World's oldest rivers mapped under huge desert dunes

Just come across this article and thought I would share:

A network of ancient rivers and streams that once flowed beneath Australia's Simpson desert – famed for its dune fields – has been mapped in a new study. The map could lead the way to valuable minerals and water resources in this drying continent.

Michael Hutchinson and John Stein of the Australian National University in Canberra extracted data from previous ground surveys to map an ancient river system 35 metres below the surface of the desert. They think the channels are among the world's oldest at 50 million years old, when the now barren land would have been lush and well watered.
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I wonder if there would many fossils and the like and around the area?

Perhaps a new plentiful supply of water?

excellent find, im goin to bed.

reply to post by scubagravy


lol ok then.

Night buddy.

Good find thanks,

It would be interesting to see if any digs are conducted along where they once ran. Australia is such a large low density country that really very little has been explored. One would expect a concentration of now fossilized life near ancient waterways, while they may start looking for the expected I feel they may as they often do uncover something anomalous which may shed some light on the true history of this great continent.

reply to post by polarwarrior


Indeed.

There have been a few recent discoveries of new types of prehistoric animals found out in the desert.

Sorry for my short reply yesterday mate, i was so wrecked.

After snooping around, trying to look for the device which finds water beneath the surface i found an article that helped me understand a bit more of what we are dealing with here.

The Water Down Under.

Also, i cant remember where i read that Gum Trees can be some of the worst trees you can have around a a creek, stream or river thats running low. They suck up so much water and then get evapourated out of the leaves.

reply to post by scubagravy


Here in West Texas we have a similar issue with water. We have a tree called "Salt Cedar". There is a huge Dept of Ag project underway to eradicate it from our water ways.

This stuff has choked out just about every other plant on the banks of local creeks (critical for wild and stock animals), and makes the water barely drinkable.

My city water isn't better. It sometimes run reddish out of the faucet, is known to fail state inspections regularly, and smells like a combination of fish and dirt.

Erin Brokovich is in a town about 30 miles from here, but that is for chromium in well water. I am on municipal water. But our water is horrible. Bad enough i give bottled water away to guests at the hotel i manage.

edit to add: the dog in your avatar....good looking animal. I presume he is yours? I am a wildly avid dog lover.

[edit on 15-3-2010 by bigfatfurrytexan]

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Hi bigfatfurrytexan,lol

Its sad to hear that water treatment in Texas is as bad as a 3rd country, and to think of your water smelling like fish and looking like dirt would certainly raise questions with your local authorities.

Is this the evil doer? :




Certainly doesnt look that evil, but as we all know looks arnt everything.

Thankyou for your kind words of my avatar, that is my dog, he's name is Gravy, a border collie x aussie shepperd.

Wow what a great find.

Not only are these ancient rivers and streams a great place to search for fossils, I guarantee that there is alluvial gold down there. Perhaps not enough to make mining profitable, but as they say "while you're down there...".

Perhaps also some natural gas deposits as well?

Good news for Oz.

reply to post by scubagravy


not all the water in Texas is bad....just in the CRMWD, for the most part. (CRMWD is a subdivision of Veolia Water, North America, and means "Colorado River Municipal Water District"). Back in the day the counties in the area got together and put in resevoir systems. There are three or four man made lakes that we get our water from, each made in the same iron rich Earth that our cotton is grown in. So our water comes into the treatment plant in a VERY red condition.

We waste about 2 gallons of water/sludge for every gallon we make useful for municipal purposes. But if you add to the problem that we have some major main's that are over 70 years old, and it is easy to see why our water supply sucks so bad.

We all just drink R/O water, using tap water to bathe in. My dogs get R/O water, too. Last thing i need is to hear them yelping because of kidney stones or something.

Edit to add: yes, that is the evildoer. They rarely look that nice, as they will only grow in creek beds around here. They are not native and are destroying the few water ways wwe have.

[edit on 15-3-2010 by bigfatfurrytexan]