Australia has no active volcanoes due to its lack of plate boundaries. Although evidence suggests it had active volcanoes in the past, it has since drifted away. The closest active volcanoes are in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Zealand. The last recorded eruption in Australia was 5,000 years ago. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest volcano on Earth. Approximately 1,300 volcanic eruptions have occurred in the last 10,000 years.
Australia is the only continent without an active volcano because the area has no plate boundaries. The Earth’s surface is made up of several plates, and plate boundaries are the areas on the Earth where its plates are adjacent to each other. Volcanoes are at higher risk of erupting the closer they are to plate boundaries. While Australia has evidence of having had active volcanoes for the past 60 million years, the continent is thought to have drifted away from plate boundaries over time. The closest active volcanoes to Australia are found in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Zealand.
Read more about the volcano’s activity:
The last record of a volcanic eruption in Australia was Mount Gambier in South Australia about 5,000 years ago.
Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest volcano on Earth: when measured from the ocean floor to the volcano’s summit, it would be 33,474 feet (10,203 m) or taller than Mount Everest.
There have been approximately 1,300 volcanic eruptions in the last 10,000 years.
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