Mount Leura is a 313-metre

scoria cone A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, conical landform of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions or l ...

surrounding a dry crater 100 m deep and is the central and most obvious component of a larger volcanic complex southeast of the town of Camperdown located in western

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 194 kilometres (121 mi) south west of the state capital,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. The

inactive volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fou ...

is thought to have last erupted between 5,000 and 20,000 years ago. The name means "big nose" in the local Aboriginal dialect.

Leura Maar

Mount Leura, together with nearby Mount Sugarloaf, forms part of a large extinct volcanic complex known as the "Leura Maar". The complex includes a broad shallow

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

crater measuring 2.5 km by 1.7 km surrounded by a low tuff ring, inside which are the secondary eruption points of Mount Leura and several smaller unnamed mounds and cones of scoria. These may represent eruptions along a north–south

fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure A ...

. The walls of the cone are alternating layers of tuff and scoria with numerous blocks and volcanic bombs. Mount Sugarloaf is a perfect conical mound on the southwestern flank of Mount Leura and represents a final stage of activity of the Leura volcano, when a small

vent Vent or vents may refer to: Science and technology Biology *Vent, the cloaca region of an animal *Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase Geology *Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water ...

ejected a large volume of

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

fragments in a short time, without a change in the direction of the eruption column. This produced a steep,

symmetrical Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations ...

, conical mound of

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

, scoria and larger blocks and bombs.

Mining

Numerous quarries operated within the "Leura Maar". Quarries also provide significant exposures of bedding in tuff and scoria and many

xenoliths A xenolith ("foreign rock") is a rock fragment (country rock) that becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and solidification. In geology, the term ''xenolith'' is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in ign ...

are obtained from these. The scoria at Mount Leura is notable for the inclusions of high temperature megacrusts and xenoliths (fragments of the lower crust and mantle of the earth) which occur here in unusually high concentrations. Most of the quarries now are closed and some are used for dumping landfill.

Tourism

The volcano lies within the "Lakes and Craters" region, an access road was built in 1932. It allows vehicles the size of buses to access the lookout on top of Mount Leura. On a clear day you can see the

Grampians The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

and

Mount Buninyong Mount Buninyong is an extinct volcano in western Victoria, Australia rising to AHD. It lies within the Mount Buninyong Scenic Reserve, north of the town of Buninyong and south of Ballarat, on the regional city's rural-urban fringe. Snow ...

to the north, Mount Porndon to the east and Lavers Hill to the south. To the immediate west are the deep volcanic crater lakes Bullen-Merri and Gnotuk while to the east is the crater Lake Purrumbete popular for its

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

and

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...

fishing.

Hillclimb

Mount Leura has hosted the

Australian Hillclimb Championship The Australian Hillclimb Championship is an Australian motor sport competition which determines Australia's annual hillclimbing champion. The championship has traditionally been awarded to the driver setting fastest time at a single meetingPedr Da ...

twice, 1985 and 1997. The access road to the summit is closed for the competition. The Australian Hillclimb Championship has been sanctioned by the

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Motorsport Australia, formerly the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), is the nationally recognised governing and sanctioning body for four-wheeled motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and relate ...

since 1954. Prior to this it was sanctioned by the

Australian Automobile Association The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is an Australian motoring organisation that lobbies for road users across Australia. This includes advocating for the safe maintenance of land transport networks and increasing transport affordability ...

,Jim Shepherd, A History of Australian Motor Sport, 1980, page 235 with two events having national championship status in 1949.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leura, Mount Cinder cones Mountains of Victoria (state) Volcanoes of Victoria (state) Inactive volcanoes Maars of Australia Mountains of Barwon South West (region)

Leura Maar

Mining

Tourism

Hillclimb

See also

References