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Wizard Island in the western part of Crater Lake, Oregon. The island consists of a cinder cone and lava flows erupted soon after the caldera formed about 7,700 years ago and rises 820 m above the deepest part of the caldera floor and 233 m above water level. The lake covers several other lava flows and a dome erupted from vents on the caldera floor. The most recent eruption of Crater Lake occurred about 5,000 years ago. The prominent great cliff in upper left is a thick lava flow known as Llao Rock. It is one of four lava flows (rhyodacite composition) that were erupted from vents north of the summit of Mount Mazama only a few centuries before its climatic caldera-forming event. This giant eruption expelled about 50 km3 of magma. By comparison, the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, ejected less than 0.5 km3 of magma and the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, Katmai National Park, Alaska, ejected about 15 km3 of magma. |
Reference
Bacon, C.R., 1983, Eruptive history of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake caldera, Cascade Range, U.S.A.: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 18, p. 57-115.
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URL of this document: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/About/Highlights/CraterlakeHaz/30410142_006_caption.html
Last modified: September 30, 1998