Lake Eyre, South Australia
Above: The normally dry lake bed of Lake Eyre forms a 50-mile (80 km) long salt flat in the southwestern Simpson Desert of South Australia. This picture shows the three bays that are located along the southern end of the northern basin of Lake Eyre: Madigan Bay is the largest (southeast); Belt Bay is in the southwest corner of the lake; and Jackboot Bay is the smaller, elongate feature between the other two. The darker colors within each of the bays shows that moisture, perhaps even some standing water, is present in several parts of the lake, especially in the three bays. The darker, smooth-looking, narrow feature near the western edge of the lake and terminates in Belt Bay is known as the “Warburton Groove”. The groove is a fault-controlled stream channel that transports water from the northern to the southern part of the lake. The curving, dark line along the left side of the image is the Neales River, an intermittent stream that periodically feeds water into the northwest side of Lake Eyre. Notice that this river has even built a fan-shaped delta (dark pattern) near the north end of Warburton Groove. The highly reflective surfaces are salt deposits resulting from evaporation of saline waters from the shallow lake.
Below: The complicated drainage network that controls the quantity of water that enters the northern end of Lake Eyre is displayed in this view of the southwestern Simpson Desert. Three ephemeral creeks (Woodmurra from the west , Kallakoopah from the north, and Warburton from the east, northeast) are visible near the left center of the frame (northern end of Lake Eyre). These creeks are identifiable as dark (more vegetation), winding features. The very dark areas within Lake Eyre are limited areas of standing water. The elongate, narrow structure, oriented north-south, near the bottom of the image is the Warburton Groove, which is a channel that carries water from the northern part of Lake Eyre to the southern bays. The subtle dark, parallel lines north and east of Lake Eyre are sand ridges that are part of the large Simpson Desert. Numerous dry lake beds are visible, as they are reflective and contrast with an otherwise sandy environment.