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12 - The development of a climate: an arid continent with wet fringes

from Part I - Ancient invaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

By
Sandra McLaren ,
Malcolm W. Wallace ,
Stephen J. Gallagher ,
Barbara E. Wagstaff  and
Anne-Marie P. Tosolini
Edited by
Herbert H. T. Prins  and
Iain J. Gordon
Sandra McLaren
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Malcolm W. Wallace
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Stephen J. Gallagher
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Barbara E. Wagstaff
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Anne-Marie P. Tosolini
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Herbert H. T. Prins
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
Iain J. Gordon
Affiliation:
The James Hutton Institute, Scotland
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Summary

Introduction

The Australian continent is large and therefore exhibits a range of very different climatic zones. Broadly, the continent is characterised by arid climatic regimes: four-fifths of the landmass receiving an annual rainfall of less than 600 mm (Figure 12.1) and one-half of the continent receiving less than 300 mm. These arid and semi-arid regions form the greatest proportion of inland Australia, and are fringed by narrow, wet and temperate climatic zones along the southwestern, southern and eastern coastal zones (Figure 12.1). Tropical monsoonal rainfall characterises the northern coastal zones. Compared to other continents on Earth, Australia has by far the lowest average rainfall. This low precipitation rate is coupled with a high evaporation rate meaning that surface water availability is also anomalously low compared to global averages. Average annual temperature also shows significant variation (Figure 12.1) and in most areas there is also a high diurnal variation in temperature.

It is well known, however, that the currently arid areas of inland Australia were significantly wetter in the geological past, from the early Cenozoic (a period of geological time from c. 65 Ma until the present day; Gradstein et al. 2004) until at least the early Miocene (c. 23 Ma) (e.g. Kershaw et al. 1994; Martin 2006). Much of our current knowledge of climate change from the early Cenozoic to the present is deduced from observed variations in the isotopic signature of marine sediments (e.g. deMenocal 1995; Lisiecki and Raymo 2005; Raymo et al. 2006) as well as the distribution, chemistry and palynological assemblages of terrestrial and marine sediments and sedimentary rocks.

Type
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Invasion Biology and Ecological Theory
Insights from a Continent in Transformation
 , pp. 256 - 282
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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