Newer Volcanics Province

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Newer Volcanics Province

| photo = Mount-Buninyong-detail-1.jpeg

| photo_caption = Mount Buninyong, the highest peak in the Newer Volcanics Province.

| elevation_m = 745

| elevation_ref =

| prominence =

| location = Victoria and South Australia, Australia

| range =

| coordinates = {{coord|37|39|S|143|56|E|type:mountain}}

| topo =

| type = Volcanic field / Cinder cones / Maars / Crater lakes

| age =

| last_eruption = Holocene

| first_ascent = BCE

| easiest_route =

}}

The Newer Volcanics Province is a geological area which is a volcanic field, formed by the East Australia hotspot across south-eastern Australia. It covers an area of {{convert|15,000|km2}}, with over 400 small shield volcanoes and volcanic vents. The area contains the youngest volcanoes in Australia.{{cite journal | bibcode = 2012AGUFM.T31B2594R | title=Illuminating the upper mantle beneath the Newer Volcanics province, southeast Australia, using seismic body wave tomography | journal=AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts | year=2012 |author1=Rawlinson, N. |author2=Sandiford, M. | volume=2012 }}

The volcanoes date from the Late-Pleistocene to Holocene ages. The area is characterised by flat lava flows, forming a plain above which rise numerous small scoria cones, tuff rings, and maars. The most recent eruptions in the region took place at Mount Schank and Mount Gambier, estimated about 5000 years BP, when several maars were formed and associated lava flows spread around the cones.{{cite web | first1=Kate|first2= Webber|last1=Selina |last2=Green| title=Long time to wait for Australia's next volcanic eruption | website=ABC News | date=27 May 2016 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-27/volcanic-eruption-still-possible-in-south-east-australia/7451878 | access-date=18 March 2020}}{{cite web | title=Newer Volcanics Province | website= Volcano Discovery | url=https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/newer-volcanics-prov.html | access-date=18 March 2020}}

Volcanoes

Image:Mount Napier.jpg]]

File:Mount Elephant.jpg

Prominent volcanoes within the province include:

Mount Schank
Mount Napier
Mount Gambier (including Blue Lake)
Tower Hill
Mount Elephant
Mount Eccles (Budj Bim), with associated Tyrendarra lava flow
Mount Leura
Mount Noorat
Mount Buninyong
Lake Bullen Merri
Lake Purrumbete
Red Rock

Aboriginal Dreamtime connections

History

Three groups of Aboriginal Australians, the Kulin nation in central and western Victoria, the Maar nation on the southwest coast of Victoria and the Bunganditj nation on the South Australian border with Victoria, are the traditional owners of the lands that the NVP is situated on.{{Cite journal|last=Wilkie|first=Benjamin|date=2020|title=Volcanism in Aboriginal Australian oral traditions|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gto.12324|journal=Geology Today|language=en|volume=36|issue=5|pages=183–187|doi=10.1111/gto.12324|s2cid=225322581 |issn=1365-2451|url-access=subscription}} These Indigenous Australians tell Dreamtime stories regarding volcanic activity on the Australian continent. These stories act as oral histories of natural events, and can be utilised by modern scientists to understand historical geological and seismic activity on the continent.

Budj Bim

The Gunditjmara people retell the story of their people who witnessed the creation of an important being known as Budj Bim, one of four giant beings who arrived in southeast Australia. While three of these beings strode out to other parts of the continent, one stayed in place; that was Budj Bim. His body transformed into the volcano later given the same name, and his teeth became the lava{{Cite web|title=Is an Aboriginal tale of an ancient volcano the oldest story ever told?|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told|access-date=2021-11-18|website=www.science.org|language=en}} that transformed the landscape.{{Cite journal|last1=Bell|first1=Damein|last2=Johnston|first2=Chris|date=2008|title=Budj Bim. Caring for the spirit and the people|url=http://www.international.icomos.org/quebec2008/cd/toindex/77_pdf/77-7xnf-104.pdf|language=en|location=Quebec, Canada|pages=1–18}}

Theories and Disagreements

In 1878, Robert B. Smyth, a mining engineer and geologist, raised a question on how Aboriginal Australians get fire. He agreed that there were active volcanoes in Victoria; however, he claimed that there was uncertainty as to whether people actually inhabited that land. However, it was later proven that Smyth had an incomplete idea of Australia's geological past.

References

{{coord|37|46|12|S|142|30|00|E|region:AU-QLD_type:landmark_source:dewiki|display=title}}

Newer Volcanics Province

Volcanoes

Aboriginal Dreamtime connections

See also

References

Further reading