17-656: The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion , located in the northeast of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions and extending east into the Northern Territory . It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of 284,993 square kilometres (110,036 sq mi). The Gibson Desert lies to
34-409: A monsoon cloud mass or a tropical cyclone . Like many of Australia's deserts, precipitation is high by desert standards, but with the driest regions recording total rainfall a little below 250 mm (9.8 in). The heat of Australia’s ground surface, in turn, creates a massive evaporation cycle, which partially explains the higher-than-normal desert rainfall. This region is one which gives rise to
51-549: A ring of stimulated growth of grass, are found in the western part of the desert, in the Pilbara region. It has not yet been proven what causes these formations, but one theory suggests that they have been built and inhabited by Australian harvester termites since the Pleistocene . The region is sparsely populated. The main populations consist of Aboriginal Australian communities and mining centres. The Aboriginal people of
68-456: Is active. Several people have died in this region during seasonal flooding, after their vehicles were stuck or broken down on remote dirt roads. Conversely, a few travellers have had their vehicles malfunction during the hottest times of the year, with dehydration, sun exposure and heatstroke being the predominant causes of death. Winters are short and warm; temperatures range from 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F). Frost does not occur in most of
85-624: The Triodia of the Pilbara (28 species and one hybrid). Triodia species are perennial Australian hummock grasses that grow in arid regions. Their leaves (30–40 centimetres long) are subulate ( awl -shaped, with a tapering point). The leaf tips, which are high in silica, can break off in the skin, leading to infections. Spinifex has had many traditional uses for Aboriginal Australians . Several species were (and are) used extensively as materials for basket weaving . The seeds were collected and ground to make seedcakes . Spinifex resin
102-506: The World Wide Fund for Nature . Based on this system, the world is also split into 14 terrestrial habitats , of which eight are shared by Australia. The Australian land mass is divided into 89 bioregions and 419 subregions. Each region is a land area made up of a group of interacting ecosystems that are repeated in similar form across the landscape. IBRA is updated periodically based on new data, mapping improvements, and review of
119-527: The Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities . It was developed for use as a planning tool, for example for the establishment of a national reserve system . The first version of IBRA was developed in 1993–94 and published in 1995. Within the broadest scale, Australia is a major part of the Australasia biogeographic realm, as developed by
136-473: The Great Sandy Desert is dominated by spinifex . Animals in the region include feral camels and dingoes . Other mammalian inhabitants include bilbies , mulgara , marsupial moles , rufous hare-wallabies , and red kangaroos . Varied types of lizards occur here, such as goannas (including the large perentie ), thorny devils , and bearded dragons . Some of the bird-life found within
153-632: The area. The regions bordering the Gibson Desert in the far southeast may record a light frost or two every year. Away from the coast winter nights can still be chilly in comparison to the warm days. Indigenous art is a huge industry in central Australia. Mines, most importantly the Telfer gold mine and Nifty copper mine , and cattle stations are found in the far west. Telfer is one of the largest gold mines in Australia. The undeveloped Kintyre uranium deposit lies south of Telfer. The vegetation of
170-493: The common name spinifex , although they are not a part of the coastal genus Spinifex . Many soft-leaved Triodia species were formerly included in the genus Plectrachne . Triodia is known as tjanpi (grass) in central Australia , and have several traditional uses amongst the Aboriginal Australian peoples of the region. A multiaccess key (SpiKey) is available as a free application for identifying
187-603: The desert fall into two main groups, the Martu in the west and the Pintupi in the east. Linguistically, they are speakers of multiple Western Desert languages . Many of these Indigenous people were forcibly removed from their lands during the late 18th, 19th, and the early 20th centuries, to be relocated to other settlements, such as Papunya in the Northern Territory. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some of
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#1732765068857204-457: The desert include the rare Alexandra's parrot , the mulga parrot and the scarlet-chested parrot . [REDACTED] Media related to Great Sandy Desert at Wikimedia Commons 20°S 125°E / 20°S 125°E / -20; 125 Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia ( IBRA ) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by
221-445: The existing scheme. The most recent version is IBRA7, developed during 2012, which replaced IBRA6.1. This is a list of region and subregions under IBRA7. Region codes are given in parentheses, followed by area, where known. Images of regions are from IBRA6.1, pending creation of maps for IBRA7. Triodia (plant genus) Triodia is a large genus of hummock grass endemic to Australia. The species of this genus are known by
238-609: The heat lows, which help drive the NW monsoon. Almost all the rain regionally comes from monsoon thunderstorms, or the occasional tropical cyclone rain depression. Annually, for most of the area, there are about 20–30 days where thunderstorms form. However, in the north and bordering the Kimberley, 30-40 per year is the average. Summer daytime temperatures are some of the highest in Australia. Regions further south average 38 to 42 °C (100 to 108 °F), except when monsoonal cloud cover
255-504: The original inhabitants returned. Young adults, from the Great Sandy Desert region, travel to and work in the Wilurarra Creative programs to maintain and develop their culture, and a greater sense of community. Rainfall is low throughout the coast and, especially further north, is strongly seasonal. Areas near the Kimberley have an average rainfall that exceeds 300 mm (12 in), but can be patchy. Many dry years end with
272-547: The south and the Tanami Desert lies to the east of the Great Sandy Desert. The Great Sandy Desert contains large ergs , often consisting of longitudinal dunes . In the north-east of the desert there is a meteorite impact crater, the Wolfe Creek crater . " Fairy circles ", which are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 22 and 12 metres (7 and 39 ft) in diameter and often encircled by
289-400: Was an important adhesive used in spear-making. Burning spinifex produces a strong black smoke, and smoke signals made in this way were an effective means of communication with families and groups over substantial distances. The species Triodia wiseana is used for building shelters; bunched together it is used for trapping fish against creek beds. It is called baru in the languages of
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