230px, Typical Mawson Plateau terrain; rolling hills, with sparse vegetation interspersed with numerous eroded granite boulders. The Mawson Plateau, located at is part of the northern

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...

, located on the Mount Freeling pastoral lease in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, east of Lyndhurst and adjacent to the northeastern boundary of

Arkaroola Arkaroola is the common name for the ''Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary'', a wildlife sanctuary situated on of freehold and pastoral lease land in South Australia. It is located north of the Adelaide city centre in the Northern Flinders Rang ...

Geography

The Mawson Plateau is a 71 km² granite batholith at a height of between 600 and 750m. It is dissected by Saucepan Creek and the Granite Plateau Creek; both are

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

of the Hamilton Creek. The

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

is bounded by the Hamilton Creek on the north and west, the Granite

Escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

on the east and Freeling Heights in the south.

Place names

230px, Eroded granite column on the central plateau . 230px, Granite cliff overlooking Saucepan Creek. Originally known as the Freeling Heights lower granite plateau, it was renamed The Mawson Plateau after

Sir Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader durin ...

.Sprigg, R. C. (Reginald Claude): "Arkaroola-Mount Painter in the northern Flinders Ranges, S.A : The Last Billion Years." Page 298, Arkaroola Pty Ltd, 1984 The main creek on the plateau has been known by successive owners of the Mount Freeling pastoral lease as the Granite Plateau Creek. T Junction Waterhole appears on the Yudnamutana 1:50000

topographical Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

map and is ~100m downstream from a distinctive T-junction on Granite Plateau Creek. The waterhole is the location of an old emergency rations cache put there in the early 1980s by the owners of the Arkaroola pastoral lease. The Granite Escarpment also appears on the Yudnamutana 1:50000 topographical map. It is a high ridge of exposed and weathered granite overlooking Lake Frome. In a gorge on Granite Plateau Creek there is a high granite cliff known to

bushwalkers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

as Aqualung Wall . At the base of the cliff there are permanent waterholes containing water spiders (''Dolomedes spp.''). The name of the cliff refers to the spider’s habit of submerging below the surface to hunt, or avoid predation, while breathing from bubbles of air attached to hairs on its abdomen. Edmunds Hill is a small peak high on the central plateau with 360-degree panoramic views of the plateau, and is named after Lorraine Edmunds, Arkaroola's former information officer, National Parks employee, and conservationist. There are numerous trough-like waterholes along the creeks on the Mawson Plateau, many are ephemeral being subject to adequate rainfall in creek catchments. Ray's Waterhole is a picturesque permanent waterhole on Saucepan Creek. The plateau is a remote and inaccessible

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

and it is very unusual to find any modern human artifacts on the plateau. When they are found at, or near significant locations they occasionally contribute to the place name: Stardrop Waterhole is a periodic waterhole upstream of Tee Junction Waterhole and is named after the solitary steel "star dropper" fence post found at the site. Saucepan Creek is a major tributary of the Granite Plateau Creek. The name refers to the discovery of two abandoned, or lost, saucepans found at different times, and at separate locations along the creek. One was found hanging from a

river red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

at the junction (Saucepan Junction) of Saucepan Creek and the Granite Plateau Creek , the other was found near a major waterfall on Saucepan Creek.

Climate

230px, Eroded granite boulders near the Granite Escarpment. The plateau is located within one of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

’s major bioclimatic regions-the arid Eyrean region. Average rainfall on the adjoining pastoral lease of Arkaroola is 265 mm; however the

Gammon Ranges Gammon may refer to: People * Archer T. Gammon (1918–1945), United States Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient * James Gammon (1940–2010), American actor * James Gammon (engraver) (), English engraver * Kendall Gammon (born 1968), Ame ...

Rainfall Project (Maier and Wright 1996),Brandle, R: "A Biological Survey of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia 1997-1999 (Biodiversity Survey and Monitoring, National Parks and Wildlife, South Australia, Department for Environment and Heritage)" Page 3, Department for Environment and Heritage, 2001 which began monitoring rainfall on the nearby Gammon Plateau at 930m in 1988 indicated that rainfall and number of rain days increases with altitudes greater than 400m above sea level in this area. With the Mawson Plateau at ~700m, rainfall averages are likely to be higher than those at Arkaroola. Maier and Wright found that increased rainfall at altitude was predominantly winter rainfall, however the area is strongly influenced by summer storms. The influence of these unpredictable summer storms is reflected in the differences between the highest and lowest annual rainfall records recorded at Arkaroola (56mm – 949mm). Similar variations certainly occur on the Mawson Plateau.

Aquatic habitat

230px, Waterhole on the Granite Plateau Creek; the more permanent of these waterholes support small populations of unidentified fish. The plateau is a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

for the Granite Plateau Creek, and its major tributary, Saucepan Creek. Both of these creeks flow only briefly after rain and as the region receives highly variable rainfall, water is scarce for most of the year and both creeks are

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

. In places the creeks have cut deep gorges and valleys into the plateau’s granite creating permanent and semi-permanent waterholes that support numerous species of frogs including the brown toadlet (''Pseudophryne bibroniiand''), water spiders (''Dolomedes spp.'') and small populations of unidentified fish. The fish are possibly spangled perch, (''Leiopotherapon unicolor'') a widely distributed desert fish common in much of the Hamilton Creek Catchment, or Lake Eyre Hardyhead, (''Craterocephalus eyresii'') the most common and widely distributed fish in the Flinders Ranges.

Fauna

Despite the relative abundance of permanent water, mammals and birds are sparse on the plateau, but there are small populations of

euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

(''Macropus robustus''),

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the ...

s (''Tachyglossus aculeatusand'') and a few species of bats. Feral goats are rare. Common birds include

willie wagtail The willy (or willie) wagtail (''Rhipidura leucophrys'') is a passerine bird native to Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Eastern Indonesia. It is a common and familiar bird throughout much of its range, ...

(''Rhipidura leucophrys''),

wedge-tailed eagle The wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax'') is the largest bird of prey in the continent of Australia. It is also found in southern New Guinea to the north and is distributed as far south as the state of Tasmania. Adults of this species have lon ...

(''Aquila audax''), and the Australian boobook (''Ninox boobook''). Reptiles have fared better than mammals and there are numerous species of snakes, skinks and dragons.

Notes