Eucla Basin facts for kids
The Eucla Basin is a huge, bowl-shaped area of land in Western Australia and South Australia. It's like a giant, shallow dip in the Earth's surface. This basin covers a massive area, about 1,141,000 square kilometers, which is bigger than many countries! It gently slopes downwards towards the south, ending at a large bay called the Great Australian Bight.
This basin stretches out more than 500 kilometers into the ocean and about 350 kilometers inland from the coast. The Eucla Basin was formed during the Cainozoic Era, which started about 66 million years ago. It's mostly made up of carbonate sediments and sedimentary rocks. Deep underground, the basin has a sandstone layer that holds water, acting like a giant sponge. Closer to the surface, there's also a limestone layer that holds water.
What the Land is Like
The land above the Eucla Basin, especially the Nullarbor Plain, is mostly used for grazing animals like sheep and cattle. People also mine for valuable metals like nickel and gold on the western side of the basin. Not many people live here; most areas have less than one person per square kilometer. This region is very dry, usually getting less than 250 millimeters of rain each year.
While it's not a good place to find petroleum (oil), the Eucla Basin is becoming a very important area for producing zircon. Zircon is a mineral used in many things, from jewelry to ceramics. One big project here is called the Cyclone Zircon Project.
Different Parts of the Eucla Basin
The Eucla Basin is a special part of the larger West Australian Shield, which is a very old and stable part of the Earth's crust. It includes some smaller areas like the Eyre Coastal Plain and the Eucla Shelf.
The main landforms you'll find within the basin are:
- Bunda Plateau: This is a flat, elevated area.
- Hampton Range, Wylie Scarp, and Bunda Cliffs: These are steep slopes or cliffs. The Bunda Cliffs are famous for their dramatic drop to the ocean.
- Roe Plains and Israelite Plain: These are flat, low-lying areas of land.
- Eucla Shelf: This is the part of the continental shelf that extends from the land out into the ocean.
