Photo by Sally King Stop 14: Across the canyon you can see layered volcanic rock, which are sediments from an ancient maar volcano. A maar volcano is one that erupts through water, often an underground aquifer. If underground water is suddenly heated, one cubic meter of water can expand into 1,600 cubic meters of steam. When this happens below the Earth’s surface, the sudden expansion creates a vertical eruption of steam, water, molten rock, and rock debris. Volcanoes of this type are low and wide. This one is approximately 2 miles across and 100 feet high. As is common with this type of volcano, after the eruptions subsided the volcano’s bowl was obscured by later deposits of basalt. After cinder cones, like Capulin Volcano in northeastern New Mexico, maar volcanoes are the second most common type of volcanic landform in the world. |
Last updated: January 16, 2022