A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is gone. The ground surface then collapses into the emptied or partially emptied magma chamber, leaving a large depression at the surface (from one to dozens of kilometers in diameter). Although sometimes described as a

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

and collapse rather than an explosion or impact. Compared to the thousands of volcanic eruptions that occur each century, the formation of a caldera is a rare event, occurring only a few times per century. Only seven caldera-forming collapses are known to have occurred between 1911 and 2016. More recently, a caldera collapse occurred at Kīlauea, Hawaii in 2018.

Etymology

The term ''caldera'' comes from Spanish ', and Latin ', meaning "cooking pot". In some texts the English term ''cauldron'' is also used, though in more recent work the term ''cauldron'' refers to a caldera that has been deeply eroded to expose the beds under the caldera floor. The term ''caldera'' was introduced into the geological vocabulary by the German geologist Leopold von Buch when he published his memoirs of his 1815 visit to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, where he first saw the Las Cañadas caldera on Tenerife, with Mount Teide dominating the landscape, and then the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma.

Caldera formation

Origin of volcanic caldera via analogue model

A collapse is triggered by the emptying of the magma chamber beneath the volcano, sometimes as the result of a large explosive volcanic eruption (see Tambora in 1815), but also during effusive eruptions on the flanks of a volcano (see

Piton de la Fournaise Piton de la Fournaise (; en, "Peak of the Furnace") is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island (a French overseas department and region) in the Indian Ocean. It is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, along ...

in 2007) or in a connected fissure system (see Bárðarbunga in 2014–2015). If enough magma is ejected, the emptied chamber is unable to support the weight of the volcanic edifice above it. A roughly circular

fracture Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

, the "ring fault", develops around the edge of the chamber. Ring fractures serve as feeders for fault

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s which are also known as ring dikes. Secondary volcanic vents may form above the ring fracture. As the magma chamber empties, the center of the volcano within the ring fracture begins to collapse. The collapse may occur as the result of a single cataclysmic eruption, or it may occur in stages as the result of a series of eruptions. The total area that collapses may be hundreds of square kilometers.

Mineralization in calderas

Some calderas are known to host rich ore deposits. Metal-rich fluids can circulate through the caldera, forming hydrothermal ore deposits of metals such as lead, silver, gold, mercury, lithium, and uranium. One of the world's best-preserved mineralized calderas is the Sturgeon Lake Caldera in

northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

, Canada, which formed during the Neoarchean

era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

about 2.7 billion years ago. In the San Juan volcanic field, ore veins were emplaced in fractures associated with several calderas, with the greatest mineralization taking place near the youngest and most silicic intrusions associated with each caldera.

Types of caldera

Explosive caldera eruptions

Explosive caldera eruptions are produced by a magma chamber whose magma is rich in silica. Silica-rich magma has a high viscosity, and therefore does not flow easily like basalt. The magma typically also contains a large amount of dissolved gases, up to 7 wt% for the most silica-rich magmas. When the magma approaches the surface of the Earth, the drop in

confining pressure Pressure is force magnitude applied over an area. Overburden pressure is a geology term that denotes the pressure caused by the weight of the overlying layers of material at a specific depth under the earth's surface. Overburden pressure is also ca ...

causes the trapped gases to rapidly bubble out of the magma, fragmenting the magma to produce a mixture of volcanic ash and other tephra with the very hot gases. The mixture of ash and volcanic gases initially rises into the atmosphere as an eruption column. However, as the volume of erupted material increases, the eruption column is unable to entrain enough air to remain buoyant, and the eruption column collapses into a tephra fountain that falls back to the surface to form pyroclastic flows. Eruptions of this type can spread ash over vast areas, so that ash flow tuffs emplaced by silicic caldera eruptions are the only volcanic product with volumes rivaling those of flood basalts. For example, when

Yellowstone Caldera The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park in the Western United States. The caldera and most of the park are located in the northwest corn ...

