The Gibson Desert covers a large area in the state of Western Australia and is still largely in an almost “pristine” state. It is about 155,000 square kilometres (60,000 square miles) in size, making it the 5th largest desert in Australia.
It lies between Lake Disappointment and Lake Macdonald along the Tropic of Capricorn. The Gibson bioregion includes extensive areas of undulating sand plains and dunefields, low rocky/gravelly ridges and substantial upland portions with a high degree of laterite formation. Several isolated salt-water lakes occur in the centre of the region and to the southwest a system of small lakes follow paleo-drainage features.
Groundwater sources include portions of the Officer Basin and Canning Basin. Large portions of the desert are characterized by gravel-covered terrains, as noted by early Australian explorers such as Giles.
