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Earth Notes: Arizona Volcanoes

A sunset view of a stark desert landscape. The pale blue sky is covered in very small clouds.
Carrie Calisay Cannon
A view of the San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff.

Arizona hosts over 1,000 volcanoes and three active volcanic fields, the largest of which is the San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff.

These volcanic fields are considered dormant, meaning they could erupt again, but future eruptions are not expected soon. Volcanic activity in the region occurs on geological timescales, with intervals of hundreds or thousands of years between eruptions.

The most recent volcanic eruption in Arizona occurred around 1,000 years ago at Sunset Crater, a prominent cinder cone near Flagstaff. Steep-sided cinder cones form quickly during brief, explosive eruptions.

Then there are shield volcanoes, the largest type of volcano on Earth; they’re broad and convex in shape with gentle slopes. An example is the House Mountain volcano located between Sedona and the Verde Valley. Lava domes, such as Mt. Elden near Flagstaff, are circular, mound-shaped protrusions and result from slow flows of very thick lava.

Most dramatic of all is Humphreys Peak, Arizona’s highest point at nearly 13,000 feet. It’s an extinct stratovolcano with steep sides and a classic cone shape.

Arizona’s volcanic activity is rare compared to other parts of the West and most eruptions have been small and localized. Still, they have shaped the landscape with lava flows and explosive events. Beneath Arizona’s serene deserts lies a history of fiery geological forces.

This Earth Note was written by Carrie Calisay Cannon and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.

Carrie Calisay Cannon is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, and also of Oglala Lakota and German ancestry. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Resource Management. If you wish to connect with Carrie you will need a fast horse; by weekday she fills her days as a full-time Ethnobotanist with the Hualapai Indian Tribe of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, by weekend she is a lapidary and silversmith artist who enjoys chasing the beautiful as she creates Native southwestern turquoise jewelry.
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