Calderas

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Images of Calderas

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. The lake occupies a depression that formed during a catastrophic eruption of Mt. Mazama about 7,000 years ago when around 15 cubic miles of ash was extruded from the volcano. The summit of the volcano collapsed into the cavity, forming a caldera. The calderas that form on shields are usually a few miles across and a few hundred feet deep. Andesite calderas may be a few miles across and several thousand feet deep. The eruptions that form them can be catastrophic. Rhyolite calderas produce some of the most violent eruptions known, leaving depressions tens of miles across and several miles deep. Pictures in this collection include calderas in Hawaii, California, Oregon, Wyoming, and New Mexico.

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon preserves a geologically recent andesite caldera	Sunset from southwest rim of Crater Lake (fullest resolution)	Sunset from southwest rim of Crater Lake (fullest resolution)	Twilight on Crater Lake (fullest resolution)	Crater Lake caldera collapsed about 7,000 years ago. Subsequent eruptions formed Wizard Island at one end of the lake	When the caldera collapsed, a plug dome was sliced in half. It is the prominent cliff in center, and is called Llao Rock

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