1.
Pilbara
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The Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples, its ancient landscapes and it is one of nine regions of the Regional Development Commissions Act 1993, and is also a bioregion under the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia. The region has an population of 48,610 as of June 2010. The Pilbara covers an area of 502,000 km2, which some of Earths oldest rock formations. It includes landscapes of coastal plains and mountain ranges with cliffs, the major settlements of the region are Port Hedland, Karratha and Newman. The area is known for its petroleum, natural gas and iron ore deposits, other than mining, pastoral activities as well as fishing and tourism are the main industries. The Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre Wangka Maya says that the name for the Pilbara region derives from the Aboriginal word bilybara, meaning dry in the Nyamal, alternatively, The Western Australia Gas Industry claims that the region takes its name from pilbarra, an Aboriginal word for the mullet. The Pilbara Creek is a tributary of the Yule River, a significant river in the region, pilbarra and barramundi can still be caught in the Yule River today. This Pilbara Creek lent its name to the Pilbara Goldfield, discovered in 1885, the first European to explore the area was Francis Thomas Gregory in 1861. Settlements along the coast at Cossack, Roebourne and Shellborough were established over ensuing decades as agricultural and pastoral centres,1900, these largely went into decline with the growth of other, more productive agricultural areas of the state. On 3 October 1952, the British conducted their first atomic bomb tests on the Montebello Islands as part of Operation Hurricane, the Aboriginal population of the Pilbara considerably predates, by 30-40,000 years, the European colonisation of the region. Archaeological evidence indicates people were living in the Pilbara even during the harsh climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum. The early history of the first peoples is held within a tradition, archeological evidence. Near the town of Dampier is a known as Murujuga. Rock art in the Pilbara appears to have been etched into the hard rock surfaces. This does not preclude that painting was and is not performed in the Pilbara, in 2006, it was estimated that 15% of the population of the Pilbara was of Indigenous background, approximately 6,000 people. Family clans in the Pilbara who were supported by mining prospector, Don McLeod, developed skills for mining, for a short period money accumulated, which according to Aboriginal law was to be used for traditional ways. Eventually the funds were used to establish an independent Aboriginal-controlled school, the concept has expanded into a movement with around 20 similar schools established in northern Western Australia by the mid 1990s
2.
Western Australia
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Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Southern Ocean to the south, the state has about 2.6 million inhabitants, around 11% of the national total. 92% of the lives in the south-west corner of the state. The first European visitor to Western Australia was the Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, the first European settlement of Western Australia occurred following the landing by Major Edmund Lockyer on 26 December 1826 of an expedition on behalf of the New South Wales colonial government. This was followed by the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829, including the site of the present-day capital, york was the first inland settlement in Western Australia. Situated 97 kilometres east of Perth, it was settled on 16 September 1831, Western Australia achieved responsible government in 1890, and federated with the other British colonies in Australia in 1901. Today its economy relies on mining, agriculture and tourism. The state produces 46% of Australias exports, Western Australia is the second-largest iron ore producer in the world. The International Hydrographic Organization designates the body of water south of the continent as part of the Indian Ocean, the total length of the states eastern border is 1,862 km. There are 20,781 km of coastline, including 7,892 km of island coastline, the total land area occupied by the state is 2.5 million km2. Most of the state is a low plateau with an elevation of about 400 metres, very low relief. This descends relatively sharply to the plains, in some cases forming a sharp escarpment. The extreme age of the landscape has meant that the soils are remarkably infertile, even soils derived from granitic bedrock contain an order of magnitude less available phosphorus and only half as much nitrogen as soils in comparable climates in other continents. Soils derived from extensive sandplains or ironstone are even less fertile, nearly devoid of soluble phosphate and also deficient in zinc, copper, molybdenum, the infertility of most of the soils has required heavy application by farmers of chemical fertilisers, particularly superphosphate, insecticides and herbicides. These have resulted in damage to invertebrate and bacterial populations, the grazing and use of hoofed mammals and, later, heavy machinery through the years have resulted in compaction of soils and great damage to the fragile soils. Large-scale land clearing for agriculture has damaged habitats for native flora, large areas of the states wheatbelt region have problems with dryland salinity and the loss of fresh water. The southwest coastal area has a Mediterranean climate and it was originally heavily forested, including large stands of karri, one of the tallest trees in the world. This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, thanks to the offshore Leeuwin Current, the area is one of the top six regions for marine biodiversity and contains the most southerly coral reefs in the world
3.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
4.