last erupted some 650,000 years ago, it released about 1,000 km³ of material (as measured in dense rock equivalent (DRE)), covering a substantial part of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

in up to two metres of debris. Eruptions forming even larger calderas are known, such as the La Garita Caldera in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, where the Fish Canyon Tuff was blasted out in eruptions about 27.8 million years ago. The caldera produced by such eruptions is typically filled in with tuff,

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

, and other igneous rocks. The caldera is surrounded by an outflow sheet of ash flow tuff (also called an ash flow sheet). If magma continues to be injected into the collapsed magma chamber, the center of the caldera may be uplifted in the form of a ''

resurgent dome In geology, a resurgent dome is a dome formed by swelling or rising of a caldera floor due to movement in the magma chamber beneath it. Unlike a lava dome, a resurgent dome is not formed by the extrusion of highly viscous lava onto the surfac ...

'' such as is seen at the Valles Caldera, Lake Toba, the San Juan volcanic field,

Cerro Galán Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain". Toponyms ;Bolivia: * Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia ;Brazil: *Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul *Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...

, Yellowstone, and many other calderas. Because a silicic caldera may erupt hundreds or even thousands of cubic kilometers of material in a single event, it can cause catastrophic environmental effects. Even small caldera-forming eruptions, such as Krakatoa in 1883 or Mount Pinatubo in 1991, may result in significant local destruction and a noticeable drop in temperature around the world. Large calderas may have even greater effects. The ecological effects of the eruption of a large caldera can be seen in the record of the Lake Toba eruption in Indonesia. At some points in

geological time The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronol ...

, rhyolitic calderas have appeared in distinct clusters. The remnants of such clusters may be found in places such as the Eocene Rum Complex of Scotland, the San Juan Mountains of Colorado (formed during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs) or the Saint Francois Mountain Range of Missouri (erupted during the

Proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

eon).

Valles

For their 1968 paper that first introduced the concept of a resurgent caldera to geology, R.L. Smith and R.A. Bailey chose the Valles caldera as their model. Although the Valles caldera is not unusually large, it is relatively young (1.25 million years old) and unusually well preserved, and it remains one of the best studied examples of a resurgent caldera. The ash flow tuffs of the Valles caldera, such as the Bandelier Tuff, were among the first to be thoroughly characterized.

Toba

About 74,000 years ago, this Indonesian volcano released about

dense-rock equivalent Dense-rock equivalent (DRE) is a volcanologic calculation used to estimate volcanic eruption volume. One of the widely accepted measures of the size of a historic or prehistoric eruption is the volume of magma ejected as pumice and volcanic ash, k ...

of ejecta. This was the largest known eruption during the ongoing

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

period (the last 2.6 million years) and the largest known explosive eruption during the last 25 million years. In the late 1990s,

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Stanley Ambrose proposed that a volcanic winter induced by this eruption reduced the human population to about 2,000–20,000 individuals, resulting in a

population bottleneck A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events such as famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, and droughts; or human activities such as specicide, widespread violen ...

. More recently,

Lynn Jorde Lynn B. Jorde is an American human geneticist. He is a professor in, and chair of, the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where he holds a H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair. Career Jorde joi ...

and

Henry Harpending Henry Cosad Harpending (January 13, 1944 – April 3, 2016) was an American anthropologist and writer. He was a distinguished professor at the University of Utah, and formerly taught at Penn State and the University of New Mexico. He was a membe ...

proposed that the human species was reduced to approximately 5,000–10,000 people. There is no direct evidence, however, that either theory is correct, and there is no evidence for any other animal decline or extinction, even in environmentally sensitive species. There is evidence that human habitation continued in India after the eruption. La Cumbre - ISS

Non-explosive calderas

Some volcanoes, such as the large

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

es Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii, form calderas in a different fashion. The magma feeding these volcanoes is basalt, which is silica poor. As a result, the magma is much less viscous than the magma of a rhyolitic volcano, and the magma chamber is drained by large lava flows rather than by explosive events. The resulting calderas are also known as subsidence calderas and can form more gradually than explosive calderas. For instance, the caldera atop Fernandina Island collapsed in 1968 when parts of the caldera floor dropped .

