Pinacate

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Pinacate volcano

cinder cones 1200+ m / 3,937 ft
Northwestern Mexico, 31.77°N / -113.5°W
Current status: dormant (1 out of 5)

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Typical eruption style: strombolian
Pinacate volcano eruptions: unknown, less than 10,000 years ago, perhaps even only few centuries ago
Last earthquakes nearby: No recent earthquakes

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Location

Pinacate volcano is a young volcanic field of maars, tuff rings, more than 500 basaltic cinder cones in the Sonoran desert in NW Mexico, a nearly unpopulated region between Arizona and the Gulf of California. The field covers an area of about 60 x 55 km and has been active less than 10,000 years ago.
Papago (Tohono O'odham) Indian legends tell of eruptions in this area, suggesting that activity has been fairly recent. There are accounts of ash-and-steam eruptions in the 20th century, which are believed not to be true by the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program (GVP).

Background:

The Pinacate volcanic field contains the older, 1200-m-high Santa Clara basaltic-to-trachytic shield volcano. Younger eruptions produced more than 500 basaltic cinder cones and lava flows that blanket the slopes of Santa Clara and the surrounding desert.
Among the principal features of the Pinacate volcanic field are Elegante crater, a 1.6-km-wide maar, and Cerro Colorado, a 110-m-high, 1.1-km-wide tuff ring.

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