How could a volcano erupt in Australia?
As stated previously, there are no active volcanoes on the Australian mainland. So what needs to happen for volcanoes to erupt?
For a volcano to erupt in Australia, a hotspot would have to form. This is because Australia is right in the middle of the Indo-Australian plate, so it does not experience converging, diverging or transforming plate boundaries. Therefore, volcanoes cannot be formed in Australia by a plate tectonic boundary at this point in time.
Evidence suggests that there has previously been a hotspot in Australia called the East Australian Hot Spot. It caused the mountainous/volcanic areas along the Eastern coastal areas. As the continental plate moved along the hotspot, the line of volcanoes progressed through Queensland through toward New South Wales(Geological sites of NSW, 2014*) however, this hotspot was active millions of years ago and may not be so now.
*This site gives more information about the East Australian Hotspot. Click on the link to go to the website.
For a volcano to erupt in Australia, a hotspot would have to form. This is because Australia is right in the middle of the Indo-Australian plate, so it does not experience converging, diverging or transforming plate boundaries. Therefore, volcanoes cannot be formed in Australia by a plate tectonic boundary at this point in time.
Evidence suggests that there has previously been a hotspot in Australia called the East Australian Hot Spot. It caused the mountainous/volcanic areas along the Eastern coastal areas. As the continental plate moved along the hotspot, the line of volcanoes progressed through Queensland through toward New South Wales(Geological sites of NSW, 2014*) however, this hotspot was active millions of years ago and may not be so now.
*This site gives more information about the East Australian Hotspot. Click on the link to go to the website.
More on Hotspots
This YouTube video explains Hotspots in more depth.