Pahvant Butte facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pahvant Butte |
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Pahvant Butte, 1991
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| Geography | |
 Location in Utah
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| Country | United States |
| State | Utah |
| Region | Black Rock Desert volcanic field |
| District | Millard County |
| Range coordinates | 39°07′54″N 112°33′08″W / 39.13167°N 112.55222°W |
| Topo map | USGS Pahvant Butte North, Utah and Pahvant Butte South, Utah |
Pahvant Butte (also Pavant Butte) is a butte formed by a dormant volcano in the west-central portion of Utah, United States.
Description
The butte is located in the Sevier Desert in the Pahvant Valley 15.7 miles (25.3 km) south of Delta and five miles east of Clear Lake and the Clear Lake Wildlife Management Area.
The butte has two peaks. The north peak has an elevation of 5,751 ft (1,753 m) and the south peak reaches 5,486 ft (1,672 m). The peaks are about 1000 feet above the surrounding valley floor. The butte is about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) in diameter at the base.
It formed in an active area of volcanism on top of pahoehoe and aa lavas. Originally a subaqueous volcano, it erupted out of the floor of Lake Bonneville approximately 15,500 years ago.
Unusual Structure
Along the southeast rim of the inner depression of the volcano is an unfinished structure consisting of a concrete building embedded in the hill surrounded by two rings of concrete obelisks. The structure was apparently began by a man named A. H. Hood, with the intention of generating wind power, in 1923.
Geography and geology
Part of the Black Rock Desert volcanic field of the Pleistocene-Holocene age, Pahvant Butte formed above older pahoehoe and aa lavas of the Pahvant field. The volcano was originally a subaqueous volcano formed under Lake Bonneville by a large eruption about 15,500 years ago. The water depth at the time of eruption is estimated to have been 85 m (279 ft). This eruptive activity probably ejected steam, ash, and other materials out of the lake, enveloping the surrounding area with ash and spawning large waves in the lake. The eruption released particles of basaltic lava into the air, which fell back to form tuff.
A raised beach, or lacustrine terrace, formed by waves surrounds most of the volcano's lower rock. A vertical cliff, known as the Lace Curtain, is present on the north flank of the volcano, formed as a result of storm wave action. This name originated from the distinct white, lace-like pattern seen on the cliff face, caused by partial cementation of the tuff by minerals deposited by groundwater.
Pahvant Butte was overlapped by the lava flows of the Ice Springs eruption between 1140 and 1440 AD.
Morphology
The Pahvant Butte volcano consists of an asymmetrical tuff cone with a breach on its southwestern side — and a platform area that extends to the southeast of the cone, formed of beds of tephra dipping steeply away from the cone, and partly concealing a mound of near horizontally-bedded sideromelane tephra beneath.
