Organ Pipes National Park, National park near Melbourne, Australia
Organ Pipes National Park is a nature reserve in Victoria, about 20 kilometres northwest of Melbourne. The volcanic columns rise in straight rows from the ground and form walls along the narrow creek bed.
The basalt columns formed from lava flows of the New Volcanic Group that cooled 2.5 to 2.8 million years ago. The area was declared a national park on 14 December 1971. From 1870 to the 1920s the Hall family lived here and their plum orchards still stand; later the Hayes and Bartlett families occupied the site.
The name refers to the hexagonal basalt columns that stand along Jacksons Creek like the pipes of an organ. Visitors can walk on paths directly beside these formations and see the regular patterns up close.
Walking trails lead from the car park down to the formations at the creek bed, the route is short and mostly flat. The best viewpoints are directly by the water where the columns are clearly visible.
Sedimentary rocks beneath the basalt columns contain fossils of marine creatures from 400 million years ago. This shows that the landscape once lay under an ocean, long before the volcanoes erupted.
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