World’s Longest Continental Volcano Chain Discovered In Australia

The research found that the plume created volcanic activity only where Earth's solid outer layer, called the lithosphere, is thinner than 80 miles.

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Dr. Rhodri Davies, a seismology and mathematical geophysics researcher at Australian National University, led the team which discovered new information about Australia's volcanic past.   (Stuart Hay/ANU)

Of course, none of it can really be called “new.” The volcanic chain was created over the past 33 million years, as Australia moved northwards over a hotspot in the Earth'