The Pinnacles (Atherton Tableland)

{{Short description|Volcanic mounds on the Atherton Tableland}}

{{Use Australian English|date=November 2019}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

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| name = The Pinnacles (Atherton Tableland){{cite web |url=https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/qld/environment/land/place-names/search#The_Pinnacles |title= The Pinnacles|author= |website=Queensland Government Placenames |publisher= Queensland Government |access-date= 12 November 2019}}

| other_name = Seven Sisters

| type = Cinder cones

| photo = Seven Sisters, Atherton Tableland.jpg

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| photo_alt = Aerial view of the Seven Sisters, Atherton Tableland looking to the south-west

| photo_caption = Aerial view of The Pinnacles, Atherton Tableland, looking to the southwest

| map = Australia Queensland

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The Pinnacles (aka the Seven Sisters) are a series of seven volcanic cinder cones on the Atherton Tableland, near Yungaburra, Queensland, Australia. They were formed more than 350,000 years ago.{{Cite journal|last=Whitehead|first=P. W.|last2=Stephenson|first2=P. J.|last3=McDougall|first3=I.|last4=Hopkins|first4=M. S.|last5=Graham|first5=A. W.|last6=Collerson|first6=K. D.|last7=Johnson|first7=D. P.|date=2007|title=Temporal development of the Atherton Basalt Province, north Queensland|journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences|language=en|volume=54|issue=5|pages=691–709|doi=10.1080/08120090701305236|issn=0812-0099}}

The vents have an overall southwest-northeast alignment, which suggests that the ascending magma utilised a pre-existing fracture within the Earth's crust.{{Cite book|title=Rocks, landscapes & resources of the wet tropics|publisher=Geological Society of Australia, Queensland Division|others=Lottermoser, Bernd G., Willmott, W. F.|year=2008|isbn=9780975789483|location=Brisbane, Qld.|oclc=271828487}} Several of the craters are breached to the southeast, possibly due to the prevailing southeast winds blowing ash and scoria to the northwest and so building the cones more to that side. Parts of the rocky basalt flows are still densely forested and can be seen surrounding the Curtain Fig Tree.