Western Australia, Australia (original) (raw)

Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Western Australia State
Australia Country

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Other/historical names associated with this locality:

WA

French:

Australie-Occidentale, Australie

German:

Western Australia, Australien

Italian:

Australia Occidentale, Australia

Russian:

Западная Австралия, Австралия

Simplified Chinese:

西澳大利亚州, 澳大利亚

Spanish:

Australia Occidental, Australia

Afrikaans:

Wes-Australië, Australië

Anglo-Saxon:

Westerne Australia

Arabic:

أستراليا الغربية, أستراليا

Aragonese:

Australia Occidental

Armenian:

Արևմտյան Ավստրալիա

Asturian:

Australia Occidental

Basque:

Mendebaldeko Australia

Belarusian:

Заходняя Аўстралія, Аўстралія

Belarusian (Tarashkevitsa):

Заходняя Аўстралія

Bengali:

পশ্চিম অস্ট্রেলিয়া

Bosnian:

Zapadna Australija

Breton:

Aostralia ar C'hornôg

Bulgarian:

Западна Австралия, Австралия

Burmese:

အနောက်ဩစတြေးလျပြည်နယ်

Catalan:

Austràlia Occidental, Austràlia

Cebuano:

State of Western Australia

Central Kurdish/Sorani:

ئوسترالیای ڕۆژاوا

Croatian:

Zapadna Australija

Czech:

Západní Austrálie, Austrálie

Danish:

Western Australia, Australien

Dutch:

West-Australië, Australië

Egyptian Arabic:

ويسترن اوستراليا

Esperanto:

Okcidenta Aŭstralio

Estonian:

Lääne-Austraalia, Austraalia

Farsi/Persian:

استرالیای غربی, استرالیا

Fiji Hindi:

Western Australia

Finnish:

Länsi-Australia, Australia

Galician:

Australia Occidental, Australia

Georgian:

დასავლეთი ავსტრალია

Greek:

Δυτική Αυστραλία, Αυστραλία

Gujarati:

વેસ્ટર્ન ઑસ્ટ્રેલિયા

Hebrew:

אוסטרליה המערבית, אוסטרליה

Hindi:

पश्चिमी ऑस्ट्रेलिया, ऑस्ट्रेलिया

Hungarian:

Nyugat-Ausztrália, Ausztrália

Icelandic:

Vestur-Ástralía, Ástralía

Indonesian:

Australia Barat, Australia

Irish Gaelic:

An Astráil Thiar, An Astráil

Japanese:

西オーストラリア州, オーストラリア

Kannada:

ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಆಸ್ಟ್ರೇಲಿಯ

Kapampangan:

Albugang Australia

Latin:

Australia Occidentalis

Latvian:

Rietumaustrālija, Austrālija

Ligurian:

Australia Oçidentâ

Lithuanian:

Vakarų Australija, Australija

Luxembourgish:

Westaustralien

Macedonian:

Западна Австралија, Австралија

Maori:

Ahitereiria ki te Hauāuru

Marathi:

वेस्टर्न ऑस्ट्रेलिया

Min Dong Chinese:

Să̤ Ó̤-ciŭ

Minnan / Hokkien-Taiwanese:

Se Australia

Mongolian:

Баруун Австрали

Nepali:

पश्चिमी अस्ट्रेलिया

Northern Frisian:

Western Australia

Norwegian:

Vest-Australia, Australia

Norwegian (Nynorsk):

Vest-Australia

Occitan:

Austràlia Occidentala

Ossetian:

Ныгуылæн Австрали

Polish:

Australia Zachodnia, Australia

Portuguese:

Austrália Ocidental, Austrália

Romanian:

Australia de Vest, Australia

Romansh:

Australia Occidentala

Samoan:

Ausetalia i Sisifo

Saterland Frisian:

Western Australia

Scottish Gaelic:

Astràilia an Iar

Serbian:

Западна Аустралија, Аустралија

Serbo-Croatian:

Zapadna Australija

Sinhalese:

දකුණු ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව

Slovak:

Západná Austrália, Austrália

Slovenian:

Zahodna Avstralija, Avstralija

South Azerbaijani:

باتی اوسترالیا

Swahili:

Australia ya Magharibi, Australia

Swedish:

Western Australia, Australien

Tagalog:

Kanlurang Australia, Australya

Telugu:

పశ్చిమ ఆస్ట్రేలియా

Thai:

รัฐเวสเทิร์นออสเตรเลีย, ออสเตรเลีย

Turkish:

Batı Avustralya, Avustralya

Ukrainian:

Західна Австралія, Австралія

Venetian:

Western Australia

Volapük:

Vesüda-Laustralän

Welsh:

Gorllewin Awstralia, Awstralia

West Frisian:

West-Austraalje

Western Punjabi:

لہندا اسٹریلیا

Zazaki:

Awıstralya Rocawani

Western Australia covers the western third of the Australian continent. It is sparsely populated, with 2.6 million people, 92% of which live in the far south-west corner of the state.

