Mount Gambier (volcano).html



Blue Lake, one of Gambier's lake-filled maars

Mount Gambier is a maar complex in South Australia associated with the Newer Volcanics Province. It contains four lake-filled maars called Blue Lake, Valley Lake, Leg of Mutton Lake, and Browne's Lake.¹ It is one of Australia's youngest volcanoes which formed about 4,900 years ago.

Mount Gambier is thought to have formed by a mantle plume center called the East Australia hotspot which may currently lie offshore.¹

This area is part of the UNESCO-endorsed Kanawinka Geopark.

Of the original four lakes found within the calderas, only two remain. The Leg of Mutton lake (named for the outline of its shoreline) became permanently dry in the 1960s. Browne's lake suffered a similar fate in the late 1980s. Both these lakes were quite shallow; their demise is attributed to the lowering of the watertable as a result of many years of land drainage to secure farmland.

See also

• List of volcanoes in Australia

References

Coordinates: 37°50′S 140°45′E / -37.833, 140.75

This South Australia geography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.