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Sunset Crater

Cinder Cone That Erupted Less Than 1000 Years Ago

Crater in Sunset Crater Volcano NM near Doney Park, AZ

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Sunset Crater is a cinder cone located north of Flagstaff in U.S. State of Arizona. The crater is within the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Sunset Crater is the youngest in a string of volcanoes (the San Francisco volcanic field) that is related to the nearby San Francisco Peaks. The date of the eruptions that formed the 340-meter-high cone (1,120 ft) was initially derived from tree-ring dates, suggesting the eruption began between the growing seasons of A.D. 1064–1065. However, more recent geologic and archaeological evidence places the eruption around A.D. 1085. The largest vent of the eruption, Sunset Crater itself, was the source of the Bonito and Kana-a lava flows that extended about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 mi) NW and 9.6 kilometers (6 mi) NE, respectively. Additional vents…

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Erupting less than 1,000 years ago, Sunset Crater is the youngest in an impressive field of volcanoes all around you. The 1,000-foot-high (305m) cinder cone we see today formed when basalt magma rose directly to the surface through a primary vent. Gas pressure produced a roaring fountain of lava estimated at 850 feet (260m) high. Pressure blasted the lava into pieces which cooled in flight and piled into this cone-shaped hill. As gas pressure decreased, lava oozed several times from the base of the cone. When the magma ran out of gas, lava splattered the rim. The volcano was short-lived, only months or a couple of years at most from birth to extinction. The bright-rimmed cone impressed John Wesley Powell, who explored the San Francisco volcanic field in 1885. He wrote, "The contrast in the colors is so great that on viewing the mountain from a distance the red cinders seem to be on fire." His "Sunset" mountain became known officially as Sunset Crater.

— Interpretive Display Near Park Entrance

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Crater