Extraterrestrial calderas

Since the early 1960s, it has been known that volcanism has occurred on other planets and moons in the Solar System. Through the use of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, volcanism has been discovered on Venus, Mars, the Moon, and Io, a satellite of Jupiter. None of these worlds have plate tectonics, which contributes approximately 60% of the Earth's volcanic activity (the other 40% is attributed to

hotspot Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tra ...

volcanism). Caldera structure is similar on all of these planetary bodies, though the size varies considerably. The average caldera diameter on Venus is . The average caldera diameter on Io is close to , and the mode is ;

Tvashtar Paterae Tvashtar Paterae compose an active volcanic region of Jupiter's moon Io located near its north pole. It is a series of paterae, or volcanic craters. It is named after Tvashtar, the Hindu god of blacksmiths. Tvashtar was discovered in IRTF imag ...

is likely the largest caldera with a diameter of . The average caldera diameter on Mars is , smaller than Venus. Calderas on Earth are the smallest of all planetary bodies and vary from as a maximum.

The Moon

The Moon has an outer shell of low-density crystalline rock that is a few hundred kilometers thick, which formed due to a rapid creation. The craters of the Moon have been well preserved through time and were once thought to have been the result of extreme volcanic activity, but actually were formed by meteorites, nearly all of which took place in the first few hundred million years after the Moon formed. Around 500 million years afterward, the Moon's mantle was able to be extensively melted due to the decay of radioactive elements. Massive basaltic eruptions took place generally at the base of large impact craters. Also, eruptions may have taken place due to a magma reservoir at the base of the crust. This forms a dome, possibly the same morphology of a shield volcano where calderas universally are known to form. Although caldera-like structures are rare on the Moon, they are not completely absent. The Compton-Belkovich Volcanic Complex on the far side of the Moon is thought to be a caldera, possibly an ash-flow caldera.

Mars

The volcanic activity of Mars is concentrated in two major provinces:

Tharsis Tharsis () is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Asc ...

and

Elysium Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...

. Each province contains a series of giant shield volcanoes that are similar to what we see on Earth and likely are the result of mantle hot spots. The surfaces are dominated by lava flows, and all have one or more collapse calderas. Mars has the largest volcano in the Solar System,

Olympus Mons Olympus Mons (; Latin for Mount Olympus) is a large shield volcano on Mars. The volcano has a height of over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Olympus Mons is about two and a h ...

, which is more than three times the height of Mount Everest, with a diameter of 520 km (323 miles). The summit of the mountain has six nested calderas.

Venus

Because there is no plate tectonics on Venus, heat is mainly lost by conduction through the

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...

. This causes enormous lava flows, accounting for 80% of Venus' surface area. Many of the mountains are large

es that range in size from in diameter and high. More than 80 of these large shield volcanoes have summit calderas averaging across.

Io

Io, unusually, is heated by solid flexing due to the tidal influence of Jupiter and Io's orbital resonance with neighboring large moons

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

and Ganymede, which keep its orbit slightly

eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...

. Unlike any of the planets mentioned, Io is continuously volcanically active. For example, the NASA '' Voyager 1'' and '' Voyager 2'' spacecraft detected nine erupting volcanoes while passing Io in 1979. Io has many calderas with diameters tens of kilometers across.

List of volcanic calderas

* Africa ** Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania) **

Menengai Menengai Crater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Volcanic formed rich loam so ...

Crater (Kenya) **

Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

(Uganda/Kenya) ** Mount Fogo (Cape Verde) ** Mount Longonot (Kenya) ** Mount Meru (Tanzania) ** Erta Ale (Ethiopia) ** Nabro Volcano (Eritrea) ** Mallahle (Eritrea) ** ''See ''Europe'' for calderas in the Canary Islands * Americas ** Argentina ***

Aguas Calientes Agua Caliente, Aguas Calientes or Aguascalientes (Spanish for 'hot/warm water(s)' or 'hot spring(s)') may refer to: Places Central America * Agua Caliente, El Salvador * San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala Mexico * Aguascalientes, a state in M ...

