Mono Craters, California

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay


The Mono Craters in California are a chain of small volcanoes that erupted very recently, in some cases, only a few hundred years ago. The lava they erupt is called rhyolite and it is very stiff and pasty, so it doesn't flow easily. Instead it simply forms a glob. Fragments of lava blasted out early in the eruption form a cone, and the rhyolite often sticks up as a central peak, as it does in the cone at the center of the picture.

The peak in the center of the picture is at 37o 32' 37" N  119o 00' 25"W.


Original Scene

(author's image)

Possible Coloring


Return to Geology Coloring Book Index
Return to Professor Dutch's Home Page

Created 25 November 2005, Last Update 15 January 2020