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West Crater

Volcanic field · United States · 1329m

West Crater is a Quaternary volcanic field in the southern Cascades of Washington between Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood. West Crater itself, seen here from the NE, is an andesite lava dome with two small lava flows, one of which forms the bare area in the center. The 290-m-high dome formed about 8,000 years ago on the floor of a cirque carved into older Tertiary volcanic rocks. The West Crater volcanic field consists of a series of small shield volcanoes and scoria cones along a NW-SE zone.
West Crater is a Quaternary volcanic field in the southern Cascades of Washington between Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood. West Crater itself, seen here from the NE, is an andesite lava dome with two small lava flows, one of which forms the bare area in the center. The 290-m-high dome formed about 8,000 years ago on the floor of a cirque carved into older Tertiary volcanic rocks. The West Crater volcanic field consists of a series of small shield volcanoes and scoria cones along a NW-SE zone. · Photo: Photo by Lee Siebert, 2002 (Smithsonian Institution). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Volcanic field
Country
United States
Region
North America Volcanic Regions / High Cascades Volcanic Arc
Elevation
1329m
Coordinates
45.880, -122.080
Last eruption
-5750
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Cluster
Major rock type
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Geological summary

West Crater, a small andesitic lava dome with associated lava flows, is part of a Quaternary volcanic field in southern Washington consisting primarily of small basaltic and basaltic andesite cinder cones and shield volcanoes, oriented along a NW-SE zone to the SE of St. Helens. This 20-km-wide zone extends from Marble Mountain, north of Swift Reservoir, to south of Trout Creek Hill. The Pleistocene basaltic Trout Creek Hill shield volcano produced a lava flow about 340,000 years ago that traveled 20 km SE, temporarily damming the Columbia River. At least three vents in this field are of Holocene age: West Crater, a small cone at Hackamore Creek, and a phreatic crater at the summit of Bare Mountain. The latest eruptions at these locations have been dated at about 8,000 years before present, and have included emplacement of an andesitic lava dome and associated lava flow at West Crater and formation of a phreatic explosion crater at Bare Mountain.

From Wikipedia

West Crater is a small lava dome with associated lava flows in southern Washington, United States. Located in Skamania County, it rises to an elevation of 4,131 feet (1,259 m), and forms part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It is also part of the Marble Mountain-Trout Creek Hill volcanic field, a little-known Quaternary volcanic field in the southern Cascades of Washington state. The area can be hiked, and can be accessed by roads in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
6110 BCE~6074 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 25786 BCE~5750 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 26110 BCE6038 BCE5930 BCE5858 BCE5786 BCE

Detailed timeline

  1. 5750 BCEVEI 2Geological estimate
    BCE 5750 – Ongoing
    Bare Mountain
  2. 6110 BCEVEI 2Geological estimate
    BCE 6110 – Ongoing
    West Crater, Hackamore Creek cone

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.