Question #150884. Asked by
serpa.
Last updated Apr 02 2024.
Originally posted Apr 01 2024 7:25 PM.
Arizona's oldest volcanic rocks are 1.8 billion years old. Some of Arizona's most spectacular geologic features and scenery are volcanic in nature, e.g., Flagstaff's San Francisco Peaks. And volcanic rocks and features are ubiquitous in space and time (FIGURE last 200 myears). Arizona boasts seven young (Quaternary) volcanic fields; young, that is, by geologic standards. The three youngest fields are the San Francisco, Uinkaret, and Pinacate volcanic fields. The former two reside on the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona; the Pinacate field is situated on the Arizona-Mexico frontier about 40 miles south-southwest of Ajo, Arizona. The San Francisco field is situated near Flagstaff and was active as recently as 1085 CE, just 932 years ago with the eruption that formed Sunset Crater.
The vast San Francisco Volcanic Field in northern Arizona has more than 550 vents, the youngest of which is Sunset Crater, named for its brilliantly colored scoria deposits on the cone. The eruptions forming the 340-m-high Sunset Crater cinder cone were initially considered from tree-ring dating to have begun between the growing seasons of 1064-1065 CEhttps://azgs.arizona.edu/center-natural-hazards/volcanism
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