A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
The Ring of Fire is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. In a large 40,000 km (25,000 mi) horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and plate movements. It has 452 volcanoes. The Ring of Fire is sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt.
The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins. The physiography of the province is the result of tectonic extension that began around 17 million years ago in the early Miocene epoch.
Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and size of the fragments ejected during the eruption. Types of volcanic cones include stratocones, spatter cones, tuff cones, and cinder cones.
Jabal al-Druze, officially Jabal al-Arab, is an elevated volcanic region in the As-Suwayda Governorate of southern Syria. Most of the inhabitants of this region are Druze, and there are also small Muslim and Christian communities. Safaitic inscriptions were first found in this area. The State of Jabal Druze was an autonomous area in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from 1921 to 1936. In the past, the name Jabal al-Druze was used for a different area, located in Mount Lebanon.
The San Francisco volcanic field is an area of volcanoes in northern Arizona, north of Flagstaff, USA. The field covers 1,800 square miles (4,700 km²) of the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau. The field contains 600 volcanoes ranging in age from nearly 6 million years old to less than 1,000 years, of which Sunset Crater is the youngest. The highest peak in the field is Humphreys Peak, at Flagstaff's northern perimeter: the peak is Arizona's highest at 12,633 feet and is a part of the San Francisco Peaks, an extinct stratovolcano complex.
A monogenetic volcanic field is a type of volcanic field consisting of a group of small monogenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts only once, as opposed to polygenetic volcanoes, which erupt repeatedly over a period of time. Many monogenetic volcanoes are cinder cones, often with lava flows, such as Parícutin in the Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field, which erupted from 1943 to 1952. Some monogenetic volcanoes are small lava shields, such as Rangitoto Island in the Auckland volcanic field. Other monogenetic volcanoes are tuff rings or maars. A monogenetic field typically contains between ten and a hundred volcanoes. The Michoacán-Guanajuato field in Mexico contains more than a thousand volcanoes and is much larger than usual.
The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse array of maars, tuff rings, scoria cones, and lava flows. Aside from Rangitoto, which erupted repeatedly, no volcano has erupted twice, but eruptions lasted for various periods ranging from a few weeks to several years. The field is fuelled entirely by basaltic magma, unlike the explosive subduction-driven volcanism in the central North Island, such as at Mount Ruapehu and Lake Taupo. The field is currently dormant, but could become active again.
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption. A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake which may also be called a maar. The name comes from a Moselle Franconian dialect word used for the circular lakes of the Daun area of Germany. Maars are shallow, flat-floored craters that scientists interpret as having formed above diatremes as a result of a violent expansion of magmatic gas or steam; deep erosion of a maar presumably would expose a diatreme. Maars range in size from 60 to 8,000 m across and from 10 to 200 m deep; most maars commonly fill with water to form natural lakes. Most maars have low rims composed of a mixture of loose fragments of volcanic rocks and rocks torn from the walls of the diatreme.
Payun Matru is a shield volcano in Argentina, located in the Reserva Provincial La Payunia of the Malargüe Department, to the south of the Mendoza Province. It is located in the back-arc region of the Andean Volcanic Belt, which formed through processes associated with the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate. Together with other volcanic fields such as the Llancanelo volcanic field, Nevado volcanic field and Salado Basin volcanic field it forms the Payenia volcanic province. Payún Matrú is part of the Reserva Provincial La Payunia and has been proposed to become a World Heritage Site.
La Garita Caldera is a large volcanic caldera in the San Juan volcanic field in the San Juan Mountains near 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.
The Desolation Lava Field is a volcanic field associated with the Mount Edziza volcanic complex in British Columbia, Canada. It covers 150 km2 (58 sq mi) on the northern end of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and is the largest area of the youngest lava flows. The longest lava flow from the field and the volcanic complex, is about 12 km (7.5 mi) long. Eve Cone, in the middle of the field, is one of the most symmetrical and best preserved cinder cones in Canada.
Toozaza Peak is a tuya in the Stikine Ranges of the Cassiar Mountains in northern British Columbia, Canada, located in the Iverson Creek. Toozaza Peak is the summit of a north-south aligned ridge between the head of Toozaza Creek and the head of the Jennings River, just south of the Jennings' divide with the Little Rancheria River headwaters. The Little Rancheria and Toozaza Creek are part of the Liard, while the Jennings is part of the Yukon River drainage via Teslin Lake, and the peak therefore stands astride the line of the Continental Divide. It is part of the Tuya Volcanic Field, a volcanic field associated with the Stikine Volcanic Belt, part of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province.
West Vent is one of the three small shield volcanoes located in the Tuya Volcanic Field of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province, British Columbia, Canada. It is Holocene in age and stands in relief above the surrounding area north of the Nazcha Creek and comprise the West Tuya lava field.
The Fort Selkirk volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province, Yukon Territory, Canada. It is the northernmost Holocene age volcanic field in Canada, located close to the connection of the Yukon and Pelly rivers. The youngest eruptions within the field are unknown. However, the youngest volcano Volcano Mountain produced lava flows that appear to be only a few hundred years old.
The Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, also called the Clearwater Cone Group, is a potentially active monogenetic volcanic field in east-central British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 130 km (81 mi) north of Kamloops. It is situated in the Cariboo Mountains of the Columbia Mountains and on the Quesnel and Shuswap Highlands. As a monogenetic volcanic field, it is a place with numerous small basaltic volcanoes and extensive lava flows.
Volcanology of Western Canada includes lava flows, lava plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes and maars, along with examples of more less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.
