Western Plateau
A vast, ancient plateau covering much of western Australia, underlain largely by Precambrian rocks and encompassing extensive deserts.
Australian Shield: A large region of exposed Precambrian rocks forming the stable geological core of Australia. Its ancient rocks underlie much of the Western Plateau.
Great Victoria Desert: Australia’s largest desert, spanning parts of Western Australia and South Australia. It occupies a major part of the plateau’s southern interior.
Chemical weathering: The decomposition or alteration of rock through chemical reactions with water, air, or dissolved substances. Long periods of chemical weathering helped flatten and mantle ancient terrain.
Pilbara iron ore industry: The large-scale extraction and export of iron ore from Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Ancient banded iron formations make the plateau a globally important ore source.
Aboriginal Australians: The Indigenous peoples of mainland Australia and its islands, comprising diverse nations, languages, and cultures. Aboriginal nations have enduring connections to plateau lands and waters.
Precambrian: The span of geological time from Earth’s formation to the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about 539 million years ago. Most bedrock across the plateau formed during this vast interval.
Great Sandy Desert: A large arid region of sand dunes and sparse vegetation in northwestern Australia. Its dune fields cover a broad area of the plateau.
Mechanical weathering: The physical breakdown of rock into smaller pieces without changing its chemical composition. Temperature shifts and salt growth break exposed rocks in dry landscapes.
Banded iron formation: A layered sedimentary rock composed chiefly of iron oxides and silica, formed mainly in the Precambrian. These deposits host much of the region’s exceptionally rich iron ore.
Dreaming: A diverse set of Aboriginal Australian religious, ancestral, and legal traditions connecting people, places, and creation. Dreaming traditions encode relationships to particular plateau sites and routes.