Atherton Tableland
The formerly rainforest-covered Atherton Tableland lies behind the coastal Bellenden Ker Range in Yidinji and Dyirbal country.
Rising more than seven hundred metres above sea level, the fertile upland formed after a series of volcanic eruptions that began around four million years ago and ended roughly ten thousand years before the present.
Extensive basalt flows from large, gently-sloping shield volcanoes produced deep, rich basaltic soils. Changes in the magma's composition around a million years ago made the material increasingly gas-charged, and fragmented lava built numerous small scoria cones, including the Seven Sisters, near Yungaburra.
Some of the rising magma interacted with groundwater, producing violent eruptions that led to the formation of maar volcanoes, such as Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine.
Although the volcanoes in the region are regarded as extinct, the relatively recent end to volcanic activity suggests that further eruptions may occur.
