Skip to main content
← Back to map
⇄ Compare

Ubehebe Craters

Maar · United States · 752m

Ubehebe craters are an isolated group of maar volcanoes erupted through nonvolcanic sediments of Death Valley National Park. The craters were formed by hydrovolcanic explosions along a fault. The contact between pre-eruption yellowish- and orange-colored sedimentary rocks and overlying black ash deposits from an early stage scoria cone can be seen at the upper part of the western wall of 800-m wide, 235-m deep Ubehebe crater, the youngest and largest crater.
Ubehebe craters are an isolated group of maar volcanoes erupted through nonvolcanic sediments of Death Valley National Park. The craters were formed by hydrovolcanic explosions along a fault. The contact between pre-eruption yellowish- and orange-colored sedimentary rocks and overlying black ash deposits from an early stage scoria cone can be seen at the upper part of the western wall of 800-m wide, 235-m deep Ubehebe crater, the youngest and largest crater. · Photo: Photo by Lee Siebert, 1974 (Smithsonian Institution). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Maar
Country
United States
Region
North America / Basin and Range Volcanic Province
Elevation
752m
Coordinates
37.020, -117.450
Last eruption
-150
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Minor
Major rock type
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Geological summary

The Ubehebe Craters (pronounced you-bee-HEE-bee) consist of an isolated group of overlapping maars formed during eruptions of alkali basalt along a fault cutting alluvial fan deposits on the flanks of Tin Mountain in Death Valley National Park. Ubehebe Crater is a 0.8-km-wide, 235-m-deep maar surrounded by a tuff ring. Little Hebe Crater, the second youngest vent located immediately south, is a small tuff cone with a 100-m-wide crater overlain by pyroclastic-surge deposits. At least a dozen craters are located within an area of 3 km2, and bedded pyroclastic-surge deposits cover an area of 15 km2. Early scoria cone formation was followed by hydrovolcanic explosions that formed two clusters of explosion craters and tuff rings. Field work and revised dating (Calzia et al., 2016; Fierstein et al., 2016) based on paleomagnetic and 10Be evidence has shown that the craters were formed during a single short-lived phreatic, phreatomagmatic, and magmatic eruptive episode about 2,100 years ago.

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
150 BCE~150 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?150 BCE150 BCE149 BCE149 BCE149 BCE

Detailed timeline

  1. 150 BCEVEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 150 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.