Australian Alps

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Australian Alps

Australian Alps, chain of mountain ranges, SE Australia, in the state of Victoria and New South Wales, making up the southern part of the Eastern Highlands and forming the watershed between the Murray River system and streams flowing into the Tasman Sea. It is the site of the Snowy Mts. hydroelectric project. Mt. Kosciuszko, 7,310 ft (2,228 m), is the highest peak in the chain and on the Australian continent.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Australian Alps

a plateau in the southeastern part of Australia, the highest section of the Great Dividing Range.

The plateau is about 400 km long, up to 150 km wide, and 1,700–2,000 m high—the highest peak is Mount Kosciusko, 2,230 m, which is also the highest mountain of the continent. The plateau is a high-altitude horst massif broken up into individual mountain ranges, including the Gourock, Monaro, Munyang, and Barry. The plateau is composed of Paleozoic quartzites, shales, and limestones, permeated with granite intrusions. There are traces of Quaternary glaciations in some areas. The Murray, the main river of Australia, takes its course in the northwestern slopes of the Australian alps. Dense forests of eucalyptus and arborescent ferns grow up to an altitude of 1,200–1,300 m; above that grow crook-stem forests, underbrush, mountain meadows, and meadow marshes.

L. R. SEREBRIANNYI

References in periodicals archive ?

Scougall (ed.), Cultural Heritage of the Australian Alps. Proceedings of the Symposium Held at Jindabyne, New South Wales, 16-18 October 1991, pp.

Where are stone artefacts found? Testing hall's predictive model of artefact density in the south-east Australian highlands

In addition to bogs, there are extensive areas of dried peat (also known as humified peat) in the Australian Alps. Dried peats are thought to develop from bog peats in response to a shift in hydrologic conditions brought about by natural or anthropogenic disturbance (Costin 1954).

Chemical characterisation of bog peat and dried peat of the Australian Alps

Taking a more critical perspective, it is hard to avoid the fact that the rivers flowing from the Australian Alps have been massively altered by the Scheme.

REINVENTING THE SNOWY

However, aeolian dust infall is a process that has received little consideration in the formation of the soils of the Australian Alps in New South Wales and Victoria.

The influence of aeolian dust deposits on alpine soils in south-eastern Australia

She walked the Australian Alps Walking Track solo in 2003 and the Lurujarri Trail with 50 people in 2013, and enjoys reading maps and eating dark chocolate.

You'll never walk alone: a love of nature often transcends generations, as one ACF member discovered when he made the commitment to walk the nine-day Lurujarri Heritage Trail in the Kimberley

Snowgum forest is found predominantly in the mainland Australian Alps, a section of the Great Dividing Range in the south-eastern corner of the country, stretching south from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) through New South Wales (NSW) and into Victoria (Vic).

The historical influence of fire on the flammability of subalpine Snowgum forest and woodland

It is expected that winter tourism and alpine ecosystems will need to adjust to significant reductions in depth, duration and height of the regular snow cover in the Australian Alps because of climate change.

The snow season forecast: probably lighter and higher by 2020

These forests, along with those in the Australian Alps, Blue Mountains, the Gondwana Rainforests and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Areas, are one of the nation's most important natural life support systems.

High bake

Banks JCG (1989) A history of forest fire in the Australian Alps. In The scientific significance of the Australian Alps, pp.

The effect of fire on the avifauna of subalpine woodland in the Snowy Mountains

Since 1987 La Trobe University's Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology has run an alpine ecology course, to cater for the increasing demand for knowledge about the Australian Alps. Anyone with an interest in the Alps is welcome.

Lessons on fire: from the ashes of the worst blaze to hit the Australian Alps since 1939, scientists have seized a rare opportunity to study the nature of fire in the high country. Their work is revealing new understanding about management interventions needed to ensure the continued survival and functioning of these rare and specialised alpine communities

Despite a history of cattle grazing, which has ceased for now in National Park areas of the Australian Alps (Williams et al.

Alien invertebrates are invading the Australian Alps

Their statistics show a one degree rise in average global temperatures could wipe out 60 per cent of the snow cover on the Australian Alps and trigger 70 per cent more drought in NSW.

Business roundtable reveals case for early action on climate change: recently Australia's most influential businesspeople joined ACF to announce some very good news: achieving a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is possible while maintaining economic prosperity