Cainozoic igneous activity in eastern australia

Wellman, Peter; McDougall, Ian

doi:10.1016/0040-1951(74)90110-3

Cited by 249 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…There are, however, known gaps and analytical issues in the existing age dataset, so to fully and reliably evaluate the eruption frequency and volcanic hazard requires further chronologic investigation of this region. (Wellman and McDougall, 1974;Cohen et al, 2013a . The Undara flow is outlined in purple, Murronga in black, Kinrara in orange, and Toomba in red, while all other volcanic units are outlined in grey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The central volcanoes become progressively younger from 34 Ma at Cape Hillsborough in central Queensland to 6 Ma at Macedon in Victoria, indicating passage over a hotspot or hotspots (Wilson, 1963), which represents Earth's longest continental hotspot track ( Fig. 1) (Wellman and McDougall, 1974;Knesel et al, 2008;Cohen et al, 2013a;Davies et al, 2015). The leucitites also become younger to the south, at a rate matching the central volcanoes .…”

Section: North Queensland and Australian Intraplate Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In contrast, the lava field volcanoes, with eruptions along the entire eastern margin of the continent (Fig. 1) and ages spanning from >60 Ma to the Holocene, have a much less systematic time-space distribution, and no age progression (Wellman and McDougall, 1974;Vasconcelos et al, 2008).…”

Section: North Queensland and Australian Intraplate Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1) (Johnson, 1989). This activity spans the Cenozoic, with two main geomorphologic and petrologic types of edifice: central volcanoes and lava field volcanoes (Wellman and McDougall, 1974), and a third, volumetrically minor type, the leucitite volcanoes (Wellman and McDougall, 1974;Cohen et al, 2008). The central volcanoes become progressively younger from 34 Ma at Cape Hillsborough in central Queensland to 6 Ma at Macedon in Victoria, indicating passage over a hotspot or hotspots (Wilson, 1963), which represents Earth's longest continental hotspot track ( Fig.…”

Section: North Queensland and Australian Intraplate Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene-Neogene volcanism in northeastern Australia: Chronology and eruption history

Cohen

Mark

Fallon

et al. 2017

Quaternary Geochronology

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Quaternary and late Neogene volcanism is widespread in northeastern Australia, producing at least 397 eruptions covering more than 20,000 km 2 , including at least 20 flows over 50 km long. Despite this abundance of young volcanism, before this study numerous eruptions had tentative ages or were undated, and the area requires a comprehensive evaluation of eruption patterns through time. To help address these issues we applied multi-collector ARGUS-V 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology to determine the age of four of the younger extensive flows: Undara (160 km long, 189 ± 4/4 ka; 2σ, with full analytical/external uncertainties), Murronga (40 km long, 153 ± 5/5 ka), Toomba (120 km long, 21 ± 3/3 ka), and Kinrara (55 km long, 7 ± 2/2 ka). Verbal traditions of the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal people contain features that may potentially describe the eruption of Kinrara. If the traditions do record this eruption, they would have been passed down for 230 ± 70 generations -a period of time exceeding the earliest written historical records. To further examine north Queensland volcanism through time we compiled a database of 337 ages, including 179 previously unpublished K-Ar and radiocarbon results. The compiled ages demonstrate that volcanic activity has occurred without major time breaks since at least 9 Ma. The greatest frequency of eruptions occurred in the last 2 Ma, with an average recurrence interval of <10-22 ka between eruptions. Activity was at at times likely more frequent than these calculations indicate, as the geochronologic dataset is incomplete, with undated eruptions, and intraplate volcanism is often episodic. The duration, frequency, and youthfulness of activity indicate that north Queensland volcanism should be considered as potentially still active, and there are now two confirmed areas of Holocene volcanism in eastern Australia -one at each end of the continent. More broadly, our data provides another example of 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology applied to Holocene and latest Pleistocene mafic eruptions, further demonstrating that this method has the ability to examine eruptions and hazards at the youngest volcanoes on Earth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: North Queensland and Australian Intraplate Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: North Queensland and Australian Intraplate Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: North Queensland and Australian Intraplate Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Holocene-Neogene volcanism in northeastern Australia: Chronology and eruption history

Cohen

Mark

Fallon

et al. 2017

Quaternary Geochronology

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“…Volcanism occurred intermittently throughout the Cenozoic period and has continued to recent times (Price et al 1988(Price et al , 2003. The volcanic rocks are mainly basaltic lavas with compositions ranging from tholeiitic to alkali (Wellman & McDougall 1974;Gray & McDougall 2009), although trachytic episodes are known (Price et al 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

40Ar/39Ar dating of alkali feldspar megacrysts from selected young volcanoes of the Newer Volcanic Province, Victoria

Ismail¹,

Phillips²,

Birch³

2013

Proc. R. Soc. Vic.

