- Western Plateau
The Western Plateau is
Australia 's largest drainage division and is composed predominantly of the remains of the ancient rock shield ofGondwanaland . It incorporates two thirds of the continent; 2,700,000 square kilometres of arid land including large parts ofWestern Australia ,South Australia , and theNorthern Territory . For comparison, it is roughly four times the size ofTexas , or the same size as the whole of continentalEurope from Poland west to Portugal.Rain seldom falls in this region and aside from a handful of permanent waterholes, surface water is absent at all times except after heavy rain. Most of the territory is flat sandy or stony desert with a sparse covering of scrub or tussock grasses. Average rainfall varies from one area to another and is quoted at 100 to 350 mm per year (between 4 and 14 inches) but is highly unpredictable.
There are no permanent watercourses. The general trend is for run-off to flow inland, but there is insufficient rainfall to produce any marked drainage pattern.
ee also
*
Australian south-west coast drainage division
* Indian Ocean drainage division: seePilbara region of Western Australia
* Timor Sea drainage division: seeTop End andKimberley region of Western Australia
*Gulf of Carpentaria
*Australian north-east coast drainage division
*Australian south-east coast drainage division
*Murray-Darling Basin
*South Australian gulf drainage division
*Lake Eyre Basin
*australian Shield
*Pilbara craton
*Yilgarn craton
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