern end of Lake is Cynthia Bay, which is connected by a 5 km driveway from the Highway.

Salt Lake Gairdner (Lake Gairdner) with a length of 160 and a width of up to 48 kilometers is the fourth largest after lakes Eyre, Torrens and Frome. The layer of salt in some places can exceed 1 meter. The lake is located in the north of the state of South Australia, 450 kilometers from Adelaide. Access to the lake is limited due to private pastures surrounding the lake on all sides. The most popular approaches to the lake are the Mount Ive farm to the south and the campsite to the southwest on the road between Moonaree and Yardea. Girdner is part of a system of four large endorheic lakes, the remains of an ancient inland sea that stretched north of Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The lakes are located on stone plateau, not a single river flows out of them, and they are filled only with rainwater. In summer, when not a drop of water remains, races are held on the lake. The absolutely flat surface of the lake and the long track allow you to develop tremendous speeds. The current record (as of 2008) is 301 mph. Dried salt forms crystals of various shapes. The taste is salty and bitter. Near the shore under a layer of salt - wet clay. Most beautiful lake looks at sunset and dawn - the low sun illuminates the salt crystals and emphasizes the bottom topography. In addition, at this time it is not so bright and not hot. During the day, the lake becomes dazzling white and you can do without sunglasses for no more than 2-3 minutes. It also seems that the sun is frying from all sides.

A distinctive feature of Australia is its wealth of groundwater. They accumulate in artesian basins that occupy the troughs of the ancient basement along the edges of the Western Plateau and in the Central Lowland. The water-bearing horizons are mainly Mesozoic deposits, and dense Paleozoic rocks are water-resistant. Groundwater is fed mainly by precipitation. Groundwater in the central parts of the basins lie on great depths(up to 20 m, in places up to 1.5 km). When drilling wells, they often come to the surface under natural pressure. The area of ​​artesian basins here exceeds 3 million km2, which is about 40% of the country's territory. In most basins, the water is brackish, warm, aquifers lie at a considerable depth (up to 2000 m), which makes their use difficult. total area pools with groundwater reserves exceeds 3240 thousand square meters. km. Water supply from groundwater great importance for many rural areas of Australia. These waters mostly contain dissolved solids that are harmful to plants, but in many cases the water is suitable for watering livestock. Although the groundwater is often very warm and highly mineralized, the area's sheep breeding depends on it. However, groundwater is also widely used in the mining industry. Smaller artesian pools are found in Western Australia and southeast Victoria. In the semi-desert and desert regions of Australia, artesian basins are of great importance. But due to the mineralization of water, they are used not so much for irrigation, but for the needs of industry and transport, and mainly for creating reservoirs in pastoral areas (in the south of Queensland, in New South Wales and Victoria).

The Great Artesian Basin, the largest in the world, in Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory covers an area of ​​1,751.5 thousand square meters. km. It covers almost the entire Central Lowland from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the middle course of the Darling River and accounts for more than half of the groundwater area. The pool has the largest number artesian wells that provide mineralized water, sometimes warm and even hot. But due to the mineralization of water, they are used not so much for irrigation, but for the needs of industry and transport, and mainly for creating reservoirs in pastoral areas (in the south of Queensland, in New South Wales and Victoria).

Almost one third of the mainland area, mostly inland, is a desert or semi-desert, not occupied by agricultural land. 60% of the territory is drainless, only one large Murray-Darling system in the southeast of the country is used for navigation and irrigation.