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The Newer Volcanic Province (NVP) in Victoria, with extension into south-eastern South Australia, represents the youngest chapter of Cenozoic volcanism in south-eastern Australia. However, most ages have been determined by the potassium–argon (K–Ar) method, and the age data are not comprehensive. In addition, few ages exist for the array of scoria cone volcanoes in the NVP. Seven alkali feldspar samples, mostly anorthoclase megacrysts, from volcanic centres in the NVP were used for 40Ar/39Ar dating in the present study. In geochronological order, with ages quoting 95% confidence limits, locations are Mount Franklin near Daylesford (0.110 ± 0.014 Ma), Red Rock near Alvie (0.116 ± 0.048 Ma), Lake Bullenmerri at Camperdown (0.116 ± 0.019 Ma), Ridge Road Quarry near Daylesford (2.01 ± 0.11 Ma) and Mount Kororoit near Diggers Rest (3.74 ± 0.26 Ma). Two samples from The Anakies, near Bacchus Marsh, produced discordant results suggesting a maximum age of ca. 1.9 Ma. The analyses and reported ages in the present study not only provide new geochronological data for the province, but also elucidate the difficulties in dating very young basalts using the 40Ar/39Ar dating method. These results are consistent with the erosion levels of the scoria volcanoes sampled, and indicate a major episode of explosive volcanic activity at ca. 100 ka. In contrast, the more eroded Mount Kororoit is considered to be ca. 3.7 Ma in age. The age of The Anakies is more equivocal owing to the indicated presence of excess argon and a maximum age of ca. 1.9 Ma is suggested for this locality. Given the latter results and lack of precision obtainable from the younger samples, the possibility remains that other samples contained extraneous argon and that the ages generated are thus maximum eruption ages. Analyses of additional samples from these and other localities will be required to further resolve this issue.

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Spatial and temporal patterns of Australian dynamic topography from River Profile Modeling

Czarnota

Roberts

White

et al. 2014

J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth

128

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Despite its importance, the temporal and spatial evolution of continental dynamic topography is poorly known. Australia's isolation from active plate boundaries and its rapid northward motion within a hot spot reference frame make it a useful place to investigate the interplay between mantle convection, topography, and drainage. Offshore, dynamic topography is relatively well constrained and can be accounted for by Australia's translation over the mantle's convective circulation. To build a database of onshore constraints, we have analyzed an inventory of longitudinal river profiles, which is sensitive to uplift rate history. Using independently constrained erosional parameters, we determine uplift rates by minimizing the misfit between observed and calculated river profiles. Resultant fits are excellent and calculated uplift histories match independent geologic constraints. We infer that western and central Australia underwent regional uplift during the last 50 Myr and that the Eastern Highlands have been uplifted in two stages. The first stage from 120 to 80 Ma, coincided with rifting along the eastern margin and its existence is supported by thermochronological measurements. A second stage occurred at 80–10 Ma, formed the Great Escarpment, and coincided with Cenozoic volcanism. The relationship between topography, gravity anomalies, and shear wave tomographic models suggest that regional elevation is supported by temperature anomalies within the lithosphere's thermal boundary layer. Morphology and stratigraphy of the Eastern Highlands imply that these anomalies have been coupled to the base of the plate during Australia's northward motion over the last 70 Myr.

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Cainozoic igneous activity in eastern australia

Cited by 249 publications

References 31 publications

Holocene-Neogene volcanism in northeastern Australia: Chronology and eruption history

Holocene-Neogene volcanism in northeastern Australia: Chronology and eruption history

40Ar/39Ar dating of alkali feldspar megacrysts from selected young volcanoes of the Newer Volcanic Province, Victoria

Spatial and temporal patterns of Australian dynamic topography from River Profile Modeling

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