Australia Volcano

Volcanic Eruption 'Could Occur Near Bundaberg'
A SIGNIFICANT volcanic eruption is overdue in Australia and could occur in southeast Queensland near Bundaberg or between Townsville and Cooktown.
related: Ballarat "Well Overdue" for a Large Volcanic Eruption

October 3, 2009
Brian Williams
Queensland Newspapers, Australia

About 380 volcanoes had occurred in Queensland while about 400 volcanoes had occurred in Victoria.

Melbourne University geologist Associate Professor Bernie Joyce said although many people would not regard Australia as a volcano-prone area, many eruptions had occurred in the past million years – a relatively brief geological time span.

All these sites – regarded as volcanoes – had cracks or pathways in the Earth's crust that could potentially allow magma to exit from 20km to 30km underground.

Likely sites in Queensland would include Undara (erupted 190,000 years ago) in the Gulf of Carpentaria or Sturgeon Volcano, about 100km southwest of Townsville, which erupted about 13,000 years ago.

Another area of activity was Bundaberg, Gayndah and Coalstoun Lakes (which erupted 600,000 years ago), in southeast Queensland.

"Potentially anywhere can have volcanoes," Professor Joyce said. "The Pacific Ring of Fire of course is an area where it is easy for that material to get up. It goes from NZ to Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and back down the US west coast."

Professor Joyce said the geological record showed volcanoes had erupted in Australia about every 2000 years over the past 40,000 years.

"Given there has not been a major eruption for the past 5000 years, a significant eruption seems well overdue," Professor Joyce said.
The geological record shows that up to 200,000 years ago there was not a high level of volcanic activity on the Australian continent, yet during the past 40,000 years there has been a cycle of increased activity which might point to further activity.

"So it is much more likely to be a matter of when, rather than if, a significant volcano occurs in Australia," Professor Joyce said.

He said no one could say with absolute certainty that a significant volcano would strike tomorrow, next week, next year, or even in 100 years but the hazards were real and must be given more focus by emergency management authorities.

Emergency authorities should better prepare themselves and the wider community to respond to such an event by putting emergency response plans in place.

While any future volcanoes – probably within a few kilometres of previous eruptions – might discharge only small amounts of lava and ash, the possibility remained that there could be a significant eruption, so it made sense that population centres should be well-prepared for that scenario.

Professor Joyce said it was telling that in NZ, which had volcano types similar to those in Australia, there was much more focus on volcano risk education.
Map: Volcanic centers of eastern Australia.

Leucite Suite
1. Byrock
2. El Capitan
3. Cargelligo
4. Cosgrove

Central Volcanoes
5. Nadewar
6. Warrumbungle
7. Canobolas
8. Macedon
9. Ebor
10. Comboyne

Lava Fields
11. Central
12. Doughboy
13. Walcha
14. Barrington
15. Liverpool Range
16. Dubbo
17. Kandos
18. Sydney
19. Abercrombie
20. Grabben Gullen
21. Southern Highlands
22. Monaro
23. Snowy Mountains
24. South Coast
25. Older Volcanics
26. Newer Volcanics
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,26156060-3102,00.html?from=public_rss