A caldera is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is gone. The ground surface then collapses into the emptied or partially emptied magma chamber, leaving a large depression at the surface. Although sometimes described as a crater, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through subsidence and collapse rather than an explosion or impact. Compared to the thousands of volcanic eruptions that occur each century, the formation of a caldera is a rare event, occurring only a few times per century. Only seven caldera-forming collapses are known to have occurred between 1911 and 2016. More recently, a caldera collapse occurred at Kīlauea, Hawaii in 2018.
A supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8, the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for such an eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers.
The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park in the Western United States. The caldera and most of the park are located in the northwest corner of Wyoming. The caldera measures 43 by 28 miles, and postcaldera lavas spill out a significant distance beyond the caldera proper.
The Yellowstone hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the United States responsible for large scale volcanism in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, formed as the North American tectonic plate moved over it. It formed the eastern Snake River Plain through a succession of caldera-forming eruptions. The resulting calderas include the Island Park Caldera, Henry's Fork Caldera, and the Bruneau-Jarbidge caldera. The hotspot currently lies under the Yellowstone Caldera. The hotspot's most recent caldera-forming supereruption, known as the Lava Creek Eruption, took place 640,000 years ago and created the Lava Creek Tuff, and the most recent Yellowstone Caldera. The Yellowstone hotspot is one of a few volcanic hotspots underlying the North American tectonic plate; another example is the Anahim hotspot.
Mount Taylor is a dormant stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. It is the high point of the San Mateo Mountains and the highest point in the Cibola National Forest.
La Garita Caldera is a large caldera in the San Juan volcanic field in the San Juan Mountains around the town of Creede in southwestern Colorado, United States. It is west of La Garita, Colorado. The eruption that created the La Garita Caldera is among the largest known volcanic eruptions in Earth's history, as well as being one of the most powerful known supervolcanic events.
This timeline of volcanism on Earth includes a list of major volcanic eruptions of approximately at least magnitude 6 on the Volcanic explosivity index (VEI) or equivalent sulfur dioxide emission during the Quaternary period. Other volcanic eruptions are also listed.
The Mogollon-Datil volcanic field is a large silicic volcanic field in western New Mexico. It is a part of an extensive Eocene to Oligocene volcanic event which includes the San Juan volcanic field in southwestern Colorado, the Trans-Pecos volcanic field in west Texas and north central Mexico, the Boot Heel volcanic field in the bootheel of southwestern New Mexico and adjacent areas of Arizona and Mexico; and the vast volcanic field of the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico. The Mogollon-Datil volcanic field was formed in "four discrete pulses representing synchronized activity of two separate cauldron complexes".
The Fish Canyon Tuff is the large volcanic ash flow or ignimbrite deposit resulting from one of the largest known explosive eruptions on Earth, estimated at 1,200 cu mi (5,000 km3). (see List of largest volcanic eruptions). The Fish Canyon Tuff eruption was centred at the La Garita Caldera in southwest Colorado; the caldera itself would have formed by collapse, as a result of the eruption. Studies of the tuff show that it all belongs to one eruption due to its uniform bulk-chemical composition (SiO2=bulk 67.5–68.5% (dacite), matrix 75–76% (rhyolite) and consistent phenocryst content (35–50%) and mineralogical composition (plagioclase, sanidine, quartz, biotite, hornblende, sphene, apatite, zircon, Fe-Ti oxides are the primary phenocrysts). This tuff and eruption is part of the larger San Juan volcanic field and the Oligocene Southern Rocky Mountain ignimbrite flare-up.
Calabozos is a Holocene caldera in central Chile's Maule Region. Part of the Chilean Andes' volcanic segment, it is considered a member of the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ), one of the three distinct volcanic belts of South America. This most active section of the Andes runs along central Chile's western edge, and includes more than 70 of Chile's stratovolcanoes and volcanic fields. Calabozos lies in an extremely remote area of poorly glaciated mountains.
The Honolulu Volcanics are a group of volcanoes which form a volcanic field on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, more specifically in that island's southeastern sector and in the city of Honolulu from Pearl Harbor to the Mokapu Peninsula. It is part of the rejuvenated stage of Hawaiian volcanic activity, which occurred after the main stage of volcanic activity that on Oʻahu built the Koʻolau volcano. These volcanoes formed through dominantly explosive eruptions and gave rise to cinder cones, lava flows, tuff cones and volcanic islands. Among these are well known landmarks such as Diamond Head and Punchbowl Crater.
The Bandelier Tuff is a geologic formation exposed in and around the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1.85 to 1.25 million years, corresponding to the Pleistocene epoch. The tuff was erupted in a series of at least three caldera eruptions in the central Jemez Mountains.
The Keres Group is a group of geologic formations exposed in and around the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Radiometric dating gives it an age of 13 to 6 million years, corresponding to the Miocene epoch.
The Amalia Tuff is a geologic formation exposed in and around Questa, New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 25.39 ± 0.04 million years, corresponding to the Oligocene epoch.
The Latir volcanic field is a large volcanic field near Questa, New Mexico, that was active during the late Oligocene to early Miocene, 28 to 22 million years ago (Ma). It includes the Questa caldera, in whose deeply eroded interior is located the Molycorp Questa molybdenum mine.
The Hinsdale Formation is a geologic formation exposed in southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 4.4 to 26.8 million years, corresponding to the Neogene period.
The Bearwallow Mountain Andesite or Bearwallow Mountain Formation is a geologic formation exposed in and around the Mogollon Mountains of southwest New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 27 to 23 million years, corresponding to the late Oligocene to early Miocene epochs.
Hannegan caldera is a 3.72 million year old volcanic collapse structure in the North Cascades of the U.S. state of Washington. The caldera collapsed during two separate volcanic eruptions that produced as much as 140 km3 of rhyolite ash.
