Geological Overview

These calderas are part of the widespread volcanism that swept the Southwest during the Miocene. Like the Datil-Mogollon field to the immediate north, these have been broken up as part of the Basin and Range faulting and deeply dissected. Nonetheless, the centers of volcanism, and the fault-encircled extremely thick sections of outflow materials such as ash-flow tuffs and thick viscous lavas are evidence for the locations of the original calderas.

View Bootheel Volcanic Field in a larger map