A 1 Mile Wide Explosion Crater; Mexico's Active Pinacate Volcano

Just across the Arizona border with Mexico is a massive 1 mile wide and 720 foot deep explosion crater. This massive feature formed due to a powerful volcanic eruption where magma contacted underlying groundwater to generate a large explosion. Yet, the aforementioned feature known as Crater El Elegante is one of only 500 vents in a broader volcanic complex known as the Pinacate volcanic field. This volcano may even have erupted as recently as the 20th century based on reports from that century.

Thumbnail Photo Credit: Google Earth, Image © 2024 Maxar Technologies. This image was overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo).

If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links:
(Patreon:   / geologyhub  )
(YouTube membership:    / @geologyhub  )
(Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: http://prospectingarizona.etsy.com)
(GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: http://geologyhub.etsy.com)

Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [email protected] and I will make the necessary changes.

Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image (and this list does not include every license used in this video and/or thumbnail image):
Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdom...
CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Sources/Citations:
[1] U.S. Geological Survey
[2] Emily E. Zawacki, Amanda B. Clarke, J. Ramón Arrowsmith, Costanza Bonadonna, Daniel J. Lynch, Tecolote volcano, Pinacate volcanic field (Sonora, Mexico): A case of highly explosive basaltic volcanism and shifting eruptive styles, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Volume 379, 2019, Pages 23-44, ISSN 0377-0273, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores..... (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...)
[3] CENAPRED
[4] J. Ewert, A. Diefenbach, D. Ramsey, "2018 Update to the U.S. Geological Survey National Volcanic Threat Assessment", U.S. Geological Survey, Accessed October 22, 2022. https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5140/s...

0:00 A 1 Mile Wide Crater
0:46 Pinacate Size
3:01 Geologic Setting
3:47 Geologic History
4:24 Shield Volcano
5:07 Explosive Eruptions
6:30 Hazard Rating