Saturday 17 February 2007

The Wide, Brown Land. Wider and Browner.


Today, I am taking you 'Outback' again, to Broken Hill, an isolated mining city in the far west of New South Wales, 500 kilometres north east of Adelaide, and with a population of 21,000.
Adelaide is the closest major city and the 'Hill' runs on our Central Standard Time Zone rather than Eastern Time.
"The Hill' has an average rainfall of only 235 mm or nine inches, and also has summer temperatures rising well over 40°. It's orebody, formed about 1800 million years ago, has proved to be the world's largest silver, lead and zinc deposit.
This dust storm is a common problem in the Desert but the people of Broken Hill have created reserves to surround the town thus protecting the encircled town from the worst of the storms.
I received this photo the other day from Mandy who works in the assay labs there. Thanks, Mandy.
On Google Earth, it's 31 57 south 141 28 east

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

M.Benaut.

Can you explain how the reserves work?

Before reading your commentary, I thought these were regular clouds, ominous, and ready to flood this town. A dust storm in action though wow! This is the first time I see something like a storm capture in a picture. It really looks big.

M.Benaut said...

Clo.
I believe it's just the planting of gum trees, a bit like a wind break, but I'm not sure exactly. We have had some dust storms here in Adelaide but not like this nor for quite a few years.

freelancer said...

Your shot is very very impressive !
In Europe the storms are extremely rare.

thanks for your comments on my blog :)

Olivier said...

vraiment tres impressionnant...belle photo

really very impressive… beautiful photograph

M.Benaut said...

Freelancer et Olivier,
Merci de tous les deux, en étant si aimable avec vos commentaires gentils. Cette photographie m'a été envoyée par la soeur de mon épouse, qui vit à Broken Hill. Cette ville est très chaude et sèche pendant l'été, et le froid (par des normes d'Australian) en hiver. Mais pas aussi froid que le Bordeaux et à Evry. Vous pouvez voir les réverbères briller, quoique ce soit journée. Retournez s'il vous plaît encore quand vous avez le temps, Messieurs.

Gaëlle said...

Waouhhhhh, this dust storm looks really impressive to me. I've never seen anything like that here in France.

M.Benaut said...

Mademoiselle,
I hope you never have the dry and dusty conditions (found in Outback Australia) in Grenoble!
Ce n'est pas possible, j'espère.