The Pilbara Coast is the coastline of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

region. It is often referred to as the North West Coast of Western Australia. It is a complex array of river mouths, ports, peninsulas, and islands.

Geography

North West Cape North West Cape is a peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge. It is in the Gascoyne region and includes the town of Exmouth. History In 16 ...

forms the western end of the Pilbara Coast. According to the ICMRA, the Pilbara Coast ends at

Cape Keraudren Cape Keraudren is a coastal headland on the northern coast of Western Australia. The rocky cape forms the western end of Eighty Mile Beach, and the eastern end of the Pilbara Coast.Thackway R, Cresswell ID. 1998. Interim Marine and Coastal Regi ...

, a rocky headland that forms the western end of

Eighty Mile Beach Eighty Mile Beach, also spelled Eighty-mile Beach or 80-mile Beach, lies along the north-west coast of Western Australia about half-way between the towns of Broome and Port Hedland. It is a beach some in length, forming the coastline where t ...

. Others end it further east at

Wallal Wallal is the location of a bore in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The bore is located from the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and Broome and has an elevation of . The nearest town is Marble Bar, south of the bor ...

. Lagoons protected by barrier islands, embayments, river deltas, and rocky headlands are the main coastal features. The Pilbara's

intermittent river Intermittent, temporary or seasonal rivers or streams cease to flow every year or at least twice every five years.(Tzoraki et al., 2007) Such rivers drain large arid and semi-arid areas, covering approximately a third of the earth's surface. ...

s, including the Ashburton,

Fortescue Fortescue may refer to: People * Fortescue (surname), a British surname ''Includes list of name-holders'' * Fortescue Ash (1882–1956), Anglican bishop in Australia * Fortescue Graham (1794–1880), British Royal Marines general Places * Fo ...

Yule Yule, actually Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indig ...

, and De Grey, have deposited sediment to form river deltas. There are many coastal islands, including the near-shore

Dampier Archipelago The Dampier Archipelago is a group of 42 islands near the town of Dampier in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The archipelago is also made up of reefs, shoals, channels and straits and is the traditional home of five Aboriginal language group ...

, a cluster of rocky islands and reefs. The larger offshore islands include

Barrow Island Barrow Island may refer to: * Barrow Island (Western Australia), Australia * Barrow Island (Queensland), Australia * Barrow Island, Barrow-in-Furness Barrow Island is an area and electoral ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Origina ...

and the

Montebello Islands The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands (about 92 of which are named) lying north of Barrow Island (Western Australia), Barrow Island and off the Pilbara region of We ...

.Thackway R, Cresswell ID. 1998. Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia: An Ecosystem-based Classification for Marine and Coastal Environments. Version 3.3. Canberra (Australia): Environment Australia, Commonwealth Department of the Environment. Cenozoic aeolian and beach rock deposits are common along the entire coastline. The western portion of the coast, from North West Cape to Cape Preston including

Exmouth Gulf Exmouth Gulf is a gulf in the north-west of Western Australia. It lies between North West Cape and the main coastline of Western Australia. It is considered to be part of the Pilbara Coast and Northwest Shelf, and the Carnarvon Basin geologi ...

, is underlain by the sedimentary

Carnarvon Basin The Carnarvon Basin is a geological basin located in the north west of Western Australia which extends from the Dampier Archipelago to the Murchison bioregion, and is the main geological feature that makes up the North West Shelf. The onshore ...

formation. The eastern portion from Cape Preston to Cape Keraudren is near the northern margin of the

Pilbara Craton The Pilbara Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the ...

, which is made up of Archaean metamorphic and igneous rocks. The Archean rocks outcrop in several places along the coast, including in the Dampier Archipelago and the adjacent mainland. The offshore islands are mostly composed of limestone, with sandy cays and fringing coral reefs.

Climate

The climate is tropical and semi-arid. The North West Coast, including the Pilbara Coast and Eighty Mile Beach is the most cyclone-prone region of the entire Australian coastline. On average two cyclones cross the coast each year, one of which is severe. In Bureau of Meteorology reports, Pilbara Coast West runs from North West Cape to

Cape Preston Cape Preston is a rocky headland located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, situated West South West of Karratha. It lies on the tribal land of the indigenous Nhuwala. Cape Preston is a standard Bureau of Meteorology reference point ...

