Australian Volcano Eruptions Overdue, New Study Confirms

Latest research into the age of volcanos in Western Victoria and South Australia has confirmed that the regions are overdue for an eruption, potentially affecting thousands of local residents. Using the latest dating techniques, scientists from the University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences and the Melbourne School of Engineering have calculated the ages of the small volcanoes in the regions and established the recurrence rate for eruptions as 2,000 years.

With the last volcano eruption at Mt Gambier in South Australia occurring over 5,000 years ago, scientists say the areas are overdue.

The research was presented today by Professor Bernie Joyce of the University of Melbourne's School of Earth Sciences at the XXV International Congress of Geodesy and Geophysics, in Melbourne.

"Although the volcanos in the region don't erupt on a regular sequence, the likelihood of an eruption is high given the average gap in the past has been 2,000 years," Professor Joyce said.

"These are small eruptions and very localised but depending on the type of eruption, they could cause devastation to thousands of people," he said.

The regions of Western Victoria and adjacent south-eastern South Australia demonstrate a history of activity by young monogenetic (single short-lived activity) volcanoes. Similar young monogenetic provinces are found in northeast Queensland.

Professor Joyce and his colleagues from the University's School of Earth Sciences have spent years cataloguing the hundreds of small volcanic cones, lava flows and craters in the regions. The distribution of activity including lava flows and ash deposits has been mapped in detail.

The latest findings are due to more recent studies using a range of state of the art dating techniques, which have provided more information on the ages of the individual volcanoes, providing information about the occurrence rates.