Dalhousie Springs

, Also called Dalhousie Springs Dalhousie Springs - Witjiara, is an area in Witjira National Park in the western Simpson Desert, in which there are 70 artesian springs. It is located in northern South Australia, 284 kilometers from Oodnadatta and Marla 540 km away.

It is the largest of the 13 major source areas of the Great Artesian Basin of Australia. In this basin is the largest Trinkwasserreservior the earth, which was created 250 years ago to 100 million years ago and comprises a quarter of the Australian continent.

Enriched with minerals from water Dalhousie Springs that is squeezed there, has a temperature of 38 to 43 ° C; it is drinkable. At the beginning of the 20th century, the volume of water was greater in 1989 gave the sources 19,300 mega liters of water a year from. The water in the Great Artesian Basin is moving very slowly, about five feet per year. Therefore, the water from these sources could be about a million years old.

In the pool of water around the springs swim endemic fish as a Catfish ( Neosilurus gloveri ), a hard head ( Craterocephalus dalhousiensis ) and a Wüstengrundel ( Chlamydogobius gloveri ).

The source area is added to the Australian National Heritage List since 2009.

As in Dalhousie Springs campsite with a ranger and swimming opportunities are, this place is also the starting point for the Simpson Desert to Birdsville in Queensland.

Swell

• Information for Travelers (English)