Type Salt lake Basin countries Australia Catchment area 6,000 km² | Primary outflows Lake Minigwal Catchment area 6,000 km² Primary outflow Lake Minigwal | |
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Location Goldfields-Esperance, Western Australia | ||
Lake Carey is a salt lake located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It was discovered in 1869 by surveyor John Forrest in company with Tommy Windich, and named after Thomas Campbell Carey, the government surveyor to whom Forrest had been apprenticed in 1863.
Map of Lake Carey, Western Australia, Australia
Lake Carey is one of a chain of lakes that makes up the Carey Palaeodrainage system, formed during the Tertiary Period, from about 65 million years ago. The Carey Palaeodrainage system extends about 600 kilometres (373 mi) from Wiluna to the Eucla Basin.
The elongated lake extends from 25 kilometres (16 mi) to 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Laverton, within the Laverton Tectonic Zone, an area associated with gold mining since the 1890s.
Mining activity and its discharge has affected the lake.
The Wangkathaa people are associated with the land around Lake Carey.