Online Encyclopedia
Geography of Australia
The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country. The population is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts; regular, tropical, invigorating, sea breeze known as "the Doctor" occurs along the west coast in the summer.
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Area and boundaries
Location: Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean
Geographic coordinates: 27 00 S, 133 00 E
Map references: Oceania
Area:
- total: 7,686,850 kmē
- land: 7,617,930 kmē
- water: 68,920 kmē
- note: includes Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island
Area comparative
- Canada comparative: about 4 times bigger than Nunavut
- United Kingdom comparative: about 31.5 times bigger than the UK
- United States comparative: slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 25,760 km
Maritime claims:
- contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles
- continental shelf: 200 nautical miles or to the edge of the continental margin
- exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles
- territorial sea: 12 nautical miles
Climate and terrain
By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid — 40% of the landmass is covered by sand dunes. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests, part grasslands, and part desert.
The terrain is mostly low plateau with deserts; and fertile plain in southeast. The Great Barrier Reef, by far the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast. Uluru, in central Australia, is the largest monolith in the world.
Elevation extremes:
- lowest point: Lake Eyre: -15 m
- highest point: Mount Kosciuszko: 2,229 m
See also:
Natural resources and land use
Natural resources include: bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum.
Australia is home to the Great Artesian Basin - an important source of water for people and cattle in the parched outback. This basin is the world's largest and deepest fresh water basin.
Land use:
- arable land: 6%
- permanent crops: 0%
- permanent pastures: 54%
- forests and woodland: 19%
- other: 21% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 21,070 kmē (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: cyclones along the northern coasts; severe thunderstorms, droughts and occasional floods; frequent bushfires
Environment
Current issues: soil erosion from overgrazing, industrial development, urbanization, and poor farming practices; soil salinity rising due to the use of poor quality water; desertification; clearing for agricultural purposes threatens the natural habitat of many unique animal and plant species; the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, the largest coral reef in the world, is threatened by increased shipping and its popularity as a tourist site; limited natural fresh water resources
International agreements:
- party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban 1963, Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 1994, Wetlands, Whaling
- signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification
Reference
- Much of the material in this article comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000.