Earth from Space - Image Description

STS066-119-094 Hamilton River, Queensland, Australia November 1994
Three ephemeral rivers converge (lower left) in the area of southwestern Queensland seen here. The winding, multi-channeled Hamilton River (right middle) flows southwestward and the Burke River (upper middle), with its less developed floodplain, flows southward to join the Georgina River. South of the confluence the floodplain of the Georgina River widens dramatically. The headwaters of the Georgina River are about 190 miles (300 kilometers) west of the Selwyn Range in the Barkly Tableland; while the headwaters of the Burke River and Willis Creek (the western stream in the confluence in upper center of picture) are in the Cloncurry Plateau, just south of the Mount Isa silver mines. The Finucane Range (lower right one-third of view) forms the divide between the major Georgina (west) and Diamantina (east) drainages. The drainage patterns of these rivers are easily recognized and differentiated from the arid, desert landscape due to their darker features--caused either by increased vegetation or traces of moisture in the numerous channels.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.