The onshore-offshore depression covers approximately 1,141,000 km2 and slopes southward to an open bay known as the Great Australian Bight.
The surface area of the basin (and Nullarbor Plain) consists mostly of grazing and rangeland, but nickel and gold are mined at the western end.
Due to a shortage of regional seals and source rocks, the basin has poor petroleum prospects, but it is forming as a major zircon producing area, and includes the Cyclone Zircon Project.
The Eucla Basin is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger West Australian Shield.
It includes the smaller Eyre Coastal Plain and Eucla Shelf physiographic sections.