News: The Finke Riveris believed to be the world’s oldest river system. Researchers say it began flowing between 300 and 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs walked the planet.
About Finke River
- The Finke River is also called Larapinta in the Indigenous Arrente language.
- Location: It is located in central Australia and flows through the Northern Territory and the state of South Australia.
- Origin: It originates in MacDonnell Ranges in Australia.
- Formation: The river forms where two smaller creeks, Davenport and Ormiston meets.
- Dating: It is the oldest riverbed in the world and also one of the four crucial waterbodies of Lake Eyre Basin.
- This river system is dated in either the Devonian (419 million to 359 million) period or Carboniferous (359 million to 299 million) era.
- Length: It runs for more than 640 km.
- Drainage: It forms an important part of the Lake Eyre Basin, one of Australia’s major drainage systems.
- Drainage pattern: The river has a cross-axial drainage system or antecedent system.
- It is a river system that cuts across geological structures rather than following them.
- The river is intermittent in nature and flows mainly after heavy rainfall.
- For most of the year, it appears as a series of isolated waterholes due to the arid climate.
