CERRO COLORADO, PINACATE BIOSPHERE RESERVE

Cerro Colorado is a volcanic cone composed of tuff (compacted volcanic ash). Note the unstable, steep slope of this feature, devoid of vegetation. As the slope flattens there is a zone of denser vegetation, but the flat surface in the foreground supports very few plants - only a few scattered creosote bushes.

Cerro Colorado. This image is taken from the opposite side of the cone from the image above, and shows the volcanic crater. The walls and floor of this crater are mainly composed of soft, compacted volcanic ash (tuff). Actually, this is not a single crater but three craters that were formed at different periods of volcanic eruption and have merged.

Typical appearance of volcanic cones with craters formed by collapse of the volcanic core. The Pinacate Biosphere Reserve has over 300 cinder cone volcanoes formed by single eruptions.

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Pinacate Thumbnail images?
Pinacate Volcanic Field: space radar image?
El Elegante crater?
Elegante crater rim?
"Bombs and cinders"?
Lava fields?
Pinacate desert floor?
Pinacate campsite?
Pinacate plants?
Pinacate playa?
Lava plants?
Pinacate desert wash?