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The Tirari–Sturt stony desert is a large dry World Wildlife Fund ecoregion of southern Australia.
Contents
Location and description
The Tirari–Sturt stony desert ecoregion contains the gibber plains (desert pavement) and red sands of the large Sturt Stony Desert, the Tirari Desert to its southwest and the Flinders and Gawler Ranges to the south. The Tirari has more sand dunes than the Sturt Stony Desert and has also been the site of some important fossil findings. Towns of the ecoregion include the opal mining centre of Coober Pedy, famous for its underground dwellings. the climate is very hot with summer temperatures reaching 50 °C.
The region consists of the Stony Plains, Gawler, Flinders Lofty Block and the Broken Hill Complex bioregions of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA).
Flora and fauna
As well as stony plain and sands there are areas of chenopod, mallee and mulga wooded scrubland. The region is home to a variety of wildlife that has adapted to the hot dry conditions including the wedge-tailed eagles, yellow-footed rock wallaby and western grey kangaroos of the Flinders Ranges.
The desert proper is uninhabitable and the environment there remains undamaged, while the greener fringe are used for sheep grazing.