Earth science 7- Australia/ New Zealand/ Antarctica 5

• Earth Science 7-Regions

Australia

Geology

Australia has 8 regions:

Australian Capital Territory:

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Australia's Longitude and Latitude:

27° 0' 0" South/133° 0' 0" East.

Elevation:

lowest point: Lake Eyre -15 m highest point: Mount Kosciuszko 2,229 m

Large Bodies of Water:

Lake Eyre is Australia's largest body of water - it is a salt water lake that covers over 3,430 square miles (8,884-9,500 square kilometers), although it is generally dry. Lake Eyre is located in South Australia. Australia's longest river is the Murray-Darling River, in New South Wales, which flows for 2,911 miles (4,685 km) into the Indian Ocean.

"Australia is the smallest of the continents, and is situated to the southeast of that great block of land which comprises Europe, Asia and Africa. The two main belts of late topographic change traverse the Old World. One runs across Europe and Asia and constitutes the Himalaya Belt. The other surrounds the Pacific, and has resulted in the high mountains and the numberless festoon islands fringing Asia and Australia in the Western Pacific, These two belts meet in the complex region of the East Indies, and have produced the varied topography of New Guinea, But neither of them traverses Australia, which in consequence is one of the regions with least topographic variety in the world." Australia Bureau of Statistics.

Bordering Oceans:

Indian Ocean Arafara Ocean Coral Sea Pacific Ocean Tasman Ocean

Average Monthly Tempurature

The range of average monthly temperatures is 15 °C. The warmest average max/ high temperature is 28 °C (82 °F) in January. The coolest average min/ low temperature is 0 °C (32 °F) in July.

Average Monthly Rainfall/Precipitation

Australia receives on average 631 mm (24.8 in) of precipitation annually or 53 mm (2.1 in) each month.

Climate Zone

[1]

Topography

Mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast

Vegetation

[2]

Ocean Currents

[3]

Rock Types

Mount Augustus: "It was formed from an uplift which raised an ancient seabed of sandstone conglomerate and folded it into a dramatic anticline (like an inverted V shape). The granite rock which lies beneath Mount Augustus is said to be 1650 million years old." (Australia.gov.au)

[4]

Minerals

[5]

Plates

Australia is located on the Indian-Australian Plate, bordering the African,Arabian,Eurasian, Pacific, and Antarctica Plates.

Boundary Types

Bordering the Antarctic and African plates there are divergent boundaries, bordering the Eurasian and Pacific there are convergent boundaries, and bordering the Arabian plate there is a transform boundary.

Volcanoes

Volcanoes in Australia result from hot spots due to the fact that Australia does not fall on a plate boundary. Most volcanoes in Australia are extinct although the currently active volcanoes are Heard Island and McDonald Islands. [6] Volcano List: [7]

Australian Islands:

Heard Island: 53.106 S, 73.513 E Big Ben is the main active volcano although there is another called the Mount Dixon Volcano.

Lord Howe Island: 31.5 S, 159.1 E Lord Howe is an extinct shield volcano.

Macquarie Island: 54.50 S, 158.95 E This island was formed by an undersea eruption.

Atherton: 17.5 S, 144.5 E Hallorans Hill is a shield volcano in Atherton. Mount Quincan and the Seven Sisters are two young cinder cones. Malanda is a shield volcano.

Tweed: 28.398 S, 153.27 E shield volcano

Warrumbungle: 31.3 S, 149.0 E Extinct Shield volcano

Volcanoes both directly and indirectly produce or host deposits of aluminum, diamonds, gold, nickel, lead, zinc, and copper.

Magma Types

Because the volcanoes in Australia form from hot spots the magma is basaltic.

Recent Eruptions

Heard Island, Southern Indian Ocean, Australia:2006 McDonald Island, Australia: 1996

Earthquakes

A list of Earthquakes can be found here: [8]

New Zealand

Geology

Regions

Auckland,

Bay of Plenty,

Central Otago,

Christchurch - Canterbury, Coromandel,

Dunedin - Coastal Otago, Eastland, Fiordland,

Hamilton - Waikato, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu

Marlborough,

Nelson Tasman,

Northland,

Queenstown,

Rotorua,

Ruapehu,

Southland,

Taranaki, Taupo,

Waikato,

Wairarapa,

Wanaka,

Wellington,

West Coast,

Whanganui

Longitude and Latitude:

41° 0' 0" S / 174° 0' 0" E

Elevation:

Highest: 12,316 ft Lowest: -2 m

Major Bodies of Water

The Bay of Plenty is the largest bay on the island. The largest body of water in the island is Lake Tampo. Other bodies of water are Lake Hawea, Lake Te Anau, Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea, and The Bay of Islands.