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Boliv ...

***

Caldera del Atuel Caldera del Atuel is a caldera in Argentina. It is the source of the Rio Atuel and has dimensions of . Sosneado, Cerro Sosneado is a volcano (best volume estimate ) located outside of the Atuel caldera, Volcan Overo (best volume estimate ) and L ...

, Mendoza Province ***

Galán Cerro Galán is a caldera in the Catamarca Province of Argentina. It is one of the largest exposed calderas in the world and forms part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, one of the three volcanic belts found in South America. One of ...

Catamarca Province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, fr ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

***

Pastos Grandes Pastos Grandes is the name of a caldera and its crater lake in Bolivia. The caldera is part of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex, a large ignimbrite province that is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. Pastos Grandes has erupted a ...

** United States Crater lake oregon

***

Mount Aniakchak Mount Aniakchak (russian: Аниакчак) is a 3,700-year-old volcanic caldera approximately in diameter, located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska, United States. Although a stratovolcano by composition, the pre-existing mountain collapsed in ...

(

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. National Monument and National Preserve, consisting of the region around the Aniakchak volcano on the Aleutian Range of south-western Alaska. The monument is one of the least-visited places in ...

) ( Alaska) *** Crater Lake on Mount Mazama ( Crater Lake National Park, Oregon) *** Mount Katmai (Alaska) *** Kīlauea ( Hawaii) *** Mauna Loa ( Hawaii) *** La Garita Caldera ( Colorado) *** Long Valley ( California) *** Henry's Fork Caldera ( Idaho) *** Island Park Caldera (Idaho, Wyoming) *** Newberry Volcano (Oregon) ***

McDermitt Caldera The McDermitt Caldera is a large, oval-shaped caldera west of McDermitt in southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada in the United States. It is about long north–south and wide east–west. The western part of the caldera is in the Trout Cre ...

(Oregon) *** Medicine Lake Volcano (California) ***

Mount Okmok Mount Okmok is the highest point on the rim of Okmok Caldera (Unmagim Anatuu in Aleut) on the northeastern part of Umnak Island in the eastern Aleutian Islands of Alaska. This wide circular caldera truncates the top of a large shield volcano. The ...

(Alaska) *** Valles Caldera ( New Mexico) ***

(Wyoming) ** Canada *** Silverthrone Caldera ( British Columbia) *** Mount Edziza (British Columbia) ***

Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex The Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex (BLVC) is a huge 50-million-year-old extinct caldera complex that spans across the British Columbia-Yukon border in Canada. It is located near the western end of the West Arm of Bennett Lake. The caldera complex ...

(British Columbia/ Yukon) ***

Mount Pleasant Caldera The Mount Pleasant Caldera is a large eroded Late Devonian volcanic caldera complex, located in the northern Appalachian Mountains of southwestern New Brunswick, Canada. It is one of few noticeable pre- Cenozoic calderas, and its formation is ass ...

( New Brunswick) *** Sturgeon Lake Caldera ( Ontario) ***

Mount Skukum Volcanic Complex The Mount Skukum Volcanic Complex is an early Eocene caldera complex, located 43 km west of Carcross and 32 km northeast of Mount Porsild in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The complex composes the Skukum Group. It is a northeast-trending ...

(Yukon) ***

Blake River Megacaldera Complex The Blake River Megacaldera Complex is a giant subaqueous caldera cluster or a nested caldera system that spans across the Ontario–Quebec border in Canada. The caldera complex is around 2.7 billion years old, consisting of a series of overlappi ...

( Quebec/Ontario) ****

New Senator Caldera The New Senator Caldera is a large Archean caldera complex within the heart of the Blake River Megacaldera Complex, Quebec, Canada. It has a diameter of 15-30 kilometers and is made of thick massive mafic sequences. The caldera complex has infe ...

