Capulin Volcano facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Capulin Volcano National Monument |
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Last erupted between 55,000 and 62,000 years ago
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 Capulin Volcano National Monument
Location in New Mexico
Capulin Volcano National Monument
Location in the United States
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| Location | Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field, Union County, New Mexico, New Mexico, United States |
| Area | 793 acres (321 ha) |
| Elevation | 2,494 m (8,182 ft) |
| Max. elevation | 8,182 |
| Authorized | August 9, 1916 |
| Visitors | 67,442 (in 2018) |
| Governing body | Department of the Interior |
| Website | Capulin Volcano National Monument |
Capulin Volcano National Monument is a special place in northeastern New Mexico. It protects and teaches us about an extinct (no longer active) volcano called Capulin Volcano. This volcano is part of a larger area with many volcanoes, known as the Raton-Clayton volcanic field.
Imagine a road that slowly winds its way up the side of a volcano! Visitors can drive right up to a parking lot at the very top, or "rim," of this old volcano. From there, you can hike trails that go around the rim or even down into the volcano's mouth. The monument became a protected area on August 9, 1916. It is managed by the National Park Service, which takes care of many amazing places in the United States. The volcano is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of a small village also called Capulin.
Capulin Volcano has a huge crater that is about 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) around. It stands tall, rising 305 meters (1,000 feet) above the land around it. The crater itself is about 125 meters (410 feet) deep. The volcano is made up of many layers of hardened lava and bits of rock from past eruptions. These lava flows spread out in different directions. Some of the later eruptions came from a spot at the base of the cone, called the "boca" (which means "mouth" in Spanish).
The visitor center at the monument has cool displays about the volcano. You can learn about the area's geology (how the Earth is made), its natural history (plants and animals), and its cultural history (people who lived there). They also show a video about the volcano. The name Capulin comes from a type of wild cherry tree, Prunus virginiana, that grows in North America.
Did you know that astronauts once trained here? In May 1971, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke practiced their geology skills at Capulin Volcano. They were getting ready for their trip to the Moon!
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Discovering Capulin Volcano
Capulin Volcano National Monument is a very well-preserved volcano. It's quite young in geological terms, having formed between 55,000 and 62,000 years ago. It rises steeply from the flat grasslands around it, reaching a height of 8,182 feet (2,494 meters) above sea level. The uneven rim of its crater is about a mile (1.6 km) around, and the crater is about 400 feet (122 meters) deep.
Capulin Volcano is a famous landmark in the northeast corner of New Mexico. This is where the rolling grasslands meet the start of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. From the highest point of Capulin Volcano, you can see amazing views. You can look out over the volcanic field, distant snow-capped mountains, and even parts of five different states: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado!
Visiting Capulin Volcano is a great way to learn about how volcanoes are made. The large volcanic area around the monument has at least 100 other volcanoes you can spot. This helps visitors understand millions of years of Earth's history in northern New Mexico.
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A trail leads from the parking lot to the crater floor.
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A satellite image of the volcano (center) and the surrounding area
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Looking south southeast from the walking path encircling the volcano.
When Did Capulin Volcano Erupt?
The last time Capulin Volcano erupted was a very long time ago, about 56,000 to 62,000 years ago. Scientists figured this out using special methods that measure the age of rocks. Before 1995, people thought it might have erupted more recently, but new studies gave us a more accurate age.
Scientists used two main ways to find out the volcano's age. One method is called "cosmogenic helium dating." It measures tiny amounts of a gas called helium-3 that builds up in rocks from cosmic rays. This method showed the lava flow was about 59,000 years old.
Another method is "argon-argon dating." This technique also helps date volcanic rocks. It confirmed the age, showing the volcano was about 58,000 years old. These scientific methods helped us understand that Capulin Volcano is much older than people first thought.
How Cinder Cones Form
Cinder cones, like Capulin, are created when hot, melted rock (called magma) explodes out of the Earth. This happens because gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor are trapped in the magma. When the magma reaches the surface, these gases expand quickly, causing an explosion!
This type of eruption is called "strombolian," named after the Stromboli volcano in Italy. Strombolian eruptions are like "fire fountains" that shoot volcanic rocks and ash high into the air, sometimes up to 1,000 feet (300 meters)!
The shape of a cinder cone isn't just a random pile of rocks. It has a special layered structure. Close to where the eruption happens, the material is more fluid and sticky. Farther away, it's more like solid, rubble-like cinders and ash. You can see both types of these deposits at Capulin Volcano.
