GEOGRAPHIC EXTREMES SOCIETY

 

AUSTRALIAN RECORDS

Mountains

There are many arguments as to whether Mauna Kea in Hawaii or Mount Everest is the world’s tallest mountain. Mount Everest is officially the planets tallest mountain, but it is hard to ignore the claims of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa rising from five kilometres below the sea to five kilometres above.

If we were to measure the tallest mountain by the distance from the centre of the earth it would give us a very different extreme point to the widely accepted Mount Everest. The Earth has a bulge around the equator due to centrifugal forces from it’s constant rotation. Mountains found at the equator are further from the centre of the Earth. Mount Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is only one degree south of the Equator and at 6,263 metres above sea level is 6,384 metres from the centre of the Earth compared to Mount Everest’s 6,384 metres from Earth’s centre

Mount Chimborazo. The highest peak on Earth (as measured for the centre of the planet) Image supplied by Wikipedia

Image supplied by NOAA

By contrast the twenty-five-kilometre-high Olympus Mons massif on Mars is the tallest mountain in the solar system. Even this is disputed when some argue that the southern mountain on the Asteriod known as Vesta in the Asteroid Belt is the largest in the Solar System.

The highest mountain in Australia what we think it is? Most people assume Australia’s highest mountain to be Mount Kosciuszko at 2,280 metres.

Mount Koscuiszko Summit. Image supplied by National parks NSW

Heard Island in the Southern Ocean has a higher peak than Mount Kosciuszko by a considerable margin. Most recordings for the height of Mawson’s Peak on Heard Island use data obtained in the 1950’s, however, the peak is growing due to volcanic activity. According to a recent scientific expedition, chief scientist Mike Coffin reported the mountain had grown. Following recent lava flows, the height of Mawsons Peak was judged to be considerably higher from 2,745 metres to 2,813 metres.

Heard Island and Mawson’s Peak. Australia’s highest mountain. Image Gary Miller

Mount McClintock in Antarctica is cited by some as being Australia’s tallest peak but the political propriety of Australian Antarctic Territory is still highly contentious and unrecognised in international law. If Australia were to assume sovereignty over Australian Antarctic Territory, the highest point would be Ridge ‘A’  on the ice cap of Dome A at 4,092.5 metres. The region of Dome A and Ridge A is extremely flat, the lowest point in 30 km distance radius around Dome A is 4,090.2 m.

Mount McClintock. Highest Mountain in Australian Antarctic Territory Image Wilf Lammerink

If we were to consider the highest mountain as the furthest from the centre of the earth, the mountainous regions of North Queensland would be the largest in Australia. Although Mount Bartle Frere is the highest peak in North Queensland, the title for the point furthest from the earth’s centre belongs to Thornton Peak at 6,377.866 metres. It closely beats Mount Bartle Frere at 6,377.865 kilometres and Mount Cornwallis on Dauan Island in the Torres Strait at 6,377.864 kilometres. There are only two metres difference between the three peaks. Mount Kosciuszko is by contrast five kilometres shorter at 6,372.855 kilometres above the centre of the earth.

Thornton Peak. The furthest point from the centre of the earth in Australia.

Even though this isn’t a popular measurement, outside of the United States, if we were to use the Mauna Kea example of the tallest mountain in Australia if measured from the seafloor, Macquarie Island would rate as the tallest in Australia. The Macquarie Ridge rises from over 4,500 metres below sea level to 410 metres above at both Mount Fletcher and Mount Hamilton.

Australian Mountain records

GES Record : Highest Mountain in the Solar System – Olympus Mons …….. (source: NASA)

GES Record : Highest Mountain on Earth – Mount Everest 8,848 metres (source: NOOA)

GES Record : Furthest point of land from Centre of Earth – Mount Chimborazo. 6,384 kilometres from centre of the earth (source: NOOA)

GES Record: Highest point from the centre of the earth in Australia – Thornton Peak. 6,377.866 kilometres (source: RJ Andrews)

GES Record: Highest Mountain in Australia from Ocean floor – Mount Fletcher, Macquarie Island. 5,000 metres (source: RJ Andrews)

GES Record: Highest Mountain in Australia – Mawsons Peak. 1,813 metres (source: Mike Coffin. IMAS)

Australian State / Territory Records (source: Geoscience Australia unless noted)

Australian Antarctic Territory – Dome A. 4,092.5 metres (source: Wondermondo)

Australian Capital Territory – Bimberi peak. 1,913 metres

Australian Overseas Territories – Mawson’s Peak. 2,813 metres (source: Mike Coffin IMAS)

New South Wales – Mount Kosciuszko, ….2,280 metres

Northern Territory – Mount Zeil. 1,531 metres

Queensland – Mount Bartle Frere. …..1,611 metres

South Australia – Mount Woodroffe. 1,439 metres

Tasmania – Mount Ossa. 1,629 metres

Victoria – Mount Bogong. 1,986 metres

Western Australia – Mount Meharry. 1,251 metres

metres

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