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Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, contains the lowest natural point in Australia, at approximately below sea level (AHD), and, on the rare occasions that it fills, is the largest lake in Australia. The shallow endorheic lake is the depocentre of the vast Lake Eyre basin and is found in Northern South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The lake was named in honour of Edward John Eyre, who was the first European to see it, in 1840. The lake's official name was changed in December 2012 to combine the name "Lake Eyre" with the indigenous name, Kati Thanda.〔 Native title over the lake and surrounding region is held by the Arabana people. ==Geography== Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre is located in the deserts of central Australia, in northern South Australia. The Lake Eyre Basin is a large endorheic system surrounding the lakebed, the lowest part of which is filled with the characteristic salt pan caused by the seasonal expansion and subsequent evaporation of the trapped waters. Even in the dry season there is usually some water remaining in Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, normally collecting in over 200 smaller sub-lakes within its margins. The lake was formed by aeolian processes after tectonic upwarping occurred to the south subsequent to the end of the Pleistocene epoch.〔 During the rainy season the rivers from the north-east part of the Lake Eyre Basin (in outback (south-west and central) Queensland) flow towards the lake through the Channel Country. The amount of water from the monsoon determines whether water will reach the lake and if it does, how deep the lake will get. The average rainfall in the area of the lake is per year. The altitude usually attributed to Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre refers to the deepest parts of the lake floor, in Belt Bay and the Madigan Gulf. The shoreline lies at .〔(Lake Eyre ). International Lake Environment Committee. Retrieved 29 March 2012.〕 The lake is the area of maximum deposition of sediment in the Lake Eyre Basin. Lake Eyre is divided into two sections which are joined by the Goyder Channel. These are known as Lake Eyre North, which is in length and wide, and Lake Eyre South, which measures . The salt crusts are thickest (up to ) in the southern Belt Bay, Jackboot Bay and Madigan Gulf sub-basins of Lake Eyre North.〔Dulhunty, J.A. (1990): Lake Eyre, In: M.J. Tyler, C.R. Twidale, M. Davis and C.B. Walker, ''Natural History of the North East Deserts.'' Royal Society of South Australia Inc. Pp. 101-4. ISBN 0-9596627-5-8〕 Since 1883 proposals have been forwarded to flood Lake Eyre with seawater brought to the basin via canal or pipeline. The purpose was, in part, to increase evaporation and thereby increase rainfall in the region downwind of an enlarged Lake Eyre.〔Badescu, V., Cathcart, R.B., Bolonkin, A.A., Paulescu, M. and Gravila, P. (2013) Macro-engineering Australia's Lake Eyre with imported seawater. ''International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development'' 12: 264-284.〕 Due to the basin's low elevation below sea level and the region's high annual evaporation rate (between 〔Badman, F.J. (1991): Introduction. In: F.J. Badman, B.K. Arnold and S.L. Belt, ''A Natural History of the Lake Eyre Region.'' The South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service's Northern Consultative Committee. P 1. ISBN 0 646 07183 1〕), such schemes have generally been considered impractical as it is likely that accumulation of salt deposits would rapidly block the engineered channel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lake Eyre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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