Melbourne: Scientists have mapped
Australian streams buried for millions of years under desert
by modelling the flow of water.
A team at Australian National University has been able
to peer beneath the desert sands of Simpson Desert in central
Australia and mapped the underlying landscape using a software
that models how water moves across surface of the continent.
The Digital Elevation Model software was developed at
Anu by Professor Michael Hutchinson from the Fenner School of
Environment and Society.
Professor Hutchinson said the network of rivers and
streams is now buried up to 35 metres below the surface of the
Simpson Desert, making it impossible to detect by standard
remote sensing methods.
He said: "The ancient drainage systems are thought to
have originated in the wet climate of the late Cretaceous and
Early Tertiary periods, around 50 million years ago. They are
that old.
"The landscape associated with these streams has been
largely preserved due to long term tectonic stability and the
persistence of arid conditions since the mid-Miocene around 15
million years ago. The age of the overriding dunes is thought
to be around one million years."
Professor Hutchinson said that although Anudem had
allowed the research team to peer into the distant past, when
central Australia was much wetter and greener than it's today,
the software is also being used to model for the future.
The findings have been published in the latest edition
of the 'Australian Journal of Earth Sciences'.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 13, 2010, 20:45