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Desert varnish coatings and microcolonial fungi on rocks of the Gibson and Great Victoria deserts, Australia

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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Desert varnish coatings rich in manganese are reported, to the authors knowledge , for the first time on desert rocks from Australia. Varnish was found on chert, dolomite, sandstone, siltstone, and conglomerate rocks in stony pave men Is of the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia and South Australia. The widespread occurrence of desert pavements in Australia suggests that desert varnish, also, may be widespread. Fungi that form microcolonies have been found on rocks with desert varnish. Manganese was found in higher concentrations inside some of the microcolonies than in the surrounding substrate, suggesting that microcolonial fungi are involved in the formation of desert rock varnish in these areas.

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Field Value
Title Desert varnish coatings and microcolonial fungi on rocks of the Gibson and Great Victoria deserts, Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/fafc4c84-ec01-416a-80ea-c912d33bc09a
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        123.66,
        -31.87
      ],
      [
        134.38,
        -31.87
      ],
      [
        134.38,
        -21.53
      ],
      [
        123.66,
        -21.53
      ],
      [
        123.66,
        -31.87
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Desert varnish coatings and microcolonial fungi on rocks of the Gibson and Great Victoria deserts, Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/desert-varnish-coatings-and-microcolonial-fungi-on-rocks-of-the-gibson-and-great-victoria-deser