Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi)
[131] is on the
Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans,
[N 4] it is separated from Asia by the
Arafura and
Timor seas, with the
Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the
Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent
[132] and
sixth largest country by total area,
[133] Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent",
[134] and is sometimes considered the
world's largest island.
[135] Australia has 34,218 kilometres (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands),
[136] and claims an extensive
Exclusive Economic Zone
of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive
economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.
[137] Excluding
Macquarie Island, Australia lies between latitudes
9° and
44°S, and longitudes
112° and
154°E.
The
Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef,
[138] lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (1,240 mi).
Mount Augustus, claimed to be the world's largest monolith,
[139] is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 metres (7,310 ft),
Mount Kosciuszko on the
Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are
Mawson Peak (at 2,745 metres or 9,006 feet), on the remote Australian territory of
Heard Island, and, in the Australian Antarctic Territory,
Mount McClintock and
Mount Menzies, at 3,492 metres (11,457 ft) and 3,355 metres (11,007 ft) respectively.
[140]
Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with subtropical
rain forests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east areas, and a dry desert in its centre.
[141] It is the flattest continent,
[142] with the oldest and least fertile soils;
[143][144] desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the
outback makes up by far the largest portion of land.
[145] The driest inhabited continent, only its south-east and south-west corners have a
temperate climate.
[146] The
population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, is among the lowest in the world,
[147] although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.
[148]
Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range that runs
parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, and much of
Victoria—although the name is not strictly accurate, as in parts the
range consists of low hills and the highlands are typically no more than
1,600 metres (5,249 ft) in height.
[149] The
coastal uplands and a
belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland.
[149][150] These include the
western plains of New South Wales, and the
Einasleigh Uplands,
Barkly Tableland, and
Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northern point of the east coast is the tropical rainforested
Cape York Peninsula.
[151][152][153][154]
Topographic map of Australia
The landscapes of the northern part of the country—the
Top End and the
Gulf Country behind the
Gulf of Carpentaria, with their tropical climate—consist of
woodland,
grassland, and desert.
[155][156][157] At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of
The Kimberley, and below that the
Pilbara. South and inland of these lie more areas of grassland: the
Ord Victoria Plain and the
Western Australian Mulga shrublands.
[158][159][160] At the heart of the country are the
uplands of central Australia; prominent features of the centre and south include the inland
Simpson,
Tirari and Sturt Stony,
Gibson,
Great Sandy, Tanami, and
Great Victoria deserts, with the famous
Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast.
[161][162][163][164]
The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the
Indian Ocean Dipole and the
El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which is correlated with periodic
drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces
cyclones in northern Australia.
[165][166]
These factors induce rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much
of the northern part of the country has a tropical predominantly summer
rainfall (monsoon) climate.
[167] The
southwest corner of the country has a
Mediterranean climate.
[168] Much of the southeast (including Tasmania) is temperate.
[167]
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