(Quebec) ****

Misema Caldera The Misema Caldera is a 2,704-2,707 million year old caldera in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Geographic extent It is the caldera that forms the Blake River Megacaldera Complex Noranda Caldera The Noranda Caldera is a well-known large subaqueous Archean caldera complex within the Blake River Megacaldera Complex, Quebec, Canada. The caldera contains a 7-to-9-km-thick succession of bimodal mafic-felsic tholeiitic to calc-alkaline volcan ...

(Quebec) **

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

*** Arenas crater caldera, Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Caldas Department ***

Laguna Verde caldera Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet ...

, Azufral volcano, Narino Department ** Mexico ***

La primavera Caldera LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

(

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

) ***

Amealco Caldera Amealco is a town in the Mexican state of Querétaro. Its name is thought to mean ''place of springs'' in Nahuatl. The municipality seat, also called Amealco, is located 63 km southeast of Santiago de Querétaro. Its elevation is 2,605 meters ...

(

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

) *** Las Cumbres Caldera ( Veracruz-

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

) ***

Los Azufres Caldera LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

(

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

) ***

Los Humeros Caldera LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

(Veracruz-Puebla) ***

Mazahua Caldera Mazahua may refer to: * Mazahua people, an indigenous people of Mexico * Mazahua language The Mazahua language ( maz, Jñatrjo) is an Oto-Pamean language spoken in the central states of Mexico by the ethnic group that is widely known as the Ma ...

(

Mexico State The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from th ...

) ** Chile *** Chaitén *** Cordillera Nevada Caldera *** Laguna del Maule *** Pacana Caldera ***

Sollipulli Sollipulli (; in the Mapuche language) is an ice-filled volcanic caldera and volcanic complex, which lies southeast of the small town of Melipeuco in the La Araucanía Region, Chile. It is part of the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes, one o ...

** Ecuador ***

Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve Reserva Geobotánica Pululahua (''Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve'') (''Cloud of Water Geobontanical Reserve'') is a protected area around Pululahua Volcano in the north of Quito Canton, Pichincha Province, Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ' ...

***

Cuicocha Cuicocha (Kichwa: ''Kuykucha'', "lake of guinea pigs" or ''Kuychikucha'', "rainbow lake") is a wide caldera and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes. Its name comes from the Kichwa in ...

***

Quilotoa Quilotoa () is a water-filled crater lake and the most western volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The -wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacite volcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroc ...

*** Fernandina Island, Galápagos Islands ***

Sierra Negra (Galápagos) Sierra Negra (Spanish: ''Black Mountain'') is a large shield volcano at the southeastern end of Isabela Island in the Galapagos that rises to an altitude of 1124m. It coalesces with the volcanoes Cerro Azul to the west and Alcedo to the north ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

*** Lake Ilopango *** Lake Coatepeque **

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

*** Lake Amatitlán *** Lake Atitlán *** Xela *** Barahona ** Other *** Masaya (Nicaragua) * Asia ** East Asia *** Dakantou Caldera (大墈头) (Shanhuyan Village, Taozhu Town,

Linhai Linhai (; Tai-chow dialect: Lin-he) is a county-level city in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province situated on the banks of the Lin River in Eastern China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,114,146 inhabitants even though its built-up (''or met ...

, Zhejiang, China) ***

Ma'anshan Caldera Ma'anshan (), also colloquially written as Maanshan, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of Anhui province in Eastern China. An industrial city stretching across the Yangtze River, Ma'anshan borders Hefei to the west, Wuhu to the south ...

(马鞍山) (Shishan Town (石山镇), Xiuying, Hainan, China) ***

Yiyang Caldera Yiyang () is a prefecture-level city on the Zi River in Hunan province, China, straddling Lake Dongting and bordering Hubei to the north. According to the 2010 Census, Yiyang has a population of 4,313,084 inhabitants residing in an area of . The ...

(宜洋) (Shuangxi Town (双溪镇宜洋村), Pingnan County, Fujian, China) ***

Aira Caldera Aira Caldera is a gigantic volcanic caldera that is located on the southern end of Kyushu, Japan. It is believed to have been formed about 30,000 years ago with a succession of pyroclastic surges. It is currently the place of residence to over 9 ...

