Mono Basin Volcanism Essay -- Geology Volcanoes Volcano Papers

Mono Basin Volcanism The last basin in the Basin and Range before the Sierra Nevada Mountain range is the Mono Basin. The Mono Basin consists of landforms such as the Mono-Inyo Craters, Black Point, Negit Island, Paoha Island, Mono Lake, Devils Punch Bowl, Panum Crater, and some others (Hamburger et al; 2004). All of these landforms were created by volcanism. Actually, the Mono Basin is in one of the most volcanically active places in the world (Forest Service; 2004). Paoha Island, Negit Island, and Panum Crater are the most recent volcanoes to erupt, which are the furthest north in the basin. The volcanoes' ages tend to get older the further south they are from Panum Crater; with the exception of Paoha. Eruptions in the Mono Basin have tended to occur in five hundred year intervals over the past two thousand to three thousand years (Molossia; 2004). Hot springs and fumeroles and other signs show that this area is still active (USDA; 97). Though there has not been any volcanic eruptions in the las t six hundred years, there is still evidence of volcanic unrest in the Mono Basin area. (The Picture above compliments of USGS). The Mono Craters were all formed within the last forty thousand years. These craters are localized on a north-trending fissure system that starts at the south of Mammoth Mountain up through the western moat to the north shore of Mono Lake; this system extends about fifty kilometers (USGS;2004). There are thirty domes that formed together (Molossia;2004). They were originally formed by the intrusion of a dike. About six hundred years ago when the magma began rising in the southern end of the Mono-Inyo Craters there was a series of eruptions and ground cracking. The dike was spreading both hor... ...is Panum Crater that is six hundred and forty years old (Topinka:2001). (Picture below compliments of USGS). Sources Molossian Institute of Volcanology. Long Valley Caldera. 2004 http://www.molossia.org.org/volcanology/longvalley.html Topinka, Lyn. Mono-Inyo Craters. Last updated 11/09/01. http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/livingwith/volcanicpast/places/volcanic_past_long_valey.html. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mono Basin. National Forest Scenic Area. Inyo National Forest. 11/97. U.S Geological Survey. Long Valley Observatory Website. Mono Lake Area, California. 2004. http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov/Inyoeruptions/inyoflows.html http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov/history.html Wood and Kienle, 1990, Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada: Cambridge University Press, 354p.,p.256-262. http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/nevada/description_nevada.html