Episode Details

Arizona might not be the first place you think of when it comes to volcanoes, but it actually has some of the most mysterious ones in the world! These ancient volcanoes, like the San Francisco Peaks, are now mostly dormant, but they once erupted with huge blasts of lava and ash. The mystery comes from how old and unusual they are—some scientists believe these volcanoes are millions of years old, and their exact origins remain a puzzle. There are lava fields and craters scattered around Arizona that hint at a fiery past. The area around Sunset Crater is especially eerie, with dark volcanic rock and a landscape that feels like you’re on another planet. Even though they’re quiet now, these volcanoes still tell the story of a time when Arizona’s land was shaped by powerful forces from deep inside the Earth.

Credit:

Navajo Route 15: by Steven Baltakatei Sandoval CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

San Francisco Peaks: by Bernard Gagnon CC BY-SA 3.0 CC BY-SA 2.5 CC BY-SA 2.0 CC BY-SA 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

Mono Crater: by Danie