Drainage

The Basin is divided into five major drainage catchments, each defined by the biophysical limits to the natural direction of surface water flow.

The major rivers of the Basin are the Georgina, Diamantina and Cooper. They are characterised by high variability and unpredictability in their flow with high transmission losses downstream and very low gradients. All creeks and rivers of the Basin are ephemeral with short periods of flow following rain and long periods with no flow.

The major features of the five catchments are summarised in the table below.

Characteristics of the catchments of the Lake Eyre Basin
	Cooper's Creek	Georgina/Diamantina	Desert Rivers	Western Rivers	Lake Frome region
Landscape	Desert Uplands, Mitchell Grass Downs, Channel Country, Acacia scrubland, spinifex, stony tablelands, gibber plains and Strzelecki desert.	Mitchell Grass Downs, dissected residuals, Channel Country, Acacia scrubland, spinifex, gibber plains, and Simpson desert	Sandplains, dunes, spinifex, acacia shrublands.	Sandplains, acacia shrub, dissected residuals, Gibber and stony plains.	Stony Plains, Sand dunes, mallee woodlands, mulga shrublands.
Major rivers	Thomson, Barcoo, Strzelecki Creek and Cooper's Creek.	Georgina River, Diamantina River, Eyre Creek, Warburton Creek.	Hay River, Plenty River, Todd River, Finke River.	Macumba River, Peake Creek, Neales.	Lake Frome, Lake Callabonna, Lake Blanche, Frome River.
Selected towns	Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Aramac, Windorah, Innamincka, Muttaburra.	Winton, Alpurrurulam, Boulia, Bedourie, Camooweal, Birdsville.	Alice Springs, Hermannsberg Mission.	Oodnadatta, Coober Pedy, William Creek.	Marree, Leigh Creek, Orroroo, Lyndhurst.
Major land uses and industries	Sheep/cattle in the north, cattle elsewhere. Extensive petroleum deposits in the south. Tourism. Protected areas.	Sheep/cattle in far north -east, cattle elsewhere. Extensive base metals and opals in north, petroleum in the South. Tourism. Protected areas.	Cattle, some horticulture around Alice Springs. Tourism. Protected areas. Aboriginal lands.	CattleOpals, uranium, copper, gold, and silver. Tourism. Protected areas. Aboriginal lands.	Cattle in the north, cattle/sheep in the south. Cropping in the south. Coal at Leigh Creek. Tourism. Protected areas.

Lake Eyre Basin Agreement

Drainage