Australia’s Youngest Volcanoes | Geography of South Eastern Australia: Pt 3

#volcanoes #victoria #grampians Explore the youngest volcanic landscapes in Australia in Part 3 of The Geography of South Eastern Australia, as we continue our journey across Victoria and enter the volcanic plains of western Victoria, one of the most distinctive landscapes on the continent. In this episode, we travel across the Newer Volcanics Province, a vast volcanic region stretching from Melbourne and Geelong across western Victoria toward the South Australian border. This landscape is filled with lava flows, basalt plains, scoria cones, crater lakes, shield volcanoes, stony rises, wetlands, fertile volcanic soils and some of the youngest volcanoes on the Australian mainland. We look at how volcanoes shaped the geography of Victoria, from the basalt plains around Melbourne and Werribee, to the volcanic country around Ballarat, Camperdown, Lake Corangamite, Tower Hill, Mount Elephant, Mount Noorat and Budj Bim. These eruptions did more than create cones and craters. They redirected rivers, blocked valleys, created lakes and wetlands, buried older landscapes, and helped form some of the most fertile agricultural land in southern Australia. The episode also explores Budj Bim, also known as Mount Eccles, one of the most important volcanic and cultural landscapes in Australia. Here, lava flows helped create wetlands, channels and water systems that were later engineered by the Gunditjmara people into one of the oldest known aquaculture systems in the world. From there, the journey continues west into Gariwerd, the Grampians, one of Victoria’s most dramatic mountain landscapes. Rising sharply from the surrounding plains, the Grampians are a landscape of sandstone ridges, cliffs, valleys, waterfalls, forests, rock shelters and deep Aboriginal cultural history. Unlike the young volcanic plains around them, the Grampians are built from ancient sedimentary rocks that were uplifted, tilted, fractured and carved by erosion over immense spans of time. This episode is a journey through fire and stone. It explores the volcanic plains of Victoria, the youngest volcanoes in Australia, the formation of Lake Corangamite, the lava flows of Budj Bim, the basalt landscapes of western Victoria, and the sandstone mountains of Gariwerd / the Grampians. If you enjoy Australian geography, geology, volcanoes, landscapes, natural history, Aboriginal cultural landscapes, the Grampians, western Victoria, or the physical geography of South Eastern Australia, this episode continues the story of how Victoria became one of the most geographically diverse regions in Australia. Find the 3D Topographic Map of the Grampians here: https://ozgeology.com/collections/3d-topographic-maps Thank you so much for watching! If you are not in a position to donate, I totally understand! The biggest supporting factor that you engage in is to watch our videos all the way to the end (very important for helping us rank) and to share them around so please consider doing this so that Youtube recommends our channel more. Check out the OzGeology website: https://ozgeology.com If you are in a position to support our channel on Youtube Membership or by joining our Patreon, the link to all of this can be found below: 🎥 If you would like to support this channel, consider joining our Patreon: https://patreon.com/OzGeology 👉 You can also click the "join" button to join our Youtube channel's membership. Every contribution helps to create more videos. YouTube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxLrvjGBzYmj8W1rJToPasg/join 🌋 Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxLrvjGBzYmj8W1rJToPasgsub_confirmation=1 💥Link To Our Facebook: https://facebook.com/OzGeology 🌏 About OzGeology The core mission of OzGeology is to make geology exciting, accessible, and inspiring for everyone. Instead of presenting rocks and earth science as dry or overly academic, OzGeology brings stories of the planet to life, revealing how every mountain, mineral, and landscape tells part of Earth’s grand adventure. The goal is to help people see the world differently, to understand the dynamic forces shaping Australia and beyond, and to spark curiosity in the next generation of geologists. Through engaging storytelling, field exploration, and clear explanations, OzGeology turns the study of our planet into a journey of discovery rather than a classroom lecture.