- Pisgah Crater
Pisgah Crater, also Pisgah Volcano, is a young volcanic
cinder cone located in theMojave Desert east of theCalifornia city of Barstow on theNational Old Trails Highway . It can be found at coord|34|44|47|N|116|22|30|W|.Pisgah Volcano is the youngest vent in the
Lavic Lake volcanic field. There may have been activity at this site as recent as 2,000 years ago, though more likely 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. It is too young for the commonly used potassium-argon dating technique (usable on specimens over 100,000 years old), and no charred organic material forradiocarbon dating has been found. However, lava at nearby (and similarly active)Amboy Crater is interbedded with Bristol Playa sediments at a depth of about 9 meters (30 feet); these sediments are approximately 100,000 years old. Recentargon-argon dating reveals an age of approximately 18,000 years ± 5,000 years (~90% certainty) for the most recent flow (Sylvester et al., 2002, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 92, p. 1333-1340).Lava flows extend 18 km (11 miles) to the west and 8 km (5 miles) to southeast of the cone, containingbasalt primarily of thepahoehoe texture, with some a'a. The flows contain numerouslava tube s and caves.Currently, the crater stands 98 meters (321 feet) off the surrounding High Desert terrain, and has a base diameter of 488 meters (1,600 feet). It has lost much of its original cinder cone shape to ongoing aggregate mining operations, in addition to minor natural
erosion .The crater and much of the surrounding lava field are located on private property. Despite this, the lava tubes in the area are a somewhat popular and easily accessible destination for
caving .References
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*External links
* [http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_america/california/pisgah.html Entry at Volcano World]
* [http://seis.natsci.csulb.edu/VIRTUAL_FIELD/Pisgah_Crater/pismain.htm Virtual Tour of Pisgah Crater]
* [http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=13&ll=34.743164,-116.374912&spn=0.065027,0.1157 Satellite view of Pisgah Crater]
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