Volcanoes Day Use Area Audio Tour Stop 5

The view from the Volcanoes Day Use Area audio tour stop 5.

NPS Photo / Ben Holt

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You have now reached stop 5 of the Volcanoes Day Use Area audio tour. You have walked 0.82 miles or 1.32 kilometers. Currently, you are ascending Black Volcano, the middle one of the three prominent volcanoes of Albuquerque’s western horizon, commonly referred to as the three sisters. 

Can you imagine a curtain of fire, lava spewing up into the air all along the West Mesa? That is what the fissure eruptions here looked like 200,000 years ago. Molten material and gas were able to escape where the Earth’s crust was thinning and cracking from the stretching of the Rio Grande Rift. In modern times, similar eruptions to this can be seen in Hawaii and Iceland. Like these typical fissure eruptions, the Albuquerque Volcanoes featured lava fountains spewing into the air as molten rock oozed out from the cracks in the earth.  

The lava flowed from the fissure here at Petroglyph and spread in all directions. Looking east towards the Sandia Mountains, one can see the edges of the lava flows where they break away into the jagged edge of the escarpment. While the shape of the escarpment’s edge looks like it is random, it was likely shaped in a process known as inverted topography. When the volcanoes were erupting, the lava flowed until it reached a landform that was taller than it, like a hill. This would force the lava to flow around the high elevation area. The lava hardened in place, and eventually the landform eroded away, leaving the caprock of the hardened lava which traces the edge of these now-eroded hills.  

Up ahead to your left there is a turn-off to the summit of Black Volcano. This short xx mile or xx kilometer spur trail is steep. Be careful on your way up and down from the summit, as much of the trail is made of loose rocks. Please be aware that dogs are not allowed on the summit of Black Volcano. This is a highly spiritual place and it deserves our respect and protection. 

Continue another 0.08 miles or 0.13 kilometers to reach Audio Tour Stop 6.