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The Painted Desert is in the Far North of
The Painted Desert is in the Far North of 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 ...
. It is north-east of Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...
, in the Arckaringa Station
Arckaringa Station is a pastoral lease in the Australian state of South Australia which that once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station.
It is located approximately south west of Oodnadatta and north of Coober Pe ...
pastoral lease, not far from the homestead. It is notable for its distinctive mesas, mountains, and geological formations. Not far from here on the way to Oodnadatta, there are large areas of ground covered with mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...
. The entire region is desolate and made up of soft, fragile rock.
Geology
The Painted Desert was seabed 80 million years ago. As the land rose, some of the rock has eroded away, leaving the Arckaringa Hills in many shades of orange, yellow, and white shale on the slopes. The Mirackina Range of mesas extends to the west. The Arckaringa Hills is of geological and biological significance as it is also the site of rare plant species and the southernmost extent of the range of Australia's largestmonitor lizard
Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. About 80 species are recogn ...
.
See also
*Painted Desert (Arizona)
The Painted Desert is a United States desert of badlands in the Four Corners area, (cited by ) running from near the east end of Grand Canyon National Park and southeast into Petrified Forest National Park. It is most easily accessed from the no ...
References
* Far North (South Australia) Deserts of South Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub