The Rangeland Journal Lecture Series 2013

Australian Rangeland Society’s Rangeland Lecture for 2013

A million years of change: wind, flood and fire in the Simpson Desert

Dr Margaret Friedel, CES Fellow, Ecosystem Sciences, CSIRO, Alice Springs

Lecture delivered 15th November, 2013, Corkwood Room, Business and Innovation Centre, Desert Knowledge Precinct, Alice Springs, chaired by Dr Jocelyn Davies, Publications Committee, ARS.

Summary: The Simpson Desert has been in a state of flux for hundreds of thousands of years. Marg outlines the development of the Desert under changing climates and describes some of the changes that she has been lucky to observe during journeys in 2010, 2011 and 2013. While the time frame of these journeys is, in contrast to the long history of the Desert, infinitesimally small, the changes she recorded were often dramatic. They illustrate just some of the forces at work in the ‘Dead Heart’.

Marg’s talk is available for viewing through this link.