- Geography of the Tanami Desert
- Tanami climate
- Flora and fauna of the desert
- From the history of development and study
- Desert aborigines
The Australian continent was once known as a big mystery for Europeans. When they got there, the mysteries did not diminish, one of them is the Tanami Desert, a kind of last (for a European traveler) border of the Northern Territory, which was practically not explored until the middle of the last century.
Geography of the Tanami Desert
Modern devices have made it possible to accurately measure the total area occupied by this desert territory, as a result, in all textbooks and encyclopedias, including Wikipedia, the number appears as 292,194 square meters. km. It is difficult for a common man to explain how it was possible to accurately determine the area of the desert, where the natural border is between Tanami and neighboring territories.
A close examination of the map of Australia reveals the exact location of this desert. If we divide the continent into classical parts - north, south, west, east, it turns out that Tanami spreads its lands mainly in Northern Australia, where it occupies the central regions, and it also covers a small area in Western Australia (its northeastern part). From the west, Tanami has the Great Sandy Desert in its neighbors (this is where it is difficult to determine the boundaries), on the southern border there is the same neighbor - the Gibson Desert, on the southeast side there is Alice Springs, a small settlement.
Scientists give the following characteristics to this desert region of the Australian continent: it is a desert steppe, typical of the central regions of the mainland, it consists of vast sandy plains (this is the main relief form). The second component of the desert relief is the dunes. You can also observe shallow basins of the Lander River flowing in these places, sometimes in these basins you can see pits filled with water, lakes with a high salt content and drying up swamps.
Tanami climate
Although the territory, according to all classifications, belongs to deserts, scientists define the climate in it as semi-desert. This is due to the fact that during the year the amount of precipitation can reach 430 mm, a fairly high figure. Moreover, 80% of precipitation occurs in this desert during the summer months, that is, from October to March.
On the other hand, high air temperatures lead to very fast evaporation processes. After precipitation, moisture evaporates almost instantly, and again becomes too dry, which is why Tanami is a desert, and not a semi-desert or steppe, where the climatic conditions are milder.
The second important indicator that this is still a desert is the average air temperature in summer and winter. In winter, the average daily temperature is + 25 ° С - during the daytime, + 10 ° С - at night. Summer in the Tanami Desert is much hotter: + 22 ° С - on average at night, + 37 ° С - during the day.
Flora and fauna of the desert
Representatives of the kingdom of plants and animals inhabiting the Tanami territory remain mostly unknown to world science. Scientists have found that most of the sandy plains are covered with grasses that belong to the genus Triodia. Among other representatives of the flora, spinifex is called soft, spinifex is curly, occasionally there are acacias, shrubs belonging to the family of haze.
The desire to preserve the local flora and fauna led to the creation of a protected area in the desert in 2007, covering the northern region and having a fairly large number of endangered animals and plants. The area under human protection is 4 million hectares.
From the history of development and study
It is now officially believed that the first European to reach these remote desert regions in 1856 was Geoffrey Ryan, a renowned English explorer. But the facts suggest that he should be considered the discoverer of the Tanami Desert, but not an explorer.
The glory of the traveler, who first explored this Australian region, goes to another Englishman, whose name is also inscribed in the history of the continent - this is Allan Davidson. His expedition appeared in these places in 1900, a great success for Davidson's team was the discovery of gold deposits, which were mapped.
Desert aborigines
Difficult climatic and weather conditions, the absence of constant water flows in these territories led to a low level of land development by humans.
The Tanami region has a small population, primarily Australian Aborigines. Traditionally, the Tanami were inhabited by the Gurinji and Valpiri tribes, they own large tracts of desert land. There are also several settlements, the largest of which are Vauchope and Tennant Creek.
The discovery of gold deposits in the Tanami Desert allowed people to start industrial mining of the precious metal. Tourism is the second important area of the local economy.
