Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Vulcanism (My RV may be named Enterprise but this is NOT about Spock)

Newberry Caldera is from a massive shield volcano east of the line of volcanoes that form the spine of the Cascades.  Near its center is Paulina and East Lakes (see my last post), Big Obsidian and a number of other volcanic features such as lava flows and cinder cones.  To the north, the caldera spreads out with lava casts, lava tubes and lava flows.  One cinder cone is Lava Butte.  It rises 500' from the surrounding ground and has a 150' deep crater at the top.  The following photo is copied from a photo posted at the top of Lava Butte.  Note the road spiraling up to a parking lot at the top.

From the parking lot you can walk up to a fire watch building at the top of the cone.  From there, you can see into and across the crater and out over the lava field that stretches for miles from the Butte.

Off in the distance, other cinder cones project above the surrounding land.

As barren as the cinder cone appears, life still flourishes.

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