World’s Longest Continental Volcano Chain Discovered In Australia

The world’s longest continental volcano chain has been discovered in Australia, according to a study recently published in Nature.

Researchers from Australia National University have plotted a 1,200-mile line of volcanic activity running from Cape Hillsborough in northern Queensland south to Cosgrove in Victoria and even extending on to the island of Tasmania.

"The track is nearly three times the length of the famous Yellowstone hotspot track on the North American continent," said study coauthor Dr Rhodri Davies in a release from ANU.

Enlarge

Pinnacle Rock, located in Eastern Queensland, is visible remnant of the massive chain of volcanoes that once stretched across the continent.  (Mike Griinke)

According to Davies, a seismology and mathematical geophysics researcher at ANU, some sections of the track were already well known, areas where volcanic activity has created impressive rock formations you can see from miles away.

But the new research indicates that these areas are part of the larger chain, and the gaps between are simply areas where the Australian continent is too thick to allow the hot rock in mantle plumes to rise close enough to the Earth's surface for it to melt and form magma.

http://www.weather.com/science/news/longest-volcano-chain-discovered-in-australia