Does Australia have volcanoes and rivers?

Answer 1

Australia has no active volcanoes, but there are a great many rivers, particularly in the eastern half of the continent.

Australia is in the middle of a plate, therefore there are no joins underneath it, resulting in a lack of active volcanoes. The Pacific Ring of Fire, which extends around the Pacific Basin and marks the major ring of the world's volcanic and seismic activity, just misses Australia.

There are many volcanoes in Australia, or at least the remnants of volcanoes resulting from ancient activity, but none of them are active and most have long been extinct. Mt Gambier in southeast South Australia is one such example. Although declared officially "dormant", seismologists and scientists monitor them, even though there has been no sign of activity since European settlement began in Australia. Australia's only active volcano is found on one of its external territories, that of Heard Island. Big Ben is a volcano which resumed eruptions in about 1993.

There are many significant rivers in Australia. The Murray - Darling system is the major river system in Australia and is the most well-known, but it is not a single river. The Murray and the Darling are two separate rivers. Other well-known rivers are: Flinders River (longest in Queensland), Diamantina River and Cooper Creek which run through western Queensland and ultimately empty into Lake Eyre Lachlan River, which flows into the Murrumbidgee River which, in turn, flows into the Murray Culgoa, Balonne and Condamine Rivers which feed the Darling Gascoyne River, the longest in Western Australia Goulburn River (Victoria) Hunter River,one that frequently floods in NSW, together with the Clarence and the Richmond Dumaresq, Macintyre and Tweed Rivers, which form part of the border between Queensland and NSW Each of Australia's capital cities is built on a river. Sydney - Hawkesbury and Parramatta Rivers Melbourne - Yarra Adelaide - Torrens Brisbane - Brisbane Perth - Swan Hobart - Derwent