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VIDEO: Animation of tectonic plate movement and incidence of volcanoes over past 120 million years. Blue shading shows subducted material from the Pacific plate under the Australian plate. view more
Credit: The University of Sydney
Australia s east coast is littered with the remnants of hundreds of volcanoes - the most recent just a few thousand years old - and scientists have been at a loss to explain why so many eruptions have occurred over the past 80 million years.
Now, geoscientists at the University of Sydney have discovered why part of a stable continent like Australia is such a hotbed of volcanic activity. And the findings suggest there could be more volcanic activity in the future.