Mount Noorat is a

dormant volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

, situated on Glenormiston Road north of the township of Noorat, and approximately six kilometres north of

Terang Terang is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Corangamite and on the Princes Highway south west of the state's capital, Melbourne. At the , Terang had a population of 1,824. At the 2001 census, ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The last eruption is estimated to have occurred between 5,000 and 20,000 years ago. Mount Noorat crater

Mount Noorat is a major volcano 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 ...

of Victoria, with a peak height of 310 metres above sea level and a crater between 160 and 200 metres. It is characterised by multiple vents, a complex

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

, and the deepest

scoria Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) '' ...

enclosed crater in Victoria. The mount illustrates a transition from maar eruption to scoria cone development, and includes

megacryst In geology, a megacryst is a crystal or grain that is considerably larger than the encircling matrix. They are found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Megacrysts can be further classified based on the nature of their origin, either as:Chapman, Carl ...

and

xenolith A xenolith ("foreign rock") is a rock fragment ( country rock) that becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and solidification. In geology, the term ''xenolith'' is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in ig ...

Legacy

The Mount was historically a traditional meeting and trading place for the district's Indigenous peoples, the Kirrae Wuurong, who exchanged stones, spears, skins and other material. Its scoria was used on the district's early roads.

References

External links

Official Website of the 12 Apostles Region of Australia

Terang and district Tourism Website
Inactive volcanoes Volcanoes of Victoria (state) Tourist attractions in Victoria (state) Mountains of Victoria (state) Mountains of Barwon South West (region) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub

Legacy

See also

References

External links