Kinrara, Queensland, Australia

Location: 18.4S, 144.9E

Kinrara erupted in the last 20,000 years, making it the youngest volcano in the McBride Volcanic Province. The cone is 1,300 feet (400 m) in diameter. The steep crater, shown in this photo, is 1,000 feet (300 m) in diameter and 200 feet (60 m) deep. The crater contains an inner crater. Older basalt lava on which the Kinrara cone was built is exposed in the inner crater. Kinrara is made of basanite lavas. Photograph by Steve Mattox.

The deposits that make the Kinrara cone indicate fountaining eruptions and the gentle effusion of lava. This photo shows geologists looking at horizontal layers of lava that probably formed when a lava lake occupied or overflowed the crater. The youngest layer (on top) drapes over the rim of the crater and formed when lava drained to a deeper level. Photograph by Steve Mattox.

Pyroclastic material, like the spatter shown in this photo, indicate that part of Kinrara's history had small explosive eruptions. Photograph by Steve Mattox.

Bombs, another type of pyroclastic material, also indicate small explosive eruptions at Kinrara. Photograph by Steve Mattox.

Lava channels, like the one in this photo, extend up to 1,600 feet (500 m) away from the cone. Lava flows travelled up to 35 miles (55 km) from the cone and, at the distal end of the flow, followed the course of the Burdekin River.

Sources of Information:

Stanton, D., 1993, unpublished honors thesis, James Cook University.

Stephenson, P.J., and Whitehead, P.W., 1996, Long lava flows in North Queensland: abstract volume: Economic Geology Research Unit Contribution 56, James Cook University, Queensland, 110 p.

Stephenson, P.J., and Whitehead, P.W., 1996, Long lava flows in North Queensland: excursion guide: Economic Geology Research Unit Contribution 57, James Cook University, Queensland, 40 p.


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