, and Pilbara Coast East is from Cape Preston to Wallal.

Oceanography

The sea floor slopes gently away from the coast, and the 10-metre bathymetric contour is generally between 1 and 2 miles offshore. The waters are

turbid Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

near the shore, especially during the spring tides. Tidal range is large with a maximum of 2 to 6 metres. Wave energy is generally low, but cyclonic storms can bring large waves and storm surges.

Ecology

Australia's IMCRA system designates two

bioregion A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use the ...

s on the Pilbara Coast. The Pilbara (nearshore) bioregion extends from the shore to the ten-metre bathymetric contour, and includes the Dampier Archipelago and other near-shore islands. The coastal lagoons and embayments are home to extensive mangrove systems, some of them more than 50 km long. Arid-climate mangroves are globally rare, and the Pilbara Coast has some of the largest areas of arid-climate mangrove on the planet. The Pilbara Coast is home to five species of mangrove – ''

Aegialitis annulata ''Aegialitis'' is a genus of two shrubby mangrove species, with one native to Southeast Asia and the other native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Description The two species of the genus are woody mangrove shrubs or small trees that grow u ...

, Aegiceras corniculatum,

Avicennia marina ''Avicennia marina'', commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae (formerly in the Verbenaceae or Avicenniaceae). As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertid ...

, Bruguiera exaristata,

Ceriops tagal ''Ceriops tagal'', commonly known as spurred mangrove or Indian mangrove, is a mangrove tree species in the family Rhizophoraceae. It is a protected tree in South Africa. The specific epithet ' is a plant name from the Tagalog language. Descrip ...

'', and ''

Rhizophora stylosa ''Rhizophora stylosa'', the spotted mangrove, red mangrove, small stilted mangrove or stilt-root mangrove, is a tree in the family Rhizophoraceae. The specific epithet ' is from the Latin meaning "stylus form", referring to the flower. Descript ...

''. Many birds, fishes, and invertebrates live in the mangroves. The intertidal mud flats are home to abundant burrowing invertebrates, which sustain migratory and resident birds. The Pilbara (offshore) bioregion encompasses the clearer waters beyond the 10-metre depth contour and several offshore islands, including Barrow Island, the Montebello Islands, South and North Muiron, Serrurier, Bessieres, Thevenard, and the Rosily islands. The lower turbidity allows for abundant corals, which form fringing reefs and sustain a diverse coral reef flora and fauna, including many endemic species.

Aboriginal peoples

The

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

peoples of the Pilbara Coast include, from west to east, the

Thalanyji The Thalanyji, also spelt Thalandji, Dhalandji, and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Country Thalanyji lands, according to Norman Tindale, encompassed approximately , running along ...

, Nhuwala, Martuthunira, Yapurarra,

Ngarluma The Ngarluma are an Indigenous Australian people of the western Pilbara area of northwest Australia. They are coastal dwellers of the area around Roebourne and Karratha. Not including Millstream. Language The Ngarluma language belongs to the ...

, Kariyarra,

Nyamal The Nyamal are an Indigenous Australian, Indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara area of north-western Western Australia. Language A version of Nyamal language, Nyamal became the basis of a pidgin used among workers on pearling luggers in th ...

, and Ngarla."Map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. Accessed 20 July 2021. https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia

Settlements

Settlements on the coast include the towns of

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

, Onslow, Dampier, Karratha, Roebourne, and

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

. Dampier is an industrial port which exports iron ore from the interior and

liquified natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

from the offshore Greater Gorgon gas field. Port Hedland's industrial port also exports iron ore.

Protected areas

* Eighty Mile Beach Marine Park and Marine Protected Area protect the eastern portion of the coast. * Dampier Marine Park * Montebello Marine Park * Great Sandy Island Marine Protected Area

References

{{reflist IMCRA meso-scale bioregions Biogeography of Western Australia