Conclusion

The position of most of the mainland in the belt of a desert and semi-desert tropical climate determines the weak development of surface runoff, both external and internal. In terms of total annual runoff, Australia ranks last among other continents. Almost over its entire area, the runoff layer is about 50 mm per year. The runoff layer reaches its greatest values ​​(400 mm and more) on the windward moist slopes of the East Australian mountains. 60% of the mainland area is deprived of runoff to the ocean and has only a rare network of temporary streams (creeks). The densest network of screams is in the Central Basin, they are much smaller in the Western Plateau. Water appears in them only after episodic downpours; they often end in drainless basins, which in the pluvial epochs of the Quaternary period were large freshwater lakes fed by the waters of large permanent rivers. Now these lakes have almost dried up, their baths are occupied by salt marshes. Even the largest endorheic lake in Australia, Air, in the dry season is covered with a crust of salt up to 1 m thick, and in the rainy season (summer) it spills over an area of ​​up to 1500 km2. Near the shores of the lake, the channels of the longest creeks in Australia, Cooper Creek and Diamantina, end.

Of all the atmospheric moisture falling on the territory of Australia, only 10-13% enters water bodies, the rest either evaporates or seeps into the soil and is consumed by plants. This is the main reason for the exceptional poverty of the continent in surface waters. During the year, only 350 km3 of water flows into the ocean from the entire area of ​​​​Australia (less than 1% of the total flow of the Earth's rivers). The distribution of surface water across the mainland is very uneven. More than half of the volume of river runoff falls on the share of poorly developed areas north of the tropic. At the same time, the most important agricultural region, the Murray-Darling Basin, has only 7% of the mainland river flow. The most full-flowing, albeit short, rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean from the well-moistened eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range. On the contrary, almost all the rivers belonging to the Indian Ocean basin dry up for a long time. Most of the Western Australian Plateau and Central Lowland are intersected only by a rare network of dry channels (creeks) filled with water after episodic downpours. The longest and most branched cries in especially high water years flow into Lake Eyre, in most cases their mouths are lost in the sands. Most deep river continent - Murray, 2570 km long. Originating on the western slopes of the Australian Alps, it receives additional nutrition from the spring snowmelt. However, outside the mountainous part, flowing with a barely noticeable slope across the vast dry plains, the river loses a lot of water due to evaporation, for irrigation and water supply, becomes very shallow and barely brings its waters to the mouth, blocked by sandy spits. The Darling, the main tributary of the Murray, is even less full-flowing. , considered the longest river on the continent (2740 km). In the middle and lower reaches, the Darling dries up for a long time (up to 18 months in a row). The large left tributaries of the Murray - Murrumbidgee and Goulburn also maintain a constant flow, during the rainy season, spilling over tens of kilometers. High waters come very quickly, but do not last long, accompanied by severe floods. The rivers of the Murray basin serve as important sources of irrigation water. There are many lake basins in Australia, but all of them are currently deprived of water and have turned into salt marshes. The largest of them is Lake Eyre, which is the remnant of a vast body of water. Water in it now appears only after summer showers. A distinctive feature of Australia is its wealth of groundwater. The area of ​​artesian basins here exceeds 3 million km2, which is about 40% of the country's territory. More than half of this area falls on the world's largest Great Artesian Basin, which occupies almost the entire Central Lowland. In most basins, the water is brackish, warm, aquifers lie at a considerable depth (up to 2000 m), which makes their use difficult. However, groundwater is widely used in livestock and mining industries. One of the most important problems in Australia is the lack of fresh water, especially in the southeast of the country. Water quality is deteriorating from year to year. Although Australia's river and groundwater has always been characterized by increased salinity, its natural level has not prevented agricultural development of the territory. But over time, deforestation and the replacement of natural vegetation with cultivated ones, as well as an increase in water consumption for irrigating agricultural land, led to an increase in water salinity. The quality of river water is also declining as a result of its pollution with solid particles during land erosion, due to the inflow of waste from industrial enterprises and runoff from agricultural land into the rivers. Despite the growing role of underground sources, in the near future for irrigation and urban needs will still be used mainly river waters and by the beginning of 2000 their shortage will cause the need for additional water sources. Moreover, the lack of water still serves as an obstacle to the development of the interior of the continent.

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Annex A

Australia's largest lakes

Annex B

Major rivers

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