Mt Coolum, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia Stock Photography

Mount Coolum was created around 26 million years ago and is one of several isolated volcanic peaks found on the Sunshine Coast, the other most prominent ones being the Glass House Mountains.Mount Coolum began as a dome-shaped intrusion of molten magma pushed up into a covering layer of softer Myrtle Creek Sandstone. Over time the softer sandstone eroded away, exposing the solidified magma—a hard erosion-resistant rhyolite, as Mount Coolum’s prominent dome-shaped peak.nnLarge hexagonal cooling columns are prominent in the rock around the margin of the dome. These can be clearly seen on the Summit walk that passes over what appear to be large rock steps—cooling columns that are nearly horizontal or have low outward dips.