Major Topographic Features

Mount Cook is the highest point on New Zealand.

Oceans

The Tasman Sea is to the west and the Pacific Ocean is to the east.

Monthly averages

Average of 55.4 degrees monthly temperature average of 4 inches of rainfall monthly and 2-5 inches of precipitation monthly

Climate

Cfc, meaning hot summers, no dry season, and mild winters

Mineral Information

New Zealand Mineral Map: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/rock-and-mineral-names/2/1 Geological Map of New Zealand: http://data.gns.cri.nz/geoatlas/text.jsp

Plates

Pacific, Australian

Boundaries

Sub ducts under Pacific Plate

Volcanos

There are lots of volcanos here, a chart to their location, name, and info can be found  here ----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_New_Zealand

The volcanos are mostly rhyolitic in New Zealand and contain rhyolitic lava.

Antarctica

Geology

Size:

13,209,000 sq km, 5,100,021 sq miles 

(varies due to changing ice shelves)

Latitude/ Loungitude

90° S, 0.00° E

Highest point:

Vinson Massif at 16,066 ft. (4,897 m)

Lowest Point:

Bentley Subglacial Trench, (-2,555 m)

Major Topiagraphic Features:

Antarctica is made of 98% frozen water (ice)

Population:

Officially none, but governmental research stations are populated with small groups of scientists at all times. In addition, during the 2009/2010 season, nearly 37,000 tourists visited the continent.

Bordering Oceans:

The bordering oceans are the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans

Large Bodies of Water:

Some of these include the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea

Climate Zones

Antarcica is in Group E of the Koppen classification.this means that is has average temperatures below 10 °C throughout the year. This group (E) is divided into these climates:

Tundra climate, represented as ET, with warmest month has average temperature between 0 °C and 10 °C.

Ice Cap climate, represented as EF, are average temperatures below 0 °C throughout the year.

Some of the things that effect Antarcticas climate:

Latitude: it has a very high Coriolis Effect, being at 0.00' and is one of the coldest places on earth.

Topogaraphy: Since it is made almost entirely of ice, if the temperature were to become hotter, the whole continent would melt, and be gone forever, and if it were to get colder, the water would freeze, and make the continent grow bigger.

Proximity to water: It is made of, and surrounded by water!

Vegetation: There isnt much plant life because of the harsh climate.

High and Low pressure zones:[[9]]

Ocean current's effects:[[10]]

Avg. Monthly Precipitation:

approx. 202 mm

Avg yearly temp:

-16.5'C

Energy and Minerals

[[11]] we do not currently know much about the energy and minerals in antarctica.

Mineral/ Mining Map

[[12]]

Tectonic Plates

Antartica is on the Antarctic plate. It has subduction boundaries, transform boundaries, and convergent/ divergent boundaries.

'Volcanoes

Chart of Volcanoes and where they are located: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Antarctica

they are mostly cinder cones.

Earthquakes

Antarctica has very few of them, but usually has its earthquakes due to post- glacial rebounds, fracturing of the ice sheet, calving of icebergs, and volcanic activity.

Recent volcanoes in Antarctica: http://www.volcanolive.com/antarctica3.html

Reference:

http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/australia/australia-lat-long.html http://www.freecycle.org/group/AU/ http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/highlow.htm http://www.enchantedlearning.com/school/Australia/Ausmap.shtml http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/featurearticlesbytitle/DE8E19C3C280EDB3CA2569DE001F1088?OpenDocument http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/an.htm http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N&rlz=1I7DKUS_en&tbm=isch&tbnid=J76sM_3U3jupYM:&imgrefurl=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific/new-zealand/&docid=a5RtSTAMFcMiEM&imgurl=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific/new-zealand/map_of_new-zealand.jpg&w=466&h=350&ei=er-0TvmXO9S62gXUq_DMDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=417&vpy=157&dur=3908&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=59&ty=66&sig=101925771349032219005&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=204&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&biw=1440&bih=710 http://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=73 http://www.australia.climatetemp.info/ http://hassam.hubpages.com/hub/Koppen-Climate-Classification http://www.ga.gov.au/minerals/mineral-resources/aimr/table-1.html http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-mineral-map.htm http://maps.howstuffworks.com/world-energy-minerals-map.htm http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-rocks-and-mountains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Antarctica