Summer at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
Click on the photos below to view them at a larger size.
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This is home for the summer; Sunset Crater Volcano with lava flows and cinder covered hills in the foreground. | ||
| Sunset Crater Volcano, located near Flagstaff, AZ, is a very young cinder cone, having last erupted less than 1000 years ago. It is the youngest of over 600 volcanoes in the San Francisco Volcanic Field. Two lava flows, the Kana'a and the Bonito flows, poured from the base of Sunset Crater Volcano and can be seen from the road through the Monument. Several of my research projects focus on these volcanic rocks and associated fumarole deposits. |
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This is NOT where I was. Although this is where a lot of the visitors to Sunset Crater Volcano NM thought they were. This is Meteor Crater where a meteorite struck northeastern Arizona about 50,000 years ago. | ||
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This is my office.
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And this is my back yard and playground. The San Francisco Peaks are a dormant composite volcano. Mount Humphries, the high peak on right side of the volcano, is the highest peak in Arizona at 12,633 feet above sea level. |  |
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In addition to research, one of my jobs is to maintain and repair the seismograph (lt). Without the help of the great folks at the USGS who always answer their phone I could not get this done! I also lead geology walks for the public and geology training sessions for the park rangers (rt). |  |
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During the summers of 2002 and 2006 it was dificult to get much field work done. There were many fires in Arizona causing closures of the forest land. This small fire, called the Fence Fire, was located in Sunset Crater NM in 2002. |  |
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I am also researching lava flows on the mesa caps at Wupatki National Monument. There are several different flows that are much older than those at Sunset Crater Volcano. These photos are of the Wupatki pueblo. |  |
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| Located just 20 miles north of us on FR545, Wupatki lies in a desert over 2000 feet lower in elevation than Sunset Crater. These pueblos were occupied in the 1100's and 1200' AD. The geology of the groundwater resources in this area is fascinating. | |||
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On 15 May 2003 we watched a total eclipse ot the moon there. This is a photo of the partially eclipsed moon rising over the Wukoki pueblo at Wupatki NM. | Lomaki Pueblo sits on an earthcrack in the Kaibab Formation at Wupatki NM. |  |
| Not much to do on your days off in northern Arizona... | |||
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This is what I did on one of them. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is less than a couple of hours away. | And the North Rim of the Grand Canyon only about three hours away. |  |
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Our closest river (bordering Wupatki NM), the Little Colorado River, is usually dry (left). But during the Spring snow melt and occassionally during the summer monsoon rains it is actually deep enough to paddle (right). |  |
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Heavy monsoon rains created wonderful waterfalls in 2006. The red color is due to the presence of abundant mud from Moenkopi formation - the red rocks in the avove Wupatki photos. |  |
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These falls were created when a lava flow from Merriam Crater dammed the Little Colorado River about 15,000 years ago. This forced it to change its course slightly creating the falls. The remnants of this flow are shown to the right. |  |
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This flash flood was in southern AZ in 2006. | ||
| And, of course the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert are only a few hours away. Geology everywhere you look! | |||
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Petrified Forest: These trees lived about 225 million years ago! These trees were buried as rising seas encroached upon what was to become North America. Uplift of the Colorado Plateau and subsequent erosion brought them to the surface for us to see. | Painted Desert. The Triassic Chinle & Moenkopi formations are brightly colored sandstones and shales that give the Painted Desert is name. |  |
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Montezuma's Well National Monument. This "well" is actually a spring that formed long ago as an underground cavern collapsed. Notice the cliff dwellings in the cliff wall behind the spring. | Tonto National Monument is also an archaeolgical monument to the south of us Geologic forces created the alcove the pueblos are in.. |  |
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I also get to hang out with Smoky Bear. | And finally, just in case there was any doubt... |
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Fantastic sunsets at the monuments occur nearly
every night!
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You too can spend the summer in a place like this. Check out the
Geologists in the Parks program at http://www.nature.nps.gov/grd/geojob/index.htm.
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