Volcanic materials usually fall in a round shape, but things can change this. Sometimes, a lot of magma can cause the sides of the cone to collapse. This can make the crater look broken or "breached." Scientists believe this happened at Capulin when a lava flow, called the Boca flow, erupted. It likely pushed away the western side of the cone.
Even though parts of the cone collapsed, the eruption continued and rebuilt much of its shape. However, if you look closely, the cone is still a little bit lopsided. This suggests the main eruption spot might have shifted a bit to the west after the collapse.
Many cinder cones in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field, including Capulin, have craters that open towards the southwest or west. This tells us that strong winds from those directions probably blew the ash and rocks during the eruptions. These winds made the southwest and west sides of the volcanoes more likely to collapse.
Nearby Volcanoes: Horseshoe Crater
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Capulin Volcano isn't the only old volcano around! There are many other extinct volcanoes nearby. One of them is Horseshoe Crater. This mountain was likely formed by a volcanic event or perhaps even a meteorite impact. It is much older than Capulin, about 440,000 years old. Over time, wind and rain have worn it down, making it look more rounded and shorter than it once was. Its U-shape is how it got its name. Other old volcanoes in the area include Baby Capulin, Mount Taylor, and Jose Butte.
Fun Things to Do at Capulin
The two-mile road that winds from the bottom of the volcano all the way to the top is very popular. Once you reach the summit, you can see amazing views of the surrounding volcanic field, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and all the plants and animals.
From late June to early August, you might see something cool called hill-topping on the Crater Rim trail. Thousands of ladybugs gather on the trees and bushes at the top of the volcano! Capulin is also recognized as an International Dark-Sky Association Gold Tier Certified park. This means it has one of the darkest night skies in the country. Because there's very little light pollution, you can see incredible views of the Milky Way galaxy and many constellations.
Visitors can also explore several hiking trails throughout the park. The Lava Flow trail is a one-mile loop that goes along the southern part of the park. The Boca Trail is a 1.7-mile loop that runs along the western base of the volcano. On this trail, hikers can see collapsed lava tubes that formed thousands of years ago at the volcano's base.
There are two different trails you can access from the top of the volcano. The Crater Rim trail is a one-mile loop that goes all the way around the edge of the volcano's rim. The Crater Vent trail is shorter, going about 200 yards (180 meters) down into the crater itself.
History of the Monument
On August 9, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson officially made Capulin a U.S. National Monument. He did this to protect it as "a striking example of recent extinct volcanoes" that was important for science and geology.
Before it became a monument, local ranchers, like Jessie Foote Jack, valued Capulin Volcano for grazing their cattle. To make sure she had the right to graze her cattle there, Jessie used her husband's political connections. She became the first custodian (manager) of Capulin Volcano from 1916 to 1921. She was also the very first female custodian in the entire National Park Service!
In 1921, Homer Farr unofficially took over as custodian. He officially got the job in 1923 and worked for the National Park Service until 1955. Homer Farr loved the volcano and made many improvements. He is known for building the road to the rim, getting money for the monument even during tough economic times, and organizing a project during the Great Depression to make the road stronger and build retaining walls.
In 1987, Congress changed the monument's name from Capulin Mountain National Monument to Capulin Volcano National Monument. This change recognized the importance of the volcano itself.
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Hardened lava flows, seen from the top of Capulin Volcano (1909)
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Capulin Volcano, seen from the west (1916)
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Homer Farr after the road was finished (1925)
Plants and Animals at Capulin
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Even though Capulin is famous for its volcano, it's also home to many different plants and animals! The grasslands of the Great Plains meet the forests of the Rocky Mountains here. This creates a special "ecotone" (a place where two different ecosystems meet) that provides a home for 73 types of birds and many other creatures.
You can find songbirds like the spotted towhee, Bullock's oriole, mountain bluebird, and Steller's jay. Larger birds also live here, such as the wild turkey, osprey, red-tailed hawk, and New Mexico's state bird, the roadrunner. Five different kinds of hummingbirds visit Capulin during the summer.
Some of the bigger mammals you might see include the American black bear, cougar, pronghorn, and elk. The most common large mammal is the mule deer. Smaller mammals like the American badger, Mexican free-tailed bat, ring-tailed cat, desert cottontail, and North American porcupine also live at Capulin. This unique landscape allows many different animals to live together in a fairly small area.
It's not just warm-blooded animals either! Capulin also has many cold-blooded reptiles. You might see prairie rattlesnakes and bullsnakes. Western fence lizards and horned lizards can be spotted on the hiking trails. The tiger salamander sometimes lives in pools of water that collect around the park.
There's even a rare plant called Solidago capulinensis, or Capulin goldenrod. It only grows at Capulin Volcano National Monument and nowhere else!
See also
