Alligator Rivers

Alligator
River
Location of key Northern Territory uranium mines
Country	Australia
Territory	Northern Territory
Mouth
- coordinates	12°14′22″S 132°24′11″E / 12.23944°S 132.40306°E / -12.23944; 132.40306Coordinates: 12°14′22″S 132°24′11″E / 12.23944°S 132.40306°E / -12.23944; 132.40306
Location of the South Alligator River mouth in the Northern Territory

Alligator Rivers is the name of an area in the Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia, containing three rivers, the East, West, and South Alligator Rivers. It is regarded as one of the richest biological regions in Australia, with part of the region in the Kakadu National Park. It is an Important Bird Area (IBA), lying to the east of the Adelaide and Mary River Floodplains IBA. It also contains mineral deposits, especially uranium, and the Ranger Uranium Mine is located there. The area is also rich in Australian Aboriginal art, with 1500 sites. The Kakadu National Park is one of the few World Heritage sites on the list because of both its natural and human heritage values. They were explored by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King in 1820, who named them in the mistaken belief that the crocodiles in the estuaries were alligators.

The East Alligator River is about 160 km (99 mi) long. After rising in the northern part of the Arnhem Land Plateau, it flows with tributary streams towards the northwest, through magnificent canyons towards the Van Diemen Gulf, which it meets at Point Farewell. The river has a total catchment area of 15,876 km² (6,130 sq mi) and has many tributaries, including Magela Creek, Tin Camp Creek, and Cooper Creek. The catchment is surrounded by the South Alligator River catchment to the west and Goomadeer and Liverpool River catchments to the east and the Daly River catchment to the south. The river has an annual average discharge of 6,870 gigalitres (8.986×10⁹ cu yd) per year.