Ningaloo Coast's Geographical Landforms
Ningaloo Coast is a shoreline stretching upon the remote West Australian coast, covering 604500 hectares of land containing both terrestrial and marine territory. The site is also under protection by the Ningaloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park. The coastline is of an unexceptional beauty, from the combination of an adjacent coast and arid environment. In the property there are lagoons, reefs and clear seas, coated by rocky shores, sand beaches and estuaries of mangroves with an underground cavern system that snakes under the surface. Ningaloo coast is really where the outback meets the ocean.
These underground caverns are the 'karst' system, a massive system of caverns and sinkholes created by millions of years of erosion of the limestone that defines the Cape Range. Another feature of the Ningaloo is how it houses both temperate and tropical marine species. Despite its arid terrestrial land, it is a fertile area for many living things, in particular reptiles and birds. |
Flora and Fauna
There is a abundant marine biodiversity in Ningaloo reef, species including whales sharks, cetaceans, dugongs, manta rays and turtles. There are also approximately 500 species of fish in the reef along with coral and seagrass. Nearly all marine species use the Ningaloo reef as a breeding and feeding ground.
On land there are two types of organisms, organisms that have adapted to survive the arid and harsh climate of the coast's surface and organisms that have escaped the inhospitable environment and adapted to the freshwater, wet and humid climate of the underground caves. The subterranean species that have adapted to underground conditions are still continuing to evolve today, species consisting mostly of snails, shrimps, small fish, millipedes, spiders and insects. Researchers can foresee the subterranean species adapting through losing their eyes, changing into a lighter pigment and elongating their feelers. |