Red Hill volcanic field facts for kids

The Red Hill volcanic field, also called the Quemado volcanic field, is a special area in New Mexico. It's near a ghost town named Red Hill in Catron County. This field is a collection of many small volcanoes that erupted only once.

It's about 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of a bigger volcanic area called the Springerville volcanic field. It's also just south of the Zuni Salt Lake field. The Red Hill area has many small hills made from volcanic eruptions. These include cone-shaped hills called scoria cones and dome-shaped hills called silicic domes.

Scientists have found over 40 places where volcanoes erupted here. All of these eruptions produced basaltic flows, which are a common type of dark, runny lava.

Quemado Crater: A Giant Bowl

The biggest crater in the Red Hill volcanic field is called Quemado crater. Imagine a huge bowl in the ground! This crater is about 1,170 meters (3,840 feet) wide. That's more than 10 football fields across!

The bottom of the crater is about 33 meters (108 feet) lower than the land around it. The edges of the crater are slightly raised, like a rim. Scientists think this crater has gone through times of collapsing and then exploding. The area around Quemado crater is covered in lava flows made of a rock called olivine basalt.

Part of a Volcanic Chain

The Red Hill volcanic field is part of a larger chain of volcanoes. This chain is called the Jemez Lineament. It's a long line of young volcanic areas that stretches from central Arizona all the way to northeastern New Mexico.

Scientists use a method called Ar-Ar dating to find out how old rocks are. This method showed that the Red Hill volcanic field erupted in two main periods. The first period was a long time ago, between 7.9 and 5.2 million years ago. The second period was more recent, from 2.5 million years ago to about 71,000 years ago.

During the older eruptions, the volcanoes mostly lined up with the Jemez Lineament. But during the newer eruptions, the activity spread out more. It moved from south to north across a wider area. Scientists believe that if there are future eruptions, they are most likely to happen in the northern part of the field.

Cool Volcanic Spots

Here are some interesting volcanic spots found in the Red Hill volcanic field: