The deserts of Australia cover 1,371,000 square kilometres (529,000 sq mi), or 18% of the Australian mainland. The largest of the landform types covering Australia, deserts – and their arid climatic conditions – are found primarily in the western plateau and interior lowlands of the country.
Australia's climate is mostly determined by the hot, sinking air of the subtropical high pressure belt. Dry conditions are associated with an El Niño–Southern Oscillation in Australia. Vegetation is arid areas is primarily dependent upon soil type.
Extensive areas are cover by longitudinal dunes. 40% of Australia is covered by dunes. Central Australia is very dry where averages are 150 mm of rainfall each year.
Australian feral camel are presenting problems for native vegetation. This is partly because Australian desert vegetation evolved without an major herbivore present.
Read more about Deserts Of Australia: Deserts, Desert Groups
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“In every landscape, the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and that is seen from the first hillock as well as from the top of the Alleghanies. The stars at night stoop down over the brownest, homeliest common, with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on the Campagna, or on the marble deserts of Egypt.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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