Supercontinent
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In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earths continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, the definition of a supercontinent can be ambiguous, Many earth scientists, such as P. F. Hoffman, use the term supercontinent to mean a clustering of all continents. This definition leaves room for interpretation when labeling a continental body and is easier to apply to Precambrian times, the landmass of Pangaea is the collective name describing all of these continental masses when they were most recently in proximity to one another. This would classify Pangaea as a supercontinent, according to the definition by Rogers and Santosh, a supercontinent does not exist today. Supercontinents have assembled and dispersed multiple times in the geologic past, the positions of continents have been accurately determined back to the early Jurassic. However, beyond 200 Ma, continental positions are less certain. The following table displays historical supercontinents, using a general definition, there are two contrasting models for supercontinent evolution through geological time. The first model theorizes that at least two separate supercontinents existed comprising Vaalbara and Kenorland, the Neoarchean supercontinent consisted of Superia and Sclavia. These parts of Neoarchean age broke off at ~2300 and 2090 Ma, Nuna continued to develop during the Mesoproterozoic, primarily by lateral accretion of juvenile arcs, and in ~1000 Ma Nuna collided with other land masses, forming Rodinia. Between ~800 and 700 Ma Rodinia broke apart, however, before completely breaking up, some fragments of Rodinia had already come together to form Gondwana by ~530 Ma. Pangaea formed by ~300 Ma through the collision of Gondwana, Laurentia, Baltica, during the intervening periods, the poles conform to a unified apparent polar wander path. The explanation for the duration of the Protopangea-Paleopangea supercontinent appears to be that Lid Tectonics prevailed during Precambrian times. Plate Tectonics as seen on the contemporary Earth became dominant only during the part of geological times. The Phanerozoic supercontinent Pangaea began to break up 180 Ma and is doing so today. Because Pangaea is the most recent of Earths supercontinents, it is the most well known, contributing to Pangaeas popularity in the classroom is the fact that its reconstruction is almost as simple as fitting the present continents bordering the Atlantic-type oceans like puzzle pieces. A supercontinent cycle is the break-up of one supercontinent and the development of another, supercontinent cycles are not the same as the Wilson cycle, which is the opening and closing of an individual oceanic basin. The Wilson cycle rarely synchronizes with the timing of a supercontinent cycle, however, supercontinent cycles and Wilson cycles were both involved in the creation of Pangaea and Rodinia
5.
Earliest known life forms
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The earliest known life forms on Earth are putative fossilized microorganisms. The earliest time that life forms first appeared on Earth is unknown, a life form, or lifeform, is an entity or being that is living. Earth remains the place in the universe known to harbor life forms. More than 99% of all species of life forms, amounting to five billion species. Estimates on the number of Earths current species of life forms range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living on Earth. Under certain test conditions, life forms have been observed to thrive in the vacuum of outer space, Life forms appear to thrive in the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot in the Earths oceans. In August 2014, scientists confirmed the existence of life forms living 800 m below the ice of Antarctica, fossil evidence from the Earth informs most studies of the origin of life. Microbial mat fossils have found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of biogenic substances includes graphite, and possibly stromatolites, remains of biotic life have been found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. In recent years, there have been a number of discoveries that suggested the earliest appearance of life on Earth was even earlier in time, according to biologist Stephen Blair Hedges, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth … then it could be common in the universe. Biota Life Vitae Wikispecies – a free directory of life
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Evolutionary history of life
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The evolutionary history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms have evolved since life appeared on the planet, until the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 Ga ago and there is evidence that appeared as early as 4.1 Ga. The similarities between all present-day organisms indicate the presence of an ancestor from which all known species have diverged through the process of evolution. More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to five billion species. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, more recently, in 2015, remains of biotic life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. In March 2017, researchers reported evidence of possibly the oldest forms of life on Earth, according to biologist Stephen Blair Hedges, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth. Then it could be common in the universe, microbial mats of coexisting bacteria and archaea were the dominant form of life in the early Archean and many of the major steps in early evolution are thought to have taken place within them. The evolution of photosynthesis, around 3.5 Ga, eventually led to a buildup of its product, oxygen, in the atmosphere, leading to the great oxygenation event. The earliest evidence of dates from 1.85 Ga. Later, around 1.7 Ga, multicellular organisms began to appear, however the origin and evolution of sexual reproduction remain a puzzle for biologists though it did evolve from a common ancestor that was a single celled eukaryotic species. Bilateria, animals with a front and a back, appeared by 555 Ma, the earliest land plants date back to around 450 Ma, although evidence suggests that microorganisms formed the earliest terrestrial ecosystems, at least 2.9 Ga. Microorganisms are thought to have paved the way for the inception of land plants in the Phanerozoic, land plants were so successful that they are thought to have contributed to the Late Devonian extinction event. Ediacara biota appear during the Ediacaran period, while vertebrates, along with most other modern phyla originated about 525 Ma during the Cambrian explosion. During the Permian period, synapsids, including the ancestors of mammals, dominated the land, during the recovery from this catastrophe, archosaurs became the most abundant land vertebrates, one archosaur group, the dinosaurs, dominated the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. After the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 Ma killed off the dinosaurs, mammals increased rapidly in size. Such mass extinctions may have accelerated evolution by providing opportunities for new groups of organisms to diversify, the Moon has the same composition as Earths crust but does not contain an iron-rich core like the Earths. Many scientists think that about 40 million years later a body the size of Mars struck the Earth, until 2001, the oldest rocks found on Earth were about 3.8 billion years old, leading scientists to estimate that the Earths surface had been molten until then. Accordingly, they named this part of Earths history the Hadean, however, analysis of zircons formed 4
