S P Crater – Cinder Cone Volcano in the Desert of San Francisco

S P Crater is a classic cinder cone volcano field in the desert of San Francisco. It is about 40 km between Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon. SP Crater is about 800 feet from its base, being a cinder cone; and steep and scree-covered, making the ascent a bit more difficult. Although it is surrounded by many other cinder cones, perhaps much older and eroded as well.

Maybe the best part of this cone is the view that can be seen from the top of the Grand Canyon and, more fabulously, the San Francisco Peaks. It is thought, it is more than 71,000 years old and the last eruption was recorded one thousand years ago. Moreover, leading away from the cinder cone on its north side is a large black lava flow approximately four miles long that looks imposing from the rim of the crater.

However, the initials S.P. stand for “Shit Pot” a much suitable name to peer into the deep crate or even venture in a little if you’re feeling wild. Furthermore, the best second part is the quick “Skiing” descent that has the descender taking giant leaps in the sandy scree, a sliding way occasionally tumbling until 30 to 45 minutes to climb to the top.

S P Crater structure is made up of volcanic fragments, often glassy rocks, encompassing bubbles of trapped gas. However, when lava erupts from these structures, it frequently flows out of breaches on the side, and that appears to be the case at SP Crater. As per the U.S., Geological Survey, over 600 volcanoes have occurred in the San Francisco Volcanic Field.

Moreover, S P Crater is a striking feature when viewed from certain angles on the ground, the combination of the smooth round shape of the cone, the dark lava spatter on the rim, and the long dark lava flow extruding from the base do truly resemble a toilet catastrophe. The researchers consider the lava flow to have slightly predated the cinder cone because of geochemical data that suggests the flow is more silica-rich than the cinders and based on the observation that the cone overlaps the lava flow and shows no sign of deformation.

Source: Earth Observatory & Summitpost