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Mount Napier in Victoria,
File:Napier1.JPG, Scoria from Mount Napier
File:Napier7.JPG, Close view of the volcanic rim
File:20090916_Harmans_Valley_looking_to_Mt_Napier_(2).JPG, Harmans Valley to Mount Napier
File:20090926_Volcanic_Blister_(Tumulus)_-_Byaduk_-_Victoria_-_Australia.JPG, Tumuli - lava blisters
Mt Napier State ParkByaduk Caves
Mountains of Victoria (state) Volcanoes of Victoria (state) Inactive volcanoes Mountains of Barwon South West (region) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub
Mount Napier in Victoria, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, is one of the youngest volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure 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 oft ...
es in Australia. It erupted about 32,000 years ago. It was named by Major Thomas Mitchell after the three Napier brothers, who he had served alongside during the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
. Mitchell named it in August 1836, during his third expedition across south-eastern Australia. The local Aboriginal name for the mountain is Tapoc. Mount Napier State Park is located 270 kilometres west of Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and 17 km south of Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
.
Location and features
Mount Napier, or Tapoc in the local Aboriginal language, has a composite lava shield with a superimposedscoria cone
A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, conical landform of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions or l ...
. The cone rises above the surrounding plain
In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...
s to an elevation of , making it the highest point on the Western District Plains of Victoria. Mount Napier is part of the Newer Volcanics Province, which is the youngest volcanic region in Australia. The Newer Volcanics Province covers an area of and contains over 400 vents.
The Mount Napier Lava Flow followed the Harman Valley west from the volcano, and then south towards the nearby Mount Eccles which is 25 km south-west of Mount Napier. Lava blisters or tumuli
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
occur along the flow - these are house-sized mounds of basalt rocks. The blisters are the best developed in Australia and uncommon in the rest of the world. They are formed by the pressure of liquid lava pushing up against the crust. Several caves and lava tubes can also be found at Byaduk.
The native vegetation of Mount Napier State Park, on the western side of the mountain, varies from grassy woodland to tall open forest dominated by Manna Gum ''Eucalyptus viminalis'', Blackwood ''Acacia melanoxylon'', Austral Bracken ''Pteridium esculentum'' and Common Tussock Grass ''Poa labillardieri''. This hosts a variety of native fauna, including birds, marsupials and mammals, including bats (Bird 1997).
Gallery
See also
* *List of volcanoes in Australia
This is a list of active, dormant and extinct volcanoes in Australia and its island territories. Note that the term volcano is used loosely as it can include groups of related volcanoes and vents that erupted at similar times with lava of re ...
References
External links
Mt Napier State Park
Mountains of Victoria (state) Volcanoes of Victoria (state) Inactive volcanoes Mountains of Barwon South West (region) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub