Glasshouse Mountains
These peaks are found in Australia’s Glasshouse Mountains National Park, near the ocean coastline in Queensland, Australia. From left to right in this photo, the peaks are named Mt. Tibberoowuccum, Mt. Tibrogargan, Mt. Beerwah, Mt. Coonowrin, and Mt. Ngungun. The area received the name Glasshouse Mountains from James Cook in the 18th century, but each peak retains an originalaboriginal name relating to the story told about the area.
In the tale, Tibrogargan, the largest peak, was the father of tribes in the area, and Beerwah, the next largest peak, was the mother. When Tibrogargan perceived that a flood was about to strike the area, he asked his son Coonowrin to escort his mother to high ground, but Coonowrin panicked and deserted her. When Tibrogargan learned of this, he struck Coonowrin, leaving him with a crooked head, and placed him behind his mother so that Tibrogargan would never have to see him again. When the other members of the family learned of this incident, they cried, leading to the streams that drain the area.
The mountains were a meetingplace for many tribes that lived in the area, with early reports suggesting thousands could gather here at one time. Starting in the 19th century however, the land was logged and these meetings were cleared out. The trees growing here today were replanted starting in the 1930s.
The mountains are all igneous in origin. They are volcanic plugs or laccoliths – volcanic rock that got close to the Earth’s surface but that did not erupt. Some even show columnar jointing up close. The molten rock solidified at depth, and as the surrounding landscape eroded, the strong igneous rocks began to stand tall above the surrounding landscape. These rocks have been dated to be 25 million years old, and they form an age-progressive trend with other igneous rocks in Queensland that have been used to argue for the existence of a hotspot traveling beneath Australia between 35 and 25 million years ago.
-JBB
Image credit: David Molloy https://flic.kr/p/26AF5CM
References: https://bit.ly/2tRD4bd https://bit.ly/2KsXa5U https://bit.ly/2KwALob
