Lake Frome is a large
endorheic lake in
South Australia, east of the Northern
Flinders Ranges. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated
salt pan, 100 km long and 40 km wide, lying mostly below
sea level and having a total surface area of 259,615 hectares. It only rarely fills with brackish water flowing down usually dry creeks in the Northern Flinders Ranges from the west, or exceptional flows down the Strzelecki Creek from the north.
It was named after
Edward Charles Frome after his mapping of the area in 1843.
The lake adjoins
Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park to its west and lies adjacent to
Lake Callabonna linked by Salt Creek to its north, the southern
Strzelecki Desert to its east, and the Frome Downs
pastoral lease to its south. The region in which it is situated has little rainfall and is very sparsely settled, with the closest settlement to it being
Arkaroola Village some 40 kilometres north-west of its closest shore. Two significant
uranium desposits near Lake Frome are being exploited by the
hydrometallurgical process of in-situ leaching: Beverley to its north-west and Honeymoon to its south-east.
Due to its "regional geological significance" the lake was proclaimed as the Lake Frome Regional Reserve (
IUCN Category VI) in 1991.
Public road access to Lake Frome is limited to a single, rough
four-wheel drive track which commences from the
Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park headquarters at Balcanoona...
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