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.
Lava flows solidified here about one million years ago and formed the hexagonal columns as they cooled. The area was protected in 1972 after agricultural use had damaged the original vegetation.
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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