earth science

Undara Volcanic National Park

Undara Volcanic National Park is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Undara Volcanic National Park rather than just read about it. In short: The Undara Volcanic National Park is a national park in the Shire of Etheridge, Queensland, Australia. It is situated 275 kilometres (171 mi) southwest of Cairns just off the Gulf Developmental Road.

Key takeaways

Undara Volcanic National Park belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Undara Volcanic National Park to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Undara Volcanic National Park from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Undara Volcanic National Park is a national park in the Shire of Etheridge, Queensland, Australia. It is situated 275 kilometres (171 mi) southwest of Cairns just off the Gulf Developmental Road. The park was established in 2009 to protect Australia's longest lava tube and the unique fauna and flora found of the area. The basalts of the area form part of the Cenozoic McBride Basalt (Volcanic) Provence. The volcanics are all less than 8 million years old (Ma) with the youngest only 7,000 years old.

Location The Undara Volcanic National Park is situated 437 kilometres (272 mi) northwest of Townsville and 275 kilometres (171 mi) southwest of Cairns, the two major regional centres of North Queensland. The National Park is 58 kilometres (36 mi) by road from the small town of Mount Surprise. The National Park is approximately 61,500 hectares (152,000 acres) in area. The climate is monsoonal and is generally hot and humid. It can be very wet from October to late March. The drier cooler months are April to August. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science consider much of the park dangerous for unguided visitors because of a combination of concealed holes where lava tubes have collapsed, high carbon dioxide in some of the tubes and a confusing landscape. As such visits to the tubes is by guide only. The Kalkani Crater is accessible without a guide.

History Undara is an Aboriginal word for 'a long way'. The Ewamian (pronounced your-amin) Aboriginal people are the traditional owners of the national park. European people moved into the area in the 1860s and prior the national park being declared the area was used for cattle grazing. The lava tubes were well recognised by 1891 and had unmanaged intermittent visits. Guided tours commenced in 1989. Prior to the formation of the national park the area was owned by the Collins Family who settled in the region in 1862. The family had developed infrastructure (known now as the Undara Experience) before the park formation and they were given a special business lease to continue the tourist operation after the national park was declared. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Undara Volcanic National Park was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Natural attraction". The park management plan has a focus of protecting the geological values and enhancing visitor service and facilities.

Geology The Undara Volcanic National Park lies within the McBride Basalt (Volcanic) Province which is one of 11 discontinuous Cenozoic volcanic regions in north Queensland. The McBride Basalt Province is around 5,500 square kilometres (2,100 sq mi) in area. A total of 164 eruption centres (volcanoes, vents and cones) have been identified within the McBride Basalt Province. Remnants of older flows dated at around 8 million years occur outside of the national park. The majority of flows are less than 8 million years. The volcanic activity that formed the tubes occurred approximately 190,000 years ago and the Undara volcano expelled massive amounts of lava onto the surrounding Atherton Tableland, covering about 1550 square kilometres. In total it was estimated that over 23 billion cubic metres (810×10^9 cu ft) of lava was released. Thermal insulation provided by the solidification of a crust above actively flowing magma is required to produce long lava flows. The longest of the Undara flows is approximately 160 kilometres (99 mi) with an average gradient of 0.3°. Lava tubes occur up to 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Undara Crater and up to 5 successive flow units, demarcated by Pahoehoe surfaces, have been identified in the walls of some of the caves. Bayliss Cave is the remains of a lava tube that was once over 100 kilometres (62 mi) in length. The cave itself is over 1,300 metres (4,265 ft) in length, 11 metres (36 ft) high and 22 metres (72 ft) wide. It is described as a "bad air cave" with measured carbon dioxide levels as high as 5.9%.

Fauna and flora The Queensland Department of Environment and Science have recognised more than 120 species of bird including the vulnerable Red Goshawk. E-bird has recorded 132 species at Undara Experience just on the northern edge of the park. Undara Volcanic National Park is home to four insectivorous or micro bats; the Bent-wing Bat, the Eastern Cave Bat, the Northern Horseshoe Bat (alternative name: Eastern Horseshoe Bat) and the Coastal Sheath-tailed Bat. The large number of bats provide food for various snakes and birds of prey, such as barking owls. Bayllis Cave is one of the world’s most biologically diverse caves. The cave has recorded 52 resident species including the most diverse assemblage of arthropods found in a north Queensland Cave. The national park is also home to a wide range of macroropods including the Common Wallaroos, the Antilopine Wallaroo and the Northern Quoll. Much of the national park is dry savanna woodland but the lava tubes and collapse areas now provide an environment for other vegetation to flourish in the damp interiors. The lava tubes show up as rich green vine thickets that have strong affinities with Gondwana species. The rare white-flowered onion vine occurs within the park's vine thickets.

Gallery

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Undara Volcanic National Park

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Undara Volcanic National Park claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Undara Volcanic National Park before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Undara Volcanic National Park ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Undara Volcanic National Park

In research: Undara Volcanic National Park appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Undara Volcanic National Park in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Undara Volcanic National Park is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1993 establishments in Australia, IUCN Category II, Lava tubes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Undara Volcanic National Park outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Undara Volcanic National Park in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Undara Volcanic National Park means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Undara Volcanic National Park out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Undara Volcanic National Park in simple terms?

The Undara Volcanic National Park is a national park in the Shire of Etheridge, Queensland, Australia. It is situated 275 kilometres (171 mi) southwest of Cairns just off the Gulf Developmental Road.

Why does Undara Volcanic National Park matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Undara Volcanic National Park?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Undara Volcanic National Park.