Sturt's Stony Desert
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Sturt Stony Desert (previously Sturt's Stony Desert) is an area in the north-east of South Australia, far south western border area of Queensland and the far west of New South Wales. It was named by Charles Sturt in 1844, while he was trying to find the inland sea which he believed lay at the centre of Australia. The stones caused his horses to limp and wore down the hooves of the cattle and sheep which Sturt had taken on the expedition. The larger Simpson Desert is located to the west and the Strzelecki Desert is to the south east. Between these two dunefields is the Gason Dome, upon which the Sturt Stony Desert is located. To the south west of Sturt Stony Desert is the
Tirari Desert The Tirari Desert is a desert in the eastern part of the Far North region of South Australia. It stretches 212 km from north to south and 153 km from east to west. Location and description The Tirari Desert features salt lakes and ...
. The Birdsville Track is a route between Marree in South Australia and Birdsville in Queensland.


Landscape

Much of the desert is covered by gibber. Sturt suggested the closely compacted stones were the result of currents moving across an ancient seafloor. However the gibber plains originated from desert sandstone sheets which once covered the area. Weather has slowly broken down the sandstone with the harder fragments remaining. Both circular and stepped gilgai have been found in the desert.


Ecology

The desert is part of the Tirari-Sturt stony desert ecoregion. It is home to the Kowari, a small but feisty
carnivorous marsupial Dasyuromorphia (, meaning "hairy tail" in Greek) is an order comprising most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omn ...
which hunts nocturnally on the vast gibber plains. One of the kowari's main prey is the
Long-haired Rat The long-haired rat (''Rattus villosissimus''), is a species of rodent in the family Muridae which is native to Australia. The long-haired rat is well known for its population eruptions over vast areas of Australia which is the basis of its alte ...
, a native rodent whose population occasionally booms to extraordinary numbers. During the booms thousands of rats can sing from their burrows, creating a hum which rises through the earth and fills the desert night. Because of this, they are sometimes called the Singing Rat. Booming rat populations provide bountiful food for kowaris, inland taipan, dingoes and the rare
Letter-winged Kite The letter-winged kite (''Elanus scriptus'') is a small, rare and Irruptive growth, irruptive bird of prey that is endemism, found only in Australia. Measuring around in length with a wingspan of , the adult letter-winged kite has predominantl ...
.


See also

* Deserts of Australia *
List of deserts by area This is a list of the largest deserts in the world by area. It includes all deserts above . Notes See also * Desert * Desertification * List of deserts by continent * Polar desert * Tundra * United Nations Convention to Combat Deserti ...


References


External links

*
Natural history of Sturt Stony Desert
{{coord, 27, S, 140, E, region:AU_scale:500000_type:landmark, display=title Deserts of South Australia Deserts of New South Wales Deserts of Queensland Lake Eyre basin Ecoregions of South Australia IBRA subregions Charles Sturt