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The Great Victoria Desert (GVD) stretches from eastern Western Australia to the western half of South Australia, making it Australia’s largest desert. It is a dynamic sand-ridge desert with many low, frequently tangled sand dunes and lunettes bordering playa lakes (crescent-shaped dunes). There are few creeks and rocky outcroppings. Gibber plains can also be found.
Eucalypt open woodlands, mulga woodlands, acacia shrublands, casuarina and mallee shrublands and woodlands, and chenopod and samphire shrublands are among the vegetation types found in the GVD. The scattered woodlands of majestic marble gums are noteworthy.
Location:
From the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia to the Gawler Ranges in South Australia, it is over 700 km (430 mi) wide and encompasses an area of 348,750 km2 (134,650 sq mi). The Western Australian mulga shrublands ecoregion is bordered on the west by the Little Sandy Desert, on the northwest by the Gibson Desert and the Central Ranges xeric shrublands, on the north by the Tirari-Sturt stony desert, and on the south by the Nullarbor Plain.
Climate and Weather:
The annual rainfall averages 200 to 250 mm (7.9 to 9.8 in) per year, which is low and unpredictable. Thunderstorms are fairly regular in the Great Victoria Desert, with 15–20 thunderstorms per year on average.
Summer temperatures range from 32 to 40 degrees Celsius (90 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit), while winter temperatures range from 18 to 23 degrees Celsius (64 to 73 degrees Fahrenheit).
Flora and Fauna:
According to WWF, open woods cover the majority of the Great Victoria Desert (GVD), with species such as eucalyptus mulga (Acacia aneura), a hummock grass understorey (Triodia spp., primarily T. basedownii), and shrubs (Maireana sedifolia, Dodenaea attenuata).
Eucalyptus gongylocarpa, Eucalyptus socialis, and Eucalyptus pyriformis are the three gum tree species that thrive in GVD. The first is also known as the desert gum, because it grows in the Great Victoria Desert among the sand. Mulga, a tiny tree, also thrives in the area, which stretches hundreds of miles across the desert.
According to WWF, the reptile variety in the GVD is excellent. The rare great desert skink, for example, was assumed to be extinct in South Australia until it was rediscovered in 1998. This dry region is home to over a hundred reptile species. Various types of lizards can be found in various sections of the desert.
Rock wallabies, which are on the verge of extinction, are also found in the Great Victoria Desert. They dwell on the steep cliffs of the desert and, thanks to their small, muscular legs, are ideally adapted for life on the rocky mountainside. Many bilbies, which resemble huge mice with large rabbit ears, live in the area. There are also a lot of camels here, but unlike in other nations, they are feral and considered ‘pests’ since they damage the vegetation. Their population has now surpassed a million people across Australia, and it is growing at an annual rate of 8%.
The GVD is also home to a number of predators, including the dingo, perentie, feral cats, and foxes. In the area, there are also several Bandy Bandy hoop snakes, which only come out to the ground at night to hunt for food.
Conservation and threats:
Because agriculture has been limited in this area, habitats have largely remained undisturbed, and parts of the desert have been designated as protected areas, such as Mamungari Conservation Park (formerly known as Unnamed Conservation Park) in South Australia, a large area of pristine arid zone wilderness with cultural significance and one of Australia’s 14 World Biosphere Reserves. In South Australia’s Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal Local Government Area and Western Australia’s Great Victoria Desert Nature Reserve, habitat is also maintained.
The United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga and Emu Field in the 1950s and early 1960s contaminated the area with plutonium-239 and other radioactive substances.
Conclusion:
The Great Victoria Desert (GVD) is the world’s seventh-biggest desert and Australia’s largest dune desert. It stretches 700 kilometres from west to east and covers 350,000 square kilometres in total. This vast desert, which stretches from Western Australia to South Australia, is classified as an arid country. In 1875, a crew led by Australian explorer Ernest Giles named it after a British queen, Queen Victoria.
Many small sandhills, meadows, and salt lakes make up Australia’s largest desert. There is relatively little space for farming and grazing, and the land is completely protected.
It is so large that crossing it would take a person several days. The Great Victoria Desert Nature Reserve, the Flora and Fauna Conservation Park, and the Nullarbor National Park are among the parks and reserves in the area.
