Title: Australian Alps - Wikipedia
Headings: Australian Alps
Australian Alps
Contents
Geology
Ecology
Birds
Insects
Bushfires
Alpine huts
Attractions
Resort skiing areas
Panoramas
References
External links

Content: and the Victorian Alps, located in Victoria. The latter region is also known as the "High Country", particularly within a cultural or historical context. Contents
1 Geology
2 Ecology
2.1 Birds
2.2 Insects
2.3 Bushfires
3 Alpine huts
4 Attractions
5 Resort skiing areas
6 Panoramas
7 References
8 External links
Geology
Unlike the high mountain ranges found in places like the Rockies (highest peak 4,401 m (14,439 ft)), the European Alps (highest peak 4,808 m (15,774 ft)) or the Himalayas (highest peak 8,848 m (29,029 ft)), the Australian Alps were not formed by two continental plates colliding and pushing up the Earth's rocky mantle to form jagged, rocky peaks. Instead, the Australian Alps consist of a high plateau, with significantly softer rolling hills spread across a long, wide plateau that was lifted thousands of feet up by the movement of magma when Gondwana began to break up between 130 and 160 million years ago. The highest peak in the Australian Alps is Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 metres (7,310 ft)). Formation of the Australian Alps was largely complete by around 100 million years ago, but during the past 90 million years, a number of minor uplift episodes have occurred, with occasional eruptions of basalt lava from small volcanoes, which has flowed across the landscape and down some of the valleys, filling in the low-lying areas to form the flat landscapes of these high plains. During the Pleistocene ice age, commencing around 2 million years ago, when ice caps formed on many high ranges around the world, as well as at the poles, small glaciers were formed on the very highest parts of the Australian Alps, mostly in the vicinity of Mount Kosciuszko. Whilst no glaciers remain today, evidence of their past presence can be found in the numerous tarns and cirques found in that region, such as Club Lake, Blue Lake, and Hedley Tarn. Ecology
The Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales
The Australian Alps are important for conservation, recreation, and as a water drainage basin, with much of their eastern slopes having its runoff diverted artificially into the Murray River and its tributary the Murrumbidgee River through the civil engineering project of the Snowy Mountains Scheme . They are protected by large national parks, in particular the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales and the Alpine National Park in Victoria.