Red Rock is a

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

complex volcano in the Australian state of Victoria. It is located northwest of the small city of Colac near the southeastern shore of Lake Corangamite. The volcano is structurally complicated, consisting of a series of volcanic cones and

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

s. Some of the maars are intermittently filled by

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

crater lakes. These include Lake Werowarp, Lake Coragulac, Lake Gnalinegurk and Lake Purdiguluc. Red Rock, along with

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher grou ...

, Purrumbete and Leura, is one of the best preserved

phreatomagmatic Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...

features in Eastern Australia. At least 30 eruptive vents have been identified at the volcano, with the latest known eruption having taken place possibly in 5850 BCE. This makes Red Rock one of the

Newer Volcanics Province The Newer Volcanics Province is a geological area which is a volcanic field, formed by the East Australia hotspot across south-eastern Australia. It covers an area of , with over 400 small shield volcanoes and volcanic vents. The area contain ...

centres to have been active during the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

. The Red Rock Reserve was established in 1903 to preserve the volcanic landscape. This

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

was upgraded to a public recreation reserve in 1934.

References

Aerial perspective of Red Rock, Alvie, VIC

Volcanoes of Victoria (Australia) Maars of Australia Complex volcanoes Volcanic cones Volcanic crater lakes Protected areas of Victoria (Australia) Mountains of Barwon South West (region) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub