The planar surface of the Bunda Plateau and associated Nullarbor Plain represent an emergent stable continental margin mantled with a uniform sheet of shelf sediments. It is in this limestone that the Nullarbor karst is expressed. South of the sea cliff, the coastal plain is mantled with Late Tertiary and Quaternary marine sediments and shelly conglomerates. The Nullarbor karst is unusual in that it represents an arid karst. The precipitation averages about 250 mm per year near the coast and decreases northward to about 150 mm, where the flat to gently rolling surface of the Nullarbor Limestone is sparsely vegetated with shrubs and grasses, particularly saltbushes and blue bushes.
Any rainfall quickly disappears underground through joints and depressions exposed on the surface.
The aridity is also responsible for the observed paucity of caves and dolines and the absence of larger karst features like uvalas and poljes. In the image area, Lowry and Jennings estimate that between 60 and 180 m of subaerial solution has taken place. Besides the emerged and prominent sea cliff making up the Hampton Range, several fault traces, possibly Early Pleistocene, can be discriminated. The low relief of 1.5 to 6 m stands out surprisingly well on the Landsat image. The corridors are flat-floored basins up to 1 km wide and several km long that show up as light tones because of a concentration of clays in the residual soil.