Simpson Desert Secrets: Linear Dunes, Lost Wells, Your Soul

The Simpson Desert is one of the world’s largest deserts of longitudinal dunes. It contains 1100 dunes arranged in a closely packed array, with some dunes running south-east to the north-west for 200 km. Dunes can reach 90 m in height. Ecologically speaking we know very little about central Australia. I gathering data on these long walks through the Simpson Desert Secrets with scientists and eco-tourists.

Simpson Desert 

Is 170,000 km2 or roughly the size of the state of Georgia. It is dominated by northwest-oriented parallel linear dunes that are between 10 and 40 m in height and from one to several hundred kilometers in length. Inter-dune spacing is typically between 100 m to 1.5 km and varies inversely as a function of dune height. The area surrounding the Simpson Desert only receives about 120-180 mm of rain every year, making it the driest part of Australia, and many of the surrounding rivers only flow ephemerally. 

When intense seasonal monsoonal rains to the north cause these rivers to flood, the waters become choked by sand upon reaching the desert resulting in a series of complex flood out deposits. The water then seeps into the sand and continues towards Lake Eyre as shallow saline groundwater flows. This intricate interaction between eolian and fluvial deposits makes the Simpson Desert an ideal environment for testing many of the ideas we currently have about the Martian surface. The Simpson Desert is a well-kept secret itself geologic evidence suggests that ancient Mars once had a more Earth-like climate, and features such as outflow channels, valley networks, modified impact craters, and layered deposits suggest that Mars should contain fluvial deposits related to this past climate.

However, once the ancient climate of Mars failed, eolian processes began to rework and bury many of the fluvial deposits and their related features.  Although the mantra of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is to “follow the water,” most of the geologic evidence needed to do this has been modified. By analyzing the linear dunes and surrounding flood out deposits we will better understand the formation and evolution of the Simpson Desert as well as the timing and nature of climatic change in Australia. By analogy, these field studies will also help us to better understand the modification of Martian valley networks and interpret remote sensing data from Mars orbiting spacecraft.

Simpson Desert Linear Dunes

When you want to travel in the Simpson desert to see linear sand dunes, google will help your travel plans as SEO is vital for travel operators, you’ll find information on road distances with must-know details. Cover about 40 percent of the Australian continent and represent about 40 percent of all the dunes in the world. Linear dunes have also been found on all the terrestrial planets with an atmosphere. Although they are somewhat rare features on Mars, there is evidence for linear dunes on Venus and Titan as well. Although they are such common features very little is known about their formation, their chronology, or their interaction with other landforms. 

Survey and geochemical analyses, of the linear dunes located in the Simpson Desert in central Australia. From thermal infrared remote sensing data and laboratory analyses also hope to better understand the complex interaction between the linear dunes and the surrounding land and river systems.

Simpson Desert Lost Wells

Professor Smith and the non-profit scientific organization Australian Desert Expeditions have been invited to survey the mikiri site by Don Rowlands, a traditional owner and head ranger of the Munga-Thirri Simpson Desert National Park. Mr. Rowlands is a Wangkangurru man, and it was his ancestors that made the axe that Professor Smith holds.

The Wangkangurru call the 17 million hectares of the Simpson Desert home. The desert, which lies in the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Queensland, is the driest Australian environment humans have ever lived in. They were able to do so through a series of hand-dug wells called mikiri in Wangkangurru.

Simpson Desert Your Soul

The desert heartbeat of the Australian Red Centre connects you to the soul of this country like nowhere else. Feel an enduring spiritual affinity to these magnificent sweeping plains, and am truly at peace in their company. You awoke to the sublime stillness of the encroaching dawn, the only sound, the murmuring of the shifting carpet of sand. Chose a simple yet striking composition of blood-red dunes, the delicate morning rays highlighting their chiseled contours. The powerful converging lines of this image add to the amazing depth and haunting mood of the scene. The desert awakening around me, and is surrounded 360 degrees by perfect untouched dunes. You felt as woven into the fabric of the land.

Explore The Beautifully 

Contoured Australia Deserts, Its epic palette of eye-popping color and texture will leave landscape lovers thirsty for more full of history and sacred traditions, it is a most beautiful Country. Do not spoil it, and travel carefully explorations of the Simpson Desert.