This is a list of active, dormant and extinct volcanoes in Australia and its island territories. Note that the term volcano is used loosely as it can include groups of related volcanoes and vents that erupted at similar times with lava of related origin. The lists provided below are mainly volcanoes of Cenozoic aged, with some notable older (Mesozoic and Paleozoic aged), volcanoes included. There are no volcanoes on the Australian mainland that have erupted since European settlement, but some volcanoes in Victoria, South Australia and North Queensland could have been witnessed by Aboriginal people several thousand years ago. There are active volcanoes in the Heard and McDonald Islands.
Australian states
Queensland
New South Wales
Victoria
South Australia
South Australia's volcanoes are the youngest in Australia, and erupted within the memory of local Indigenous peoples. They are all in the Limestone Coast region, in the Mount Burr Range. They are considered dormant rather than extinct.
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Mount Burr | 187 | 614 | 37°33′S 140°28′E / 37.55°S 140.46°E | 4,750 years ago |
Mount Gambier | 190 | 623 | 37°50′S 140°47′E / 37.84°S 140.78°E | 4,500 years ago |
Mount Schank | 158 | 518 | 37°56′S 140°44′E / 37.94°S 140.74°E | 5,000 years ago |
Mount Muirhead | 130 | 427 | 37°34′S 140°25′E / 37.56°S 140.41°E | 5,000 years ago |
Western Australia
There are no active or dormant volcanoes in Western Australia, although there are a number of extinct ones, and geological evidence of others. There are nineteen small extinct volcanoes in the valley of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Kimberley also has a number of groups of hot springs, which may be connected with the volcanic activity that produced the extinct volcanoes (but since these volcanic formations are Proterozoic in age – i.e. maybe a billion years old, this would be very unlikely). There are also deposits of basalt at Bunbury and Cape Gosselin.
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Argyle diamond mine | — | — | 16°36′S 128°18′E / 16.6°S 128.3°E | 1.58 million years ago |
Tasmania
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Table Cape | 181 | 594 | 40°57′S 145°44′E / 40.95°S 145.73°E | 12 million years ago |
The Nut | 143 | 469 | 40°46′S 145°18′E / 40.76°S 145.3°E | 25-70 million years ago |
Hillwood Volcano | 2880 | 9448 | 41°13′S 146°57′E / 41.21°S 146.95°E | 250 million years ago |
Lune River | — | — | 43°15′S 146°32′E / 43.25°S 146.54°E | 180 million years ago |
Mount Charter | 514 | 1686 | 41°37′21″S 145°40′32″E / 41.62250°S 145.67556°E | 500 million years ago |
Mount Tor | 1105 | 3625 | 41°25′53″S 145°53′34″E / 41.43139°S 145.89278°E | 500 million years ago |
Mount Julia | 843 | 2766 | 41°53′3″S 145°33′50″E / 41.88417°S 145.56389°E | 500 million years ago |
Mount Cripps | 943 | 3,094 | 41°34′49″S 145°45′59″E / 41.58028°S 145.76639°E | 500 million years ago |
Mount Read Volcanics | 1.123 | 3.684 | 41°30′S 145°19′E / 41.50°S 145.32°E | 500 million years ago |
Territories
Australia Capital Territory
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Mount Stromlo | 770 | 2,530 | 35°19′0″S 149°1′0″E / 35.31667°S 149.01667°E | Silurian period |
Heard and McDonald Islands
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Anzac Peak | 715 | 2,346 | 52°59′32″S 73°17′58″E / 52.99222°S 73.29944°E | — |
Big Ben (Mawson Peak) | 2,745 | 9,006 | 53°6′0″S 73°31′0″E / 53.10000°S 73.51667°E | 2004/2019 |
Mount Dixon | 715 | 2,346 | 53°0′S 73°17′E / 53.000°S 73.283°E | — |
McDonald Islands | 230 | 755 | 53°02′S 72°36′E / 53.03°S 72.60°E | 2005 |
Lord Howe Island
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Ball's Pyramid | 562 | 1,844 | 31°45′07″S 159°15′05″E / 31.75194°S 159.25139°E | — |
Mount Gower | 875 | 2,870 | 31°34′51″S 159°04′54″E / 31.58083°S 159.08167°E | — |
Australia Antarctic Territory
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Gaussberg | 370 | 1,214 | 66°48′S 89°1′E / 66.800°S 89.017°E | — |
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island and neighbouring Nepean Island and Phillip Island are mountain top remnants of an elongated shield volcano.[8]
Tasman Sea
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Bass Strait Basin | — | — | — | — |
Tasman Seamounts | — | — | — | — |
Barcoo Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Britannia Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Derwent-Hunter Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Gascoyne Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Heemskirk Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Queensland Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Soela Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Taupo Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Zeelian Seamount | — | — | — | — |
Other
Name | Elevation | Location | Last eruption | |
---|---|---|---|---|
metres | feet | Coordinates | ||
Macquarie Island | 433 | 1,421 | 54°30′S 158°57′E / 54.50°S 158.95°E | — |
Norfolk Island | 315 | 1,033 | 29°S 168°E / 29°S 168°E | 2.4 million years ago |
References
- Citations
- 1 2 3 Whitehead, P. W.; Stephenson, P. J.; McDougall, I.; Hopkins, M. S.; Graham, A. W.; Collerson, K. D.; Johnson, D. P. (1 July 2007). "Temporal development of the Atherton Basalt Province, north Queensland". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 54 (5): 691–709. Bibcode:2007AuJES..54..691W. doi:10.1080/08120090701305236. ISSN 0812-0099. S2CID 140645798.
- 1 2 Cohen, B. E.; Vasconcelos, P. M.; Knesel, K. M. (1 February 2007). "40Ar/39Ar constraints on the timing of Oligocene intraplate volcanism in southeast Queensland". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 54 (1): 105–125. Bibcode:2007AuJES..54..105C. doi:10.1080/08120090600981483. ISSN 0812-0099. S2CID 128834679.
- 1 2 3 Cohen, B.E.; Mark, D.F.; Fallon, S.J.; Stephenson, P.J. (2017). "Holocene-Neogene volcanism in northeastern Australia: Chronology and eruption history" (PDF). Quaternary Geochronology. 39: 79–91. Bibcode:2017QuGeo..39...79C. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2017.01.003.
- 1 2 3 4 Knesel, Kurt M.; Cohen, Benjamin E.; Vasconcelos, Paulo M.; Thiede, David S. (2008). "Rapid change in drift of the Australian plate records collision with Ontong Java plateau". Nature. 454 (7205): 754–757. Bibcode:2008Natur.454..754K. doi:10.1038/nature07138. PMID 18685705. S2CID 4427792.
- 1 2 3 4 Cohen, B. E.; Knesel, K. M.; Vasconcelos, P. M.; Thiede, D. S.; Hergt, J. M. (1 April 2008). "40Ar/39Ar constraints on the timing and origin of Miocene leucitite volcanism in southeastern Australia". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 55 (3): 407–418. Bibcode:2008AuJES..55..407C. doi:10.1080/08120090701769514. ISSN 0812-0099. S2CID 129437099.
- ↑ Stockyard Hill 3-in-1, retrieved 8 March 2018
- ↑ "The Anakies".
- ↑ "Norfolk Island". ga.gov.au. 15 May 2014.
- Sources
- Siebert L, Simkin T (2002–present). Volcanoes of the World: an Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions. Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program Digital Information Series, GVP-3 (http://www.volcano.si.edu).
- Volcanoes of Australia, Volcano World