Most of the state is desert, apart from the Kimberley region in the far north, and the far southwest area. Due to the lack of tectonic activity over an extended period, the land has been eroded so that now the highest point is only 1,245 metres at Mt. Meharry in the Pilbara. For the same reason the soils are poor, although it has led to an increased adaptability of flora, making especially the southern parts of the state a biological hotspot.

Western Australia has been occupied by aborigines for over 40,000 years. Dreamtime stories explain how various landforms came to exist, and were an essential aspect for their world view. Apart from ochre, aborigines took little interest in rocks unless it was important for their day to day survival.

The first Europeans to become aware of Western Australia were the Dutch as they sailed up the coast to their spice colonies in Indonesia. The British established a settlement at Albany in 1826 and then Perth in 1829. The colony struggled with a harsh climate, poor soils, and isolation from the rest of the world.

From the early 1890s a series of rich goldfields were discovered starting at Cue, Mount Magnet, Southern Cross, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. This led to huge gold rushes, with people travelling to the state from all over the world, in the hope of making their fortune. As time has gone, other mineral riches have come to the fore, like nickel and iron ore, with mining now the mainstay of the Western Australian economy.

It is estimated that Western Australia holds 30% of the world's gold reserves, 20% of its nickel, 80% tantalum, and 60% rare earths. WA has the largest diamond mine in the world, major iron ore deposits, significant platinum, vanadium, titanium, bauxite, mineral sands, and natural gas resources.

The most important geological province in Western Australia is the Yilgarn Craton, covering approximately one third of the state. This is an old landscape, ranging from 4.4 Ga to 2.63 Ga. The craton contains widespread granite, granodiorite, tholeiitic basalt, komatiite volcanism, and regional metamorphism. Further, the northern and eastern parts have large scale north- north-west to south-south-east greenstone belts, often hundreds of kilometres long, containing many gold and nickel deposits.

South of the craton, and along the south coast, is the Albany-Fraser Orogen. West is the Perth Basin, the edge marked by the Darling Scarp. North of the Perth Basin, along the coast to Onslow, is the Carnarvon Basin. The north section of the Pilbara holds the Pilbara Craton, immediately south of this is the Hamersley Basin, Ashburton Basin, Capricorn Orogeny, the Bangemall Basin in the northern Mid-West region.

The Great Sandy Desert region holds the Canning Basin (roughly the size of Spain). To the north is the Kimberley Basin of Hart Dolerite and Carson Volcanics. This is bordered to the south in a wide coast-to-coast arc of a Devonian aged reef system.

Some geological attractions include:
1. The earliest evidence of life on Earth in 3.5 billion-year-old Pilbara rocks.
2. The oldest dated zircons in the world at Jack Hills, leading to new theories about early 'fireball' Earth.
3. Modern stromatolites at Shark Bay and lesser known locations along the west coast.
4. Wheatbelt granites, including one that forms a surreal wave (Wave Rock).
5. Bungle Bungle banded domed rock mountains in the eastern Kimberley, and various gorges in the Karajini National Park.
6. One of the largest Devonian age barrier reef systems in the world, bordering the southern section of the Kimberley.
7. Wolfe Creek Crater, the second-largest meteorite crater in the world.
8. Pinnacle Desert, north of Perth
9. Mount Augustus, the largest monolith in the world.
10. Variety and number of mines, ranging from old historic gold mining shafts, to industrial scale iron ore mines.

Mineral specimens from Western Australia, are generally large ore types from oxidised zones. Coffee table gemstone specimens are rare, as most have been weathered to clay over the eons. The State holds several low grade emerald deposits, specimen value only elbaite in restricted locations, and two tightly controlled diamond mines in the Kimberley.

Internationally collectors are most likely to see, tiger iron and tiger eye, zebra stone, various jaspers from the Mid-West region, rare secondary nickel species, large hematite type specimens, and Whim Creek wulfenite/secondary copper specimens. Others do exist, but rarely get seen overseas. The collecting community in Western Australia is small and few inhabit the internet.

MINSOCWA is the local mineral specimen collecting club, based in Perth.

Other Databases

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Australia
Wikidata ID: Q3206
GeoNames ID: 2058645

Localities in this Region

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Fetherston, J. Michael, Stocklmayer, Susan M., Stocklmayer, Vernon C., Fetherston, J.M., Stocklmayer, S.M., Stocklmayer, V.C. (2013) Gemstones of Western Australia. Mineral Resources Bulletin 25 (1st ed.). Geological Survey of Western Australia