(

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

) *** Kussharo ( Hokkaido, Japan) *** Kuttara (Hokkaido, Japan) *** Mashū (Hokkaido, Japan) ***

Aso Caldera Aso caldera (also known as Asosan, the Aso Volcano or Mount Aso, although the later term usually is used related to its currently active vents) is a geographical feature of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It stretches 25 kilometers north to south a ...

Mount Aso Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

( Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan) ***

Kikai Caldera (alternatively Kikaiga-shima, Kikai Caldera Complex) is a massive, mostly submerged caldera up to in diameter in the Ōsumi Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Geology Caldera formation has been dated from about 95,000 years ago and has in ...

(Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) ***

Towada is a city in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 60,697, and a population density of 84 persons per km2 in 27,677 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Towada is in the foothills of the Hakkōda M ...

( Aomori Prefecture, Japan) *** Tazawa (

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

, Japan) *** Hakone ( Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) *** Mount Halla ( Jeju-do, South Korea) *** Heaven Lake ( Baekdu Mountain, North Korea/ Changbai Mountains, China) ** Southeast Asia Pinatubo92pinatubo caldera crater lake

*** Apolaki Caldera (

Benham Rise The Benham Rise, officially known as Philippine Rise, is an extinct volcanic ridge located in the Philippine Sea approximately east of the northern coastline of Dinapigue, Isabela. The rise has been known to the people of Catanduanes as Kalip ...

, Philippines) ***

Corregidor Caldera Corregidor Caldera is an extinct volcanic caldera located at the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines. The caldera is composed of the islands of Corregidor and Caballo in the province of Cavite,Mount Pinatubo ( Luzon, Philippines) *** Taal Volcano (Luzon, Philippines) ***

Laguna Caldera Laguna Caldera is a potentially active volcanic caldera and a geographical depression in Rizal, Philippines. It is broadly elliptical in shape, with dimensions of 20 by 10 km. It has a summit elevation of 743 m or 2,438 feet. The caldera forms ...

(Luzon, Philippines) *** Irosin Caldera (Luzon, Philippines) *** Batur (

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Indonesia) *** Krakatoa (

Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait ( id, Selat Sunda) is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. Etymology The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the weste ...

, Indonesia) *** Lake Maninjau (

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, Indonesia) *** Lake Toba (Sumatra, Indonesia) *** Mount Rinjani ( Lombok, Indonesia) ***

Mount Tondano Mount Tondano in the province of North Sulawesi, Sulawesi, Indonesia, has a 20 × 30 km wide caldera which was formed in the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene by a massive eruption. Post caldera activity includes pyroclastic cones, obsidian flow ...

(

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, Indonesia) *** Mount Tambora ( Sumbawa, Indonesia) ***

Tengger Caldera The Bromo ( jv, ꦧꦿꦩ), or Mount Bromo ( jv, ꦒꦸꦤꦸꦁꦧꦿꦩ Pegon: , Gunung Bromo) is an active somma volcano and part of the Tengger mountains, in East Java, Indonesia. At it is not the highest peak of the massif, but th ...

( Java, Indonesia) ** Southwest Asia *** Derik (

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...

, Turkey) ***

Nemrut (volcano) Nemrut ( tr, Nemrut Dağı, hy, Սարակն ''Sarakn'', "Mountain spring", , ku, Çiyayê Nemrudê) is a dormant volcano in Eastern Turkey, close to Lake Van. The volcano is named after King Nimrod who is said to have ruled this area in about ...

(Turkey) ** Russia Yankicha

*** Akademia Nauk ( Kamchatka Peninsula) *** Golovnin ( Kuril Islands) *** Karymsky Caldera ( Kamchatka Peninsula) ***

Karymshina Karymshina is a large volcanic caldera located in the southern Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. It was discovered in 2006 by Vladimir L Leonov and Aleksey N. Rogozin.http://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2010/1238.pdf Location Kar ...

