Western Plateau facts for kids
The Western Plateau is a huge, very dry area that covers about two-thirds of Australia. It's like a giant, ancient shield made of rock, and it's also known as the Australian Shield. This massive region spans 2,700,000 square kilometres, which is roughly the same size as all of continental Europe, from Poland all the way to Portugal! It includes large parts of Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
Rain hardly ever falls here. You won't find any permanent rivers or streams. If you visit, you might see a few waterholes that stay wet, but most of the time, surface water only appears right after a big rainstorm.
A Land of Ancient Rocks
The Western Plateau is mostly flat. It's covered in sandy or stony deserts. You'll see some scattered shrubs and tough grasses called tussock grasses. The amount of rain that falls each year changes a lot, but it's usually between 100 and 350 millimetres (about 4 to 14 inches). The weather is very unpredictable, so you never know when the next rain will come.
Because there's so little rain, any water that does fall tends to flow inwards, but it's not enough to create proper rivers or lakes. It's a truly unique and ancient part of the world!
Related Places
- Australian Shield
- Pilbara craton
- Yilgarn craton
- Great Victoria Desert
- ^ http://www.anra.gov.au/topics/coasts/pubs/estuary_assessment/est_ass_int_wpdd.html
