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Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australiai
Regional Level Types
Alice SpringsTown
Northern TerritoryTerritory
AustraliaCountry

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PhotosMapsSearch
Area:
327 km2
Type:
Largest Settlements:
PlacePopulation
Alice Springs25,186 (2013)
Mindat Locality ID:
159042
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:159042:8
GUID (UUID V4):
0
Other Languages:
German:
Town of Alice Springs, Nordterritorium, Australien
Italian:
città di Alice Springs, Territorio del Nord, Australia
Russian:
Алис-Спрингс , Северная территория, Австралия
Dutch:
Town of Alice Springs, Noordelijk Territorium, Australië
Georgian:
ალის-სპრინგსის საბჭო, ჩრდილოეთი ტერიტორია
Malayalam:
ടൗൺ ഓഫ് ആലീസ് സ്പ്രിംഗ്സ്
Sardinian:
tzitade de Alice Springs


Alice Springs is a separate local government area and is one of 5 municipalities in the Northern Territory.

The local government area of Alice Springs comprises an area of approximately 327 square kilometres.

The Alice Springs Town Council covers the town of Alice Springs itself, and very immediate land within sight of the town. It is the third largest settlement in the Northern Territory at approximately 27 972 people.

The council is completely surrounded by the MacDonnell Region (shire). Sometimes photographs and locations from the MacDonnell Region can find themselves under Alice Springs, being the only major town south of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. As the council area is largely urban, it holds little of interest for mineral specimens (unless you plan to visit a shop in the town selling opal from elsewhere in Australia).

Tourism is the main economy of Alice Springs, and there is a lot to do to keep people busy. The town contains the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame and Alice Springs Old Goal, National Road Transport Hall of Fame (full of large trucks), Old Ghan Railway Museum, Alice Springs Reptile Centre (best at feeding time), Alice Springs School of the Air, Royal Flying Doctor Visitor Centre, Araluen Cultural Centre including museums and art galleries, Alice Springs Desert Park (a large native zoo), Anzac Hill, Panorama Guth, John Flynn's Grave, Olive Pink Botanical Gardens, the Kangaroo Sanctuary (popular with overseas backpackers after television shows on National Geographic and BBC). This is just the start in the town.

Also within easy day trips are several chasms and gorges both west and east of the town, the Arltunga historic goldfield, Palm Valley, Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar, Kings Canyon, and several other natural features in the neighbouring MacDonnell Region.

Alice Springs is set within several mountain ranges and ridges of the east-west 500 kilometre long MacDonnell Ranges. The mountains around the Alice Springs area were created after a fight between three caterpillars, and a green stink bug. The caterpillars -ayepe arenye, ntyarlke and utnerrengatye, were Dreamtime ancestors, who according to the local Arrente people, got into a fight with Irlperenye the ancestor of green stink bugs. The caterpillars lost the battle their bodies forming the long east-west ridges. Gaps in the ranges is where the bug tore the heads off the caterpillars.

Or the mountains were formed during crustal thickening, and compression events, in the Alice Springs Orogeny, 450 to 300 million years ago. Sedimentary rocks formed during shallow marine and terrestrial times as basins, were thrust up, since folded, faulted and eroded. Granite, limestone, sandstone and siltstone is found, with major units being the Bitter Springs Formation, and the Heavitree Quartzite which is 600 feet thick in the Alice Springs area.

The town is named after the wife of the Superintendent of Telegraphs, Sir Charles Todd. The settlement started as a telegraph station at the terminus of the Ghan railway line. The population swelled during the Arltunga gold rush, then supporting the local pastoral industry, before tourism became increasing important from the 1950's onwards.

List of minerals for each chemical element

Fossils

There are 2 fossil localities from the PaleoBioDB database within this region.

These data are provided on an experimental basis and are taken from external databases. Mindat.org has no control currently over the accuracy of these data.

Occurrences24
Youngest Fossil Listed5.33 Ma (Miocene)
Oldest Fossil Listed635 Ma (Neoproterozoic)
Stratigraphic Units
UnitNo. OccurrencesAge
Waite111.608 - 5.333 Ma (Miocene)
Wite311.608 - 5.333 Ma (Miocene)
Pacoota - Sequence 316476.8 - 473.9 Ma (Early/Lower Ordovician)
Arumbera Sandstone3635 - 541 Ma (Neoproterozoic)
Wilpena - Arumbera - lower1635 - 541 Ma (Neoproterozoic)
Fossils from RegionClick here to show the list.
Accepted NameHierarchy Age
Pinnocaris
genus
Animalia : Mollusca : Ribeiriidae : Pinnocaris485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Euconia
genus
Animalia : Mollusca : Gastropoda : Sinuopeidae : Euconia485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Apatokephalus
genus
Animalia : Arthropoda : Trilobita : Asaphida : Remopleurididae : Apatokephalus485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Psilocephalina
genus
Animalia : Arthropoda : Trilobita : Asaphida : Asaphidae : Psilocephalina485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Koraipsis
genus
Animalia : Arthropoda : Trilobita : Koraipsis485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Thylacinus
genus
Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Dasyuromorphia : Thylacinidae : Thylacinus11.608 - 5.333 Ma
Miocene
Technophorus walteri
species
Animalia : Mollusca : Rostroconchia : Ribeirioida : Technophoridae : Technophorus : Technophorus walteri485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Wakaleo
genus
Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Diprotodontia : Thylacoleonidae : Wakaleo11.608 - 5.333 Ma
Miocene
Colpantyx woolleyi
species
Animalia : Mollusca : Bivalvia : Colpomyidae : Colpantyx : Colpantyx woolleyi485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Xestoconcha kraciukae
species
Animalia : Mollusca : Bivalvia : Colpomyidae : Xestoconcha : Xestoconcha kraciukae485.4 - 478.6 Ma
Paleozoic
Charniodiscus longus
species
Animalia : Charniidae : Charniodiscus : Charniodiscus longus635 - 541 Ma
Neoproterozoic
Arumberia
genus
Arumberia635 - 541 Ma
Neoproterozoic
Dromaius
genus
Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Casuariiformes : Casuariidae : Dromaius11.608 - 5.333 Ma
Miocene
Hadronomas puckridgi
species
Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Diprotodontia : Macropodidae : Hadronomas : Hadronomas puckridgi11.608 - 5.333 Ma
Miocene
Fossil LocalitiesClick to show 2 fossil localities

Other Databases

Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Alice_Springs
Wikidata ID:Q768033
GeoNames ID:7839681

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas that Intersect

Australia
Australian PlateTectonic Plate

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

 
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