Tag

volcanic

17 posts

• 11 May 2026The Diamond That Grew: The Argyle Lamproite PipeIn the remote East Kimberley, the Argyle lamproite pipe produced 90% of the world's pink diamonds through a rare geological accident 1.3 billion years in the making.
• 11 May 2026The Sapphire Gravels: Gemstones of the New England GemfieldsBeneath New South Wales' New England region, 50-million-year-old volcanic gravels hold sapphires and zircons carried from deep within the continent's crust.
• 10 May 2026The Boiling Crater: The Hydrothermal Vents of the Panorama DistrictIn Western Australia's Pilbara Craton, 3.24-billion-year-old hydrothermal vent deposits preserve the earliest known evidence of seafloor hot springs and the microbial life they hosted.
• 10 May 2026The Blue Lake: Mount Gambier's Volcanic Crater LakeMount Gambier's Blue Lake fills a 4,500-year-old volcanic crater, where seasonal temperature shifts turn the water a vivid cobalt each summer.
• 10 May 2026The Lava That Became a Mountain: The Glasshouse Mountains of Queensland23-million-year-old volcanic plugs, the Glasshouse Mountains of southeast Queensland are the eroded cores of rhyolite and trachyte volcanoes that erupted through sandstone bedrock.
• 10 May 2026The Lava That Became Granite: The Moruya Batholith's Slow CoolingHow the Moruya Batholith on the New South Wales coast preserves a 390-million-year record of magma rising, cooling, and exhumation along the ancient Gondwanan margin.
• 09 May 2026The Basalt Staircase: The Cooling Columns of the Tasmanian CoastAt Cape Raoul on Tasmania's southeast coast, 60-metre-high basalt columns record a 55-million-year-old lava flow that cooled into perfect hexagonal prisms, now sculpted by Southern Ocean storms.
• 08 May 2026Tasmania's Dolerite: Jurassic Columns and the Skeleton of GondwanaAcross Tasmania, cliff faces and plateau tors are the exposed bones of a Jurassic intrusive complex—dolerite sills and dykes emplaced as Gondwana began to rift about 180 million years ago.
• 08 May 2026The Volcanic Ark: The Basalts of Barrington TopsExplore the Barrington Tops of New South Wales, where Eocene basalt shield volcanoes created a high-altitude sanctuary for Australia's ancient Gondwanan rainforests.
• 08 May 2026The Onion Skin: The Spheroidal Weathering of Karlu KarluExplore the 1.7-billion-year history of Karlu Karlu, where spheroidal weathering and thermal stress have sculpted massive granite batholiths into iconic desert spheres.
• 08 May 2026The Sky in the Silt: The Acraman Ejecta LayerThe 580-million-year-old Acraman impact in South Australia left a trail of shattered volcanic debris across hundreds of kilometers, potentially sparking a biological revolution.
• 08 May 2026The Mantle’s Elevator: The Merlin KimberlitesAn exploration of the Merlin Diamond Mine in the Northern Territory, where Devonian kimberlite pipes brought deep-mantle diamonds to the surface.
• 08 May 2026The Archean Anchor: The Yilgarn CratonAn exploration of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia, one of Earth's oldest crustal blocks, preserving Archean greenstone belts and immense mineral wealth.
• 08 May 2026The Copper Spine: The West Coast Range of TasmaniaAn exploration of the Cambrian volcanic and sedimentary history of Tasmania's West Coast Range and its rich mineral heritage.
• 08 May 2026The Basalt Stairs: The Monaro VolcanicsAn exploration of the Monaro Volcanics, where Eocene lava flows created a high-altitude basalt plateau of fertile black soils and geometric stone columns.
• 08 May 2026The Frozen Fire of the Gawler RangesAn exploration of the Mesoproterozoic volcanic pillars of the Gawler Ranges, where 1.5 billion-year-old magma cooled into massive geometric columns.
• 08 May 2026The Skeletons of the Sun Coast: The Glass House MountainsAn exploration of the Glass House Mountains, the 25-million-year-old volcanic skeletons left behind by Australia's northward drift over a mantle hotspot.