Which continent has no active volcanoes?

Australia is the continent with no active volcanoes. Its mainland sits near the centre of the Indo-Australian Plate, far from the plate boundaries where most active volcanism occurs.

Australia has plenty of evidence of ancient volcanic activity, including lava fields and extinct volcanic cones. The Newer Volcanics Province in southeastern Australia contains some of the continent's youngest volcanic features, but it has been dormant for roughly 5,000 years. In ordinary geographical usage, that makes Australia the only continent without an active volcanic region.

The answer needs one qualification: the Australian country includes distant external territories such as Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, which do have active volcanoes. Those islands are not part of the Australian continental landmass, which is what this quiz question means by “continent.”

Australia separated from Antarctica after being part of Gondwana and drifted northward over tens of millions of years. Its geological stability also helps explain why its landscapes are generally old, flat and heavily weathered compared with younger volcanic continents.