( Kamchatka Peninsula) ***

Khangar Khangar (russian: Хангар) is a stratovolcano located in the central part of Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. It is the southernmost volcano of the Sredinny Range. Its 2 km-wide caldera is now filled by a lake. See also * List of volcano ...

( Kamchatka Peninsula) *** Ksudach ( Kamchatka Peninsula) *** Kurile Lake ( Kamchatka Peninsula) ***

Lvinaya Past Moekeshiwan, also known as Lvinaya Past (russian: Львиная Пасть, literally "''Lion's Maw''", after a rock that emerges from the sea and resembles a sleeping lion), is a volcano in the southern part of Iturup in the Kuril Islands, clai ...

( Kuril Islands) ***

Tao-Rusyr Caldera Tao-Rusyr Caldera (russian: Тао-Русыр) is a stratovolcano located at the southern end of Onekotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. It has 7.5 km wide caldera formed during a catastrophic eruption less than 10,000 years ago (reported a ...

( Kuril Islands) ***

Uzon Uzon (russian: Узон) is a 9 by 12 km volcanic caldera located in the eastern part of Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. Together with the Geyzernaya caldera it hosts the largest geothermal field in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The calderas were ...

( Kamchatka Peninsula) ***

Zavaritski Caldera Zavaritski Caldera (russian: Вулкан Заварицкого, ''Vulkan Zavaritskogo'') is a caldera located in the central part of Simushir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. Lake Biryuzovoe partially fills the youngest of three nested calderas o ...

( Kuril Islands) *** Yankicha/Ushishir ( Kuril Islands) ***

Chegem Caldera Chegem (russian: Чеге́м; kbd, Шэджэм; krc, Чегем, ''Çegem'') is a town and the administrative center of Chegemsky District of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia, located north of Nalchik, at the elevation of about . Popul ...

( Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, North Caucasus) * Europe Santorini 3D version 1

Banská Štiavnica Banská Štiavnica (; german: Schemnitz; hu, Selmecbánya (Selmec), ) is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as the Štiavnica Mountain ...

(Slovakia) ** Bakuriani/Didveli Caldera (Georgia) **

Samsari Mount Samsari ( ka, სამსარი) is a peak of the Abul-Samsari Range in Georgia (country), Southern Georgia. The elevation of the mountain is above sea level. Mount Samsari represents a volcanic cone, inside of which lies a caldera with ...

(Georgia) **

Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is the ...

(Greece) **

Nisyros Nisyros also spelled Nisiros ( el, Νίσυρος, Nísiros) is a volcanic Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos. Its shape is appro ...

(Greece) ** Askja (Iceland) ** Grímsvötn (Iceland) ** Bárðarbunga (Iceland) ** Katla (Iceland) **

Krafla Krafla () is a volcanic caldera of about 10 km in diameter with a 90 km long fissure zone. It is located in the north of Iceland in the Mývatn region and is situated on the Iceland hotspot atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which forms the ...

(Iceland) ** Phlegraean Fields (Italy) ** Lake Bracciano (Italy) **

Lake Bolsena Lake Bolsena ( it, Lago di Bolsena) is a lake of volcanic origin in the northern part of the province of Viterbo called ''Alto Lazio'' ("Upper Latium") or ''Tuscia'' in central Italy. It is the largest volcanic lake in Europe. Roman historic ...

(Italy) ** Mount Somma which contains Mount Vesuvius (Italy) **

Las Cañadas Teide, or Mount Teide, ( es, El Teide, Pico del Teide, , "Peak of Teide") is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit (at ) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlan ...

( Tenerife, Spain) ** Glen Coe (Scotland) ** Scafell Caldera (

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, England) **

Laacher See Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel mountain range, and ...

(Germany) **

Lagoa das Sete Cidades Lagoa (Portuguese for ''lagoon'') may refer to the following: People *Barbara Lagoa, Cuban-American federal judge Places Brazil *Campina da Lagoa, Paraná * Lagoa, Paraíba, Paraíba *Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro, a quarter of Rio de Janeiro * Lagoa Al ...

& Furnas ( São Miguel,

the Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, Portugal) ** Caldeira do Faial ( Faial, Portugal) ** Caldeirão do Corvo ( Corvo, Portugal) * Oceania Lake taupo landsat

Cerberean Cauldron This is a sortable summary of the pages Timeline of volcanism on Earth, List of Quaternary volcanic eruptions, and Large volume volcanic eruptions in the Basin and Range Province. Uncertainties as to dates and tephra volumes are not restated, a ...

(Australia) **

Dakataua The Dakataua Caldera is located at the northern tip of the Willaumez Peninsula, New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The peninsula includes the 350 m high andesitic Mount Makalia stratovolcano. The last major collapse of Dakataua was during the Holoce ...

(Papua New Guinea) ** Kapenga (New Zealand) ** Kilauea ( Hawaii, US) **

Lake Ohakuri Lake Ohakuri, at , is the largest artificial lake of the Waikato river system in New Zealand. It forms the reservoir for the Ōhakuri hydroelectric power station. Construction of the dam, approved in 1955, began in 1956 and was completed in 1960 ...

(New Zealand) **

Lake Ōkataina Lake Ōkataina (also spelled Okataina; mi, Te Moana i kataina ā Te Rangitakaroro or ) is the northernmost and largest of four smaller lakes lying between Lake Rotorua and Lake Tarawera in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Isla ...

(New Zealand) ** Lake Rotorua (New Zealand) ** Lake Taupō (New Zealand) ** Maroa (New Zealand) ** Moku‘āweoweo Caldera on Mauna Loa (Hawaii, US) ** Mount Warning (Australia) ** Prospect Hill (Australia) **

Rano Kau Rano Kau is a tall dormant volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. It was formed of basaltic lava flows in the Pleistocene with its youngest rocks dated at between 150,000 and 210,0 ...

( Easter Island, Chile) ** Reporoa caldera (New Zealand) * Antarctica ** Deception Island * Indian Ocean ** Cirque de Mafate, Cirque de Salazie,

Enclos Fouqué The Enclos Fouqué is the most recent caldera build by the Piton de la Fournaise, the active volcano of the isle of la Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an ...

, and Cirque de Cilaos on

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

Extraterrestrial volcanic calderas

* Mars **

caldera * Venus **

Maat Mons Maat Mons is a massive shield volcano on the planet Venus and the planet's second-highest mountain and highest volcano. It rises above the mean planetary radius at , and nearly 5 km above the surrounding plains. It is named after the Egyp ...

caldera

Erosion calderas

* Americas **

Guaichane-Mamuta Guaichane-Mamuta is a volcano in Chile. It is formed by a caldera and lava flows which form two separate systems. The volcano is of Miocene age. Guaichane-Mamuta lies northeast of Pisagua. One half is formed by the wide and deep erosion calde ...

(Chile) **

Mount Tehama Mount Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano or Brokeoff Mountain) is an eroded andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range in Northern California. Part of the Lassen volcanic area, its tallest remnant, Brokeoff Moun ...

( California, US) * Europe ** Caldera de Taburiente (Spain) * Oceania **

Tweed Valley Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

( New South Wales, Queensland, Australia) * Asia **

( Kabardino-Balkarian Republic,

Northern Caucasus Region Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

, Russia) ** Taal volcano (Philippines)

Batangas Province Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna ...

Explanatory notes

References

External links

USGS page on calderas

List of Caldera Volcanoes

Collection of references on collapse calderas
(43 pages)

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes_script.shtml Supervolcanoes
Time-lapse video of Kīlauea caldera collapse, 2018
{{Authority control Depressions (geology) Igneous rocks Volcanism Volcanic landforms .

Etymology

Caldera formation

Mineralization in calderas

Types of caldera

Explosive caldera eruptions

Valles

Toba

Non-explosive calderas

Extraterrestrial calderas

The Moon

Mars

Venus

Io

List of volcanic calderas

Extraterrestrial volcanic calderas

Erosion calderas

See also

Explanatory notes